Don Curtis Was One Of Wrestling's Good Guys

A life well lived.

That’s how most fans, friends and colleagues remembered Don Curtis, who passed away March 6 at the age of 80.

Curtis, a beloved fixture on the Florida wrestling scene for decades, had suffered from dementia in recent years.

The Buffalo native was a highly recognizable figure on the popular Florida Championship Wrestling show during the ‘60s and ‘70s, and also gained acclaim as a young headliner at Madison Square Garden during the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, teaming with partner Mark Lewin against the villainous Graham Brothers — Dr. Jerry and Eddie (real name Eddie Gossett).

But Curtis, affectionately known as “the Buffalo Bomber,” was much more than just a pro wrestler.

For many years he served as a respected city manager in Jacksonville, Fla., where he was in charge of the Gator Bowl complex and the Jacksonville Coliseum. He also had been a successful promoter in that town, running weekly Thursday night wrestling shows for legendary Florida matchmaker Eddie Graham.

“Don was a true wrestler, not an actor,” former Jacksonville Mayor Jake Godbold recently told the Florida Times-Union. Godbold, who appointed Curtis chief of operations for the city’s Recreation and Public Affairs Department in 1981 to oversee the Coliseum, Civic Auditorium, Gator Bowl and a local baseball park, added that Curtis “was not only a great athlete, but a man of great character.”

“I don’t know of anything Don took on that he didn’t do in a good manner,” said Godbold. “He had a good business sense and did an excellent job for us and commanded a great deal of respect.”

Curtis indeed was one of the sport’s honest-to-goodness good guys — inside and outside the ring.

“Don is one of the very few men I have never heard his peers say one negative word about,” said WWE Hall of Fame announcer Jim Ross. “In the wrestling business that is virtually an impossibility, with all the jealousy and insecurities that often times exist in the old locker room ... Don was a bona fide credit to the business, and if wrestling had more men in it like Don Curtis, it would be much better off.”

Former Mid-South Wrestling owner Cowboy Bill Watts, a longtime friend of Curtis, said the wrestler was well-liked and respected by his peers, “and that crossed all levels of society.”

“His smile was so ready, his heart so open to receive and embrace ... Don Curtis was so special — a tremendous athlete, a tremendous human being, a tremendous husband and father and grandfather — and my friend.”

Faithful partners

Curtis, who served on the U.S. Olympic Wrestling Committee for the Munich Games in 1972, also was an Olympic-class referee, trainer and mentor. He continued to be active in community work following his retirement in 1990 and was heavily involved in such civic and charitable activities as the Police Athletic League, the Florida Sheriffs Boys Ranch, the Governor’s Sports and Fitness Council, the Florida Police Olympics and the Jacksonville Area Golf Association.

Curtis was a role model for young men, friends noted, helping raise a pair of grandchildren and serving as a high school volunteer coach.

Among colleagues, when you mentioned Don Curtis, it was only appropriate to include the name of Dotty Curtis, his wife of nearly half a century who stood by her husband through thick and thin, particularly in the past six years, when Curtis’ frontal lobe dementia progressively worsened.

Being married to him “was probably the greatest thing in the world,” she said recently. “Don loved life and he loved being able to give to other people.”

Curtis also prided himself on maintaining an excellent physique throughout his life, including a daily regimen of exercise and swimming.

“He was an extremely disciplined trainer,” recalled Watts. “He never missed working out, and some of his exploits in that, too, were legendary. He was not huge but lean and mean ... no body fat and always in fantastic condition. His lean arms were perfect for the rear naked strangle, as the sleeper hold is called today in the UFC.”

The wrestler’s memory gradually faded, however, due to the dementia. He no longer recognized even good friends, Watts noted, and his mental skills declined. But he always recognized Dotty, said Watts, and told her he loved her.

“Dotty would sometimes share with me, and all I could do was remind her of all the wonderful memories she could cling to. Their marriage lasted. But Dotty’s love of Don ... what an inspiration to anyone.”

Curtis suffered a massive stroke nine days before his death.

“He now is whole again,” Dotty Curtis shared in an e-mail following his passing. “Now is the hard part ... life without him. He was so much a part of my life. I thought he was immortal. He lingered on, putting up the best fight of his life.”

“She and his family sat there and assured Don it was OK to go on ... to let go,” said Watts.

“Nothing in his life was anything but fun,” Dotty Curtis said. “If anyone could say, ‘I’ve done it all,’ it would be Don. A wonderful husband, father, grandfather and friend no one could have asked any more from.”

Hall of Fame athlete

Curtis proudly served his country as a submariner during World War II before going to college and earning athletic honors as a football player and amateur wrestler. He played four years of college football at the University of Buffalo, playing defensive middle guard most of the time, and was never pinned in more than 100 matches on a standout wrestling team.

So proficient in wrestling was Curtis that Lou Thesz, then NWA world champ and regarded as one of the greatest matmen in the history of the sport, visited the college and went through a rough workout with the youngster in 1951. Among those in attendance was the legendary Ed “Strangler” Lewis. Thesz was so impressed with Curtis that he told him to call him when he graduated if he wanted to wrestle professionally.

“I couldn’t decide whether to play pro football or wrestle, but it was decided for me by the pay. At the time recruit lineman were starting at about $8,000 a year. I had a Chicago Bears offer but chose to try pro wrestling. I’m not sorry,” Curtis told the Tampa Times in a 1959 interview.

Curtis, who would be inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame for his football and wrestling exploits in 1980, and Thesz became lifelong buddies, as did wives Dotty and Charlie Thesz.

“Lou and Don are up there just exchanging the moves they picked up since they last saw each other,” said Charlie Thesz. “They really did have a warm and wonderful friendship. And Don and Dotty were two of the most hospitable and giving people in the wrestling industry.”

“They were a port in a storm,” she added. “Their house was always open to anyone and everyone, and their hearts were open, too. They never asked for anything in return. In this business, there are so many people, as Lou would say, ‘playing the angle.’ There was never an ulterior motive for any of the kindness and hospitality that Don and Dotty offered.”

Born Donald Beitelman, Curtis changed his ring name to Don Curtis in the mid-’50s while wrestling in Texas, a decade before legally changing it because it was easier for fans to remember. Curtis held a slew of titles during his career, including the WWWF U.S. tag-team belts with Lewin, the NWA world tag-team belts with Lewin, Abe Jacobs and Joe Scarpa (later known as Chief Jay Strongbow), and the NWA Southern tag-team belts with Jose Lothario.

Jacobs met Curtis in the mid-’50s while Curtis was wrestling in Jacobs’ home country of New Zealand.

“We used to go to the gym when he had a little time off,” said Jacobs, who was still an amateur at the time. “We’d work out with the weights and then wrestle amateur. He was a very good amateur.”

Jacobs, by then a pro, next saw Curtis headlining at Madison Square Garden during the late ‘50s. The next time their paths crossed, in Florida in 1964, promoter Eddie Graham paired the two. The smooth duo of Jacobs and Curtis quickly took the world tag-team belts from Hiro Matsuda and Duke Keomuka, before losing them later to Chris and John Tolos.

“Don hurt his knee after a few months and had to have it operated on,” said Jacobs. “It bothered him the rest of his career.”

“Don was a good guy,” added Jacobs. “He was also one helluva athlete. He could move in the ring and could really wrestle.”

It was with the younger Lewin, though, that Curtis formed his most famous combo.

“Mark was almost a ‘Greek god-like’ image, and Don was the protector of him, being raw-boned, sinewy and about 10 years older than that ‘kid’ from Buffalo,” Dotty Curtis recalled in Greg Oliver and Steven Johnson’s book “The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame: The Tag Teams.”

- Jeff Hardy was suspended last week for 60 days for his second violation of WWE’s Wellness Program.

WWE spokesman Gary Davis told Newsday that there have been about 30 suspensions under the WWE substance abuse and drug testing policy begun in 2006. He would not say what drugs were involved, but it isn’t believed to be steroids or other muscle-enhancing substances.

A wrestler faces a 30-day suspension without pay for a first violation, a 60-day suspension for a second violation and firing for a third violation. Performers are tested at least four times per year.

Hardy lost his Intercontinental title to Chris Jericho at Raw Monday night. He also has been removed from the “Money in the Bank” match at Wrestlemania.

Hardy, who has a history of problems with controlled substances but had been in the midst of a major push in recent months, said in an interview earlier this year that those days were far behind him.

“That’s why I am where I am now ... because I’m 100 percent committed to WWE. They know I’m not going to be missing any flights. They know I’ve got my head right and I’m all about wrestling. That’s what they want and that’s what they need.”

- John Cena continues to push for zero tolerance for steroids and drugs.

“The absolute correct approach would be the same as the war on drugs,” Cena said in a recent interview with Men’s Fitness. “These drugs are illegal, they’re not for any prescription, they’re not for any athlete. So make the penalty if you get caught using an illegal substance arrest and jail time.”

“There was just a sprinter who was put on four years’ suspension, which basically equals two Olympic Games and the end of a sprinter’s career,” Cena added. “So, I think, the IOC (International Olympic Committee), even though they’re not trying these guys under governmental law, really has it down. If you do it once, your career is pretty much over. There’s a big difference between sitting for 15 games, or, man, if I get caught, I have to find another job. I think that’s Step One.”

- The remaining slots for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame are likely to be filled by Eddie Graham and Gordon Solie.

Reach Mike Mooneyham at (843) 937-5517 or mooneyham@postandcourier.com. For wrestling updates during the week, call The Post and Courier Info Line at (843) 937-6000, ext. 3090.

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