Bull Curry

Bull Curry
Birth name Fred Thomas Koury
Born (1913-05-02)May 2, 1913[1]
Died March 8, 1985(1985-03-08) (aged 71)[2]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Bull Curry
Billed height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Billed weight 220 lb (100 kg)
Billed from Hartford, Connecticut
Trained by Adam Weissmuller
Debut 1930s
Retired 1970s

Fred Thomas Koury Sr. (May 2, 1913 – March 8, 1985) was an American of Lebanese descent who was best known as a professional wrestler under the name ”Wild Bull” Curry. Bull Curry is recognized as the originator of the hardcore style predating even legends such as The Sheik and Abdullah the Butcher.[3] Curry’s tumultuous career spanned 5 decades of in ring action.

Career

Early career

At the age of sixteen Curry joined the circus in order to help provide for his four brothers and sisters. His job at the circus was that of the “tough man” who took on all comers from the audience in a fight. He had 65 straight wins without anyone going past one 5 minute round.[1] Then In his twenties, Curry became a policeman in his hometown of Hartford, Connecticut where he put his “tough man” background to good use in the streets, quickly earning him a reputation for toughness. Its been claimed that on one occasion a wild steer bull broke out of the Hartford stockyard and ran wild in the streets. Curry literally grabbed the bull by the horns and managed to wrestle it to the ground, however it is likely this was in fact nothing more than a fictional story created by wrestling promoters in order to give reason to his nickname of “Wild Bull” that stuck with him for the rest of his life.

Later on in the 1930s, Curry began wrestling in Detroit under promoter Adam Weissmuller (uncle of Johnny Weissmuller) who also trained him for his professional career. Curry stayed in Detroit for several years developing his brutal, hardcore style of wrestling that made him a top name in the territory. Curry was so well known that he even faced legendary heavyweight pro boxer Jack Dempsey in an exhibition match in 1940. Years later Curry would often claim that he knocked Dempsey out in the match but the truth is that Curry was stopped in the second round.[4]

1950s and 1960s

In the early part of the 1950s Bull Curry relocated to Texas to work. Curry’s combination of unpredictable violence, unique look and intensity made Curry a big star in Texas more or less immediately upon arrival.[1] Curry’s brawling style made him a success but it also kept the promoters from giving him the “main” title of the territory despite being the biggest draw in the territory.[5] Instead of letting Bull Curry win the top title of the Texas territory the bookers created a brand new title to match Bull Curry’s Hardcore style of wrestling: the NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Championship which Bull Curry won in a tournament final over Danny McShain on March 6, 1953.[6] Between 1953 and 1967 “Wild Bull” Curry personified the Texas Brass Knuckles Championship as he held it 20 times defeating such names as Fritz Von Erich, Tony Borne, Waldo Von Erich, Louie Tillet, Killer Karl Kox and Brute Bernard for the title.[6] In 1953 Curry would also briefly hold the Texas version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship with Lucas Pertano as well as the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship for three weeks[6] but soon focused solely on the Brass Knuckles Title.

In the 1960s Bull Curry’s son Fred Thomas Koury, Jr. took up wrestling under the name "Flying" Fred Curry. Unlike his father Fred was a clean cut, high flying face but the two Currys did team on a regular basis especially early in the younger Curry’s career. The two won the NWA International Tag Team Championship in 1964 and held it until 1966[6] as well as beating Nikolai and Boris Volkoff for the Ohio version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship.[2]

Later in his career Fred Curry struck out on his own more and more trying to get away from his father’s legacy of rule-breaking and violence to establish a legacy of his own. Fred’s attempts to get out of his father’s shadow never caused any problems between the two Currys.[7]

Controversial persona

One of the trademarks of Bull Curry was his “wildman” look with bushy eyebrows, maniacal facial expressions and insane eyes that could scare the crowd just by looking at them. In one case he scared a girl at ringside so badly she had to be carried from the ring in terror.[8] The wild look coupled with his wild brawling style made Bull Curry one of the most hated rule-breakers in wrestling, he was so hated in places that riots broke out more than once[9] as irate fans attacked Curry in the ring.

  • 1955: a match between Curry and Ray McIntyre resulted in more than a 140 fans being taken to the hospital after a riot broke out.[10]
  • 1956: Curry was jumped by a fan who was displeased with Curry’s brutal treatment of local star George Becker. Curry broke the fans jaw with a single punch.[10]
  • 1958: During a match with Pepper Gomez in Galveston, Texas a fan struck Bull Curry with an iron pipe. Curry chased the fan out of the ring, catching up with him in the balcony where he beat him up.[10]
  • 1968: While wrestling Emil Dupreé in Worcester, Massachusetts a fan jumped in the ring and jumped on Curry’s back. Curry punched the fan so hard that he was reportedly unconscious for two days.[10]
  • Year unknown: During a match in Texas Curry got a bucket of yellow paint dumped over his head by a fan.[2]
  • Late sixties: During a televised match, Curry used a cinder block on his opponent. The man went into the hospital for stitches. Curry was arrested and sentenced to jail for his actions. The only time he was allowed out was to wrestle, so for the next four weeks of televised matches, he was escorted to and from the ring in handcuffs by police, being cuffed and returned to jail when he was finished with his match for that week.

Retirement and death

Curry retired from wrestling in the mid to late 1970s well past turning 60 years old.[11] He died on March 8, 1985.[2]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. 1 2 3 The Currys’ official website. "Wild Bull Curry". Retrieved June 18, 2007.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Wild Bull Curry". Online World of Wrestling. Retrieved June 18, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Wild Bull Curry 2004 CAC Honoree (posthumous)". Cauliflower Alley Club. Archived from the original on 2007-06-07.
  4. ↑ Conner, Floyd (February 12, 2001). "Lights Out". Wrestling's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Pro Wrestling's Outrageous Performers, Punishing Piledrivers, and Other Oddities. Potomac Books. p. 302. ISBN 1-57488-308-9.
  5. ↑ Terry Funk & Scott Williams (August 27, 2006). Terry Funk: More than just Hardcore. Sports Publishing. ISBN 978-1-59670-159-5.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  7. ↑ Inside Wrestling (October 1972). "Fred Curry's Heartbreaking Decision: "I Had to Leave My Father to Restore our Good Name!"". London Publishing Co.
  8. ↑ Conner, Floyd (February 12, 2001). "Not Just another pretty face". Wrestling's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Pro Wrestling's Outrageous Performers, Punishing Piledrivers, and Other Oddities. Potomac Books. p. 302. ISBN 1-57488-308-9. “His face scared me” she said.
  9. ↑ Pope, Kristian; Whebbe, Ray (2003). The Encyclopedia of Professional Wrestling: 100 Years of History, Headlines & Hitmakers (2nd ed.). Krause Publications. ISBN 978-0-87349-625-4.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Conner, Floyd (February 12, 2001). "Wrestling Fanatics". Wrestling's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Pro Wrestling's Outrageous Performers, Punishing Piledrivers, and Other Oddities. Potomac Books. p. 302. ISBN 1-57488-308-9.
  11. ↑ Conner, Floyd (February 12, 2001). "Old wrestlers never die". Wrestling's Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Pro Wrestling's Outrageous Performers, Punishing Piledrivers, and Other Oddities. Potomac Books. p. 302. ISBN 1-57488-308-9.
  12. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-07-06. Retrieved 2010-06-14.

Further reading

  • Wild Bull Curry Official Website - including The Walking Riot book written by Flying Fred Curry
  • Wrestling Revue (October 1963). "Blood and Broken Bones: Bull Curry vs. Louis Tillet...A Horror in Scarlet".
  • Wrestling Illustrated (March 1965). "We Done It!".
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