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Paul Bowser
Paul Forbes Bowser (May 28, 1886 – July 17, 1960) was an American professional wrestler and promoter who was active from the 1920s to the 1950s in the Boston area.
He founded the Boston-based American Wrestling Association and later a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. The careers of eventual world champions Gus Sonnenberg, Ed Don George, Danno O'Mahony and Steve Casey were started under Bowser's direction. Others that Bowser has been credited for giving their first breaks in wrestling were Maurice Vachon and The Fabulous Moolah
Bowser is a member of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum and Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.
Paul Forbes Bowser was born on May 28, 1886 in Kittanning, Pennsylvania to Armstrong County, Pennsylvania teacher, school superintendent and farmer Marlin Bowser and Nancy Arreta "Arreta" (Hawkins) Bowser. The Bowsers grew fruits and vegetables on their farm along with raising standardbred horses, which would become a lifelong hobby and business venture for Paul. Paul studied law at the co-educational Beaver College, leaving in 1907 prior to receiving a degree when the college limited enrollment to female students. While in school, Paul played football at the local YMCA with Hube Wagner.
At 18 years old Bowser began amateur wrestling, becoming a professional upon leaving college in 1907. Bowser toured the vaudeville circuit as a middleweight, taking on all comers and offering $25 to any man he couldn't throw within 15 minutes. In 1911 he met women's wrestling champion Cora Livingston when they shared the bill at the Academy Theater in Pittsburgh, the pair later married in 1913. He moved to Newark, Ohio in 1912, opening a wrestling school and began to promote wrestling shows, often working as a referee. Bowser and Livingston toured with the Polack Brothers Circus in 1917 and 1918.
On March 10, 1916, Bowser became world middleweight champion, defeating Joe Turner in Newark. In November 1919, he and a co-defendant were successfully sued by Kelton Mitchell, who claimed he had been conned out of $2,300 that was bet on a fixed wrestling match in 1917.
Bowser moved to Boston in 1922, running shows against the area's established promoter, George V. Tuohey. Within a year, Bowser had won the promotional war and Tuohey filed for bankruptcy. In Boston, on January 3, 1922, Bowser again won the middleweight title from Joe Turner in a show promoted at the Grand Opera House. He retired as a wrestler the following year.
As a promoter, Bowser was initially allied with Billy Sandow and Ed "Strangler" Lewis and took on entrenched rival, New York-based Jack Curley. On January 25, 1923, Curley-backed Nat Pendleton was defeated in a real contest by Bowser's John Pesek, taking two falls in under 45 minutes. Curley would get his revenge two years later, paying Stanislaus Zbyszko to go against plans and defeat Sandow/Lewis/Bowser-backed world champion Wayne Munn in Philadelphia. On March 11, 1926, Bowser planned to regain control of the title by having Joe Malcewicz ambush champion Joe Stecher (who had won the title from Zbyszko and was also aligned with Curley)—who was expecting to wrestle a different opponent. But the plan failed when Stecher just walked out of the ring and left before the match started.
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Paul Bowser
Paul Forbes Bowser (May 28, 1886 – July 17, 1960) was an American professional wrestler and promoter who was active from the 1920s to the 1950s in the Boston area.
He founded the Boston-based American Wrestling Association and later a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. The careers of eventual world champions Gus Sonnenberg, Ed Don George, Danno O'Mahony and Steve Casey were started under Bowser's direction. Others that Bowser has been credited for giving their first breaks in wrestling were Maurice Vachon and The Fabulous Moolah
Bowser is a member of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum and Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame.
Paul Forbes Bowser was born on May 28, 1886 in Kittanning, Pennsylvania to Armstrong County, Pennsylvania teacher, school superintendent and farmer Marlin Bowser and Nancy Arreta "Arreta" (Hawkins) Bowser. The Bowsers grew fruits and vegetables on their farm along with raising standardbred horses, which would become a lifelong hobby and business venture for Paul. Paul studied law at the co-educational Beaver College, leaving in 1907 prior to receiving a degree when the college limited enrollment to female students. While in school, Paul played football at the local YMCA with Hube Wagner.
At 18 years old Bowser began amateur wrestling, becoming a professional upon leaving college in 1907. Bowser toured the vaudeville circuit as a middleweight, taking on all comers and offering $25 to any man he couldn't throw within 15 minutes. In 1911 he met women's wrestling champion Cora Livingston when they shared the bill at the Academy Theater in Pittsburgh, the pair later married in 1913. He moved to Newark, Ohio in 1912, opening a wrestling school and began to promote wrestling shows, often working as a referee. Bowser and Livingston toured with the Polack Brothers Circus in 1917 and 1918.
On March 10, 1916, Bowser became world middleweight champion, defeating Joe Turner in Newark. In November 1919, he and a co-defendant were successfully sued by Kelton Mitchell, who claimed he had been conned out of $2,300 that was bet on a fixed wrestling match in 1917.
Bowser moved to Boston in 1922, running shows against the area's established promoter, George V. Tuohey. Within a year, Bowser had won the promotional war and Tuohey filed for bankruptcy. In Boston, on January 3, 1922, Bowser again won the middleweight title from Joe Turner in a show promoted at the Grand Opera House. He retired as a wrestler the following year.
As a promoter, Bowser was initially allied with Billy Sandow and Ed "Strangler" Lewis and took on entrenched rival, New York-based Jack Curley. On January 25, 1923, Curley-backed Nat Pendleton was defeated in a real contest by Bowser's John Pesek, taking two falls in under 45 minutes. Curley would get his revenge two years later, paying Stanislaus Zbyszko to go against plans and defeat Sandow/Lewis/Bowser-backed world champion Wayne Munn in Philadelphia. On March 11, 1926, Bowser planned to regain control of the title by having Joe Malcewicz ambush champion Joe Stecher (who had won the title from Zbyszko and was also aligned with Curley)—who was expecting to wrestle a different opponent. But the plan failed when Stecher just walked out of the ring and left before the match started.