This is the second part to an in-depth look at Wrestling scandals from the past.
As McMahon showed us, not every scandal features an active wrestler. This next one took place in 1935 and involved a prominent promoter. Lou Daro started as a professional wrestler but never received a major push. His biggest win as “The Great Daro” was in 1920, when he scored a victory against a young and upcoming star, Jim Londos. A few years later, he decided to focus on promoting instead. He would initially promote in the Northeast, but he soon landed in Los Angeles to promote with his brother, Jack Daro.
After many successful years promoting at the Olympic Auditorium, in L.A., tragedy struck. On July 10th, 1935, two fans confronted Daro during a wrestling show. One claimed that Daro owed a money debt to his brother from 1927. Security offered to remove the fans, who had been drunk, aggressive, and throwing bottles at the ring. Daro declined security and allowed the fans back to their seats to enjoy the rest of the show. This proved to be a fatal mistake.
After the show, the two fans rode around the Olympic Auditorium screaming obscenities at Daro and present California State Athletic Commission members. Daro and a building attendant, Jack “Tiger” Jackson, shouted for someone to get the vehicle out of the area. Two policemen at the Olympic Auditorium that day stated they heard Jackson say, “stickup.” Upon hearing that, the two officers went to intervene.
The car started to flee the scene, and the police officers fired two warning shots. The driver, William Focher, exited the vehicle and began to run. Since they believed they were chasing criminals in a “stick-up,” the police shot him three times. Focher would die later that evening.[1]
The tragedy became front-page news all across California. The archives hold 28 different newspapers covering the story on July 11th. The initial consensus in the papers was that the death was from a robbery gone wrong. The police then released a statement. The investigations revealed the officers mistook what Daro said as, “Go get them; it’s a stickup!”
Daro, nicknamed “Carnation Lou” by the newspapers, then took it upon himself to hold a luncheon for all the media. The scene was described as a conference with a “table with Snow White linen and heaps of delicacies.” Daro then proceeded to put his foot in his mouth. He explained that if he had gone after those men, “that guy would have driven that hammer into this old noggin of mine, and Daro would have been no more.” (The investigation showed there was no hammer with the victims, but they found an old wrench.) Daro’s statements continued to not endear him to the attending reporters. After making excuses and talking himself up, he ended the luncheon exclaiming, “There are a lotta guys who don’t think a helluva lot of Daro, but Daro thinks a helluva lot of himself.”[2] The media found his entire stunt insulting and insensitive.
The newspapers soured on Daro after this. They began to post large, center-page pictures of the victim, Focher’s widow and son. They described Focher as a great man who only tried to help his brother to settle a debt. The media obtained the receipt of debt and released it for the entire population to read. Focher was labeled a Great War veteran, a family man leaving a widowed wife and young child. Sympathy began to mount for Focher’s family.
A coroner inquest was held to determine causation and whether anyone would be criminally liable in the accident. Within the first day, the police were determined not to be held liable. The attention then turned to “Carnation Lou.” Daro took the stand on July 14th. He was asked whether Focher confronted him about an outstanding bill. He replied to the negative. This led the spectators in attendance to scream “liar!” and “murderer!” The Los Angeles Evening Post Record described the scene as a “riot” and stated the “carnation wilts.”[3]
The two California State Athletic Commission members, along with Lou Daro, also testified in court when the tragedy happened. They said no one ever said there was a stickup or hold-up. On July 16th, the ruling came down. The court ruled it was “a justifiable homicide due to unfortunate circumstances.” As they read the decision, more spectators yelled from the gallery. Shouts of “liar!” and “murderer!” echoed at “Carnation Lou” as he left.[4]
In the trial’s wake, Daro opened a trust fund for Focher’s child and deposited $25 a week into it for the next ten years. He also deposited $5,000 into the widow’s bank account.[5] While professional wrestling continued to thrive at the Olympic Auditorium, Daro’s health did not. He suffered from a heart attack a year and a half after the trial. Could it have been the stress of the scandal’s aftermath? Whatever the reason, due to his declining health, by 1937, Lou Daro was mainly the promotion’s figurehead. His brother Jack took over, promoting the territory. While the scandal was put in the past, the effects were long-lasting.
Not every scandal suffers from permanent repercussions. They are not all sinister wrongdoings or fatal accidents, either. Some may even seem pre-planned for publicity, perhaps. This final scandal was also not as widespread as the others, but it was possibly the most effective for its purpose. The story involves Hardy Kruskamp, a journeyman wrestler of the era. Krushkamp traveled to lots of different territories to wrestle. While he was one of the early “tacklers” in pro wrestling, he was never considered a “star.” “Tackler” wrestlers usually had a football background. Their football skills transitioned to their wrestling style, which relied less on holds and mat-based wrestling. Instead, they exhibited a more explosive style. This style would become more common in the coming decades – think of Rhino back in the WCW heyday or Gunther in WWE today.
This scandal happened a year before Daro’s last scandal, in 1934. The story begins with Coletta Mulvihill, the daughter of Pittsburgh oil executive Thomas Mulvihill. She caused an overnight media sensation after her sudden marriage to truck driver Thomas Green. When this happened, she was already engaged to the son of Philippines House of Representatives member Quintin Paredes Jr.[1] This all may seem unrelated at the moment, but Hardy Krushkamp becomes important to this later.
On August 17th, Colletta explained to news outlets that she and Green married “on a lark;” it was never meant to be serious. Was this an early attempt of someone of stature trying to get famous through controversy? No one can say for sure, but newspapers across the United States became enamored with her story.
After their marriage, Colletta was to travel from Pittsburgh to California. From California, she would go to Hawaii before her final destination of Manila. There, she would meet with her mother to have her marriage annulled. Front-page headlines splashed pictures of her at each destination. One such example shows her departing a plane in Chicago. A similar story spread across the state of California, and articles assured readers that San Francisco “braced itself tonight against the shock of the madcap heiress invasion.”[2]
In a sudden shock, that evening, The Oakland Tribune announced that the 16-year-old oil heiress Colletta Mulvihill Green and 28-year-old wrestler Hardy Kruskamp were now dating. This was while she worked to annul her marriage to truck driver Tom Green.
There are a few sordid tidbits to this story. Despite what some outlets were saying, Colletta was still very much married. This was a major indiscretion at the time. She was also only 16 years old – 12 years Kruskamp’s junior. Even then, an age difference such as that was considered inappropriate.
While the hot gossip wasn’t given top billing in much of California where Kruskamp was working “around the horn” (from town to town), in areas surrounding Colletta’s native Pittsburgh, the news outlets picked up the story. Reporters spun the tale of an older man further corrupting a young, rebellious socialite. The Nevada State Journal interviewed Colletta and Hardy together. Here, Colletta proclaimed, “For me, I love him. I’m in love, love, love!” Hardy responded, “Don’t go too heavy on this romance stuff. Can’cha just say we are awfully good friends?”[1]
From the interviews Colletta gave, it sounded as if her plan to go to Manila had changed. She canceled her flight to Hawaii and instead planned to go to Reno to see Kruskamp wrestle. That is when the San Francisco District Attorney’s office decided to intervene. In the early morning of September 8th, the police picked up Green and Kruskamp after they received complaints that “a child like that is too young to be running around so much.” The couple were both released after questioning at around 2 am PST. After a few short hours of sleep, juvenile court officials met with Colletta. They delivered a stark message from District Attorney Matthew Brady: “If she doesn’t leave the city immediately and rejoin her parents, I will act to make her a ward of the juvenile court.”[2]
The loving romance lasted two whirlwind days. A few hours after that news story ran, Colletta was on a steamship from Oakland to Honolulu. Kruskamp gave no official statement or any follow-up on Green’s sudden departure. He may have accomplished his desired goal based on the short frenzy of press and publicity.
The next night, the Fresno Bee noted that the “Mat Adonis” was disgruntled that his girlfriend left the state of California for a much-needed rest in Honolulu. Due to this, he will no doubt take his frustrations out on “King Kong Ted Cox” in their upcoming match. Promoter Bill Hunefeld expressed disappointment that Kruskamp’s “chief second” was unavailable. Hunefeld believed Colletta would have been an “added attraction” for the evening.[3]
Colletta was never spoken about by Krushkamp again. The newspaper stories cooled for a bit until her name popped up again late in 1935. Word was that her romance with Paredes Jr. reignited. Colletta’s last news story was in the November 17th edition of the Pittsburgh Press. The article noted that the “madcap bride” often sent truck driver Thomas Green letters and signed them as “Mrs. Thomas Green.” Thomas Green told the press that a reunion was unlikely and something neither of them wanted. Green noted that in their last letters, Coletta quit drinking and smoking and gave up the glamorous life to settle down in Manila.[4]
As for Hardy Krushkamp, he received a slight push right after this short promotional stunt. Coincidentally, he beat someone mentioned earlier in this article – former World Heavyweight Champion Gus Sonnenberg. By mid-1935, though, he was back to opening shows, often mid-card losing to the name talent that passed through the California territory. He would remain a staple in the California wrestling scene for decades. He slowed down inside the ring by 1960, after which he transitioned to become the host of the TV show “Rasslin” on Los Angeles channel 6. He also promoted across California until his retirement in 1980. He was lucky to survive unscathed from his previous scandal.
Scandals are truly nothing new, especially in the wrestling world. A World’s Heavyweight Champion kills a man while drunk driving in 1932. His famous actress wife divorces him shortly after. A prominent promoter is involved in a tragic accident in 1935 and digs himself into a PR hole. A steady mid-card wrestler boosts his career for a brief moment through a scandalous love affair with a 16-year-old socialite in 1934.
Former up-and-coming wrestler Velveteen Dream Was accused of multiple allegations of inappropriate sexual activity in 2021. WWE Hall of Fame Wrestler Tammy “Sunny” Sytch was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison for drunkenly colliding with another car and killing a 75-year-old man in 2023. The former CEO and owner of the largest pro wrestling promotion in history, Vince McMahon, is under investigation for sex trafficking in 2024.
It’s truly all been done before.
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