Professional Wrestler and a Banker

If we look back at athletic stars of the past, we often find some very interesting and educational  anecdotal stories. Unlike most people, professional athletes’ lives involve constant traveling and meeting people in all professions. One interesting story was told to me by Arthur Mercante, the famous boxing referee and member of the Boxing Hall of Fame. The story was funny but quite profound as well.

Arthur told me a story about Lou Thesz, who had been the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion  several times from 1937 until 1966. Lou was not only a tremendously skilled wrestler but was an extremely powerful man, yet knowledgeable  and exceptionally intelligent. Whether the matches were predetermined or not, few opponents wanted to get on Lou’s bad side. He could make it easy on an opponent or hard, most opponents took the easy way.

In the nineteen fifties, Lou Thesz was on a train traveling to a large Midwestern city; he was seated across from a gentleman who appeared to be a businessman. They started conversing and had a pleasant discussion on various topics of the day. As the trip was ending, the gentleman (a “Mr. Smith”) asked Lou what business he was in. He replied “I am a professional wrestler.” Mr. Smith in total astonishment responded as follows: “Mr. Thesz, a professional wrestler! a professional wrestler! A man of your knowledge and intelligence, a professional wrestler…I am shocked.” Lou then posed his question “Mr. Smith, may I ask what business are you in”? Smith quickly responded “I am a banker Mr. Thesz.”

Lou Thesz did not miss a beat, “Mr. Smith, at the government’s request, I am visiting various prisons in the Midwest putting on wrestling exhibitions for the prisoners and I must tell you that in all the prisons that I have visited, I have yet to meet a prisoner who was a professional wrestler. However, in my visits to the prisons, I have met numerous prisoners who were bankers.” That says it all doesn’t it?