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THE GREAT DANNY HODGE PASSES AWAY AT 88

WWE Hall of Famer Gerald Brisco announced this morning that one of the greatest amateur and professional wrestlers who ever lived, Danny Hodge, passed away yesterday at 88 years old.

Jim Ross has often stated that Danny Hodge was his hero growing up and in life, and there is good reason for that.  Hodge was incredibly tough and talented and a legitimate badass to the point that any arguments about how he would have done in MMA always end with Hodge destroying the opponent.

Hodge was an incredible amateur wrestler and one would argue perhaps the best of all time.  Someone will argue Dan Gable and they would have their points, but consider this for the argument of Hodge's greatness.  He competed in the 1952 and 1956 Olympic games.  He went undefeated as a wrestler for the University of Oklahoma with 46 wins and zero defeats.  He won the NCAA title three times as well as three Big Seven title.    A trophy in his name is presented to the best college wrestler in the United States and he was so renowned that in Perry, Oklahoma, there is a state standing in his honor.

In the Olympics, Hodge did not medal in the 1952 games in Finland, but after a stint in the United States Navy, Hodge won a Silver Medal in Australia in 1956, losing to Nikola Stachev, a Bulgarian wrestler.   He was the only amateur wrestler to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated and would be the only other professional wrestler beyond Hulk Hogan to have that honor.

After amateur wrestling, Hodge went on to work as a mud engineer for an oil company.  His boss tossed out the idea of trying boxing.  Within months, Hodge was in NYC at Madison Square Garden, winning the 1958 Golden Gloves National Heavyweight title.  He also won the 1958 Chicago Golden Gloves at Heavyweight and at one point, was talking up as a bigger potential star than the legendary Rocky Marciano.

After his boxing career, Hodge broke into the pro wrestling business in the late 1950s, trained by Ed "Stranger" Lewis (who also appeared as his manager) and Leroy McGirk.  He won the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship from Angelo Savoldi in 1960, but the bigger headline was an incident where Hodge's father actually got involved and stabbed Savoldi with a pen knife during a "boxing match" between the two, leading to Hodge's father's arrest and Savoldi receiving 70 stitches.

As a talent, Hodge was seen as legitimate, a true shooter who could defend himself against anyone had things gone awry in the ring.  He was presented as a pure wrestler with very little gimmickry involved, because he didn't need it to showcase his greatness and build himself as a draw.  Think Kurt Angle, minus any silliness, and you have a good idea of what Hodge was like at his peak, except he was probably more dangerous as a legitimate fighter.

Hodge was the primary star for McGirk during that time period, holding the Junior belt on eight different occasions.   During his time as champion, Hodge had a still legendary feud with Hiro Matsuda as well as names like Rober Kirby, Lorenzo Parente, and our own Les Thatcher.

He was renowned for his grip and strength, often crushing apples with his bare hands and breaking metal pliers that were brought to him during promotional appearances - these were legitimate, not worked pliers.  I met Hodge well into his 80s at a Mid-Atlantic Wrestling convention in Charlotte, but even then, his grip when he shook my hand was something to behold.

Beyond his Junior Heavyweight title run, Hodge was also the NWA North American Champion on three occasions for McGirk, feuding with Chuck Karbo and The Spoiler among others.  Hodge also toured for JWA in Japan.

Hodge's career would have continued well past 1976 had it not been for the night of March 15th.  Hodge fell asleep while driving his Volkswagen Station Wagon and veered off a bridge, into a creek below.   Hodge broke his neck in the crash, but later recalled he heard a voice telling him to hold it.  He did and used his free hand to pull himself out a broken window, swim out of the sinking car, made his way out of the nine feet of water and made his way back to the bank of the creek.  A trucker saw him, radioed for help and Hodge was rushed to the hospital.  He had his neck fused with bone taken from his hip, fused to the base of his neck. 

Hodge was bestowed with every Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame honor one could think of and was given another, the newly minted International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame as part of their inaugural class.  He held the United States Tag Team titles with Skandar Akbar, Parente, Jay Clayton and Luke Brown.

After retirement, Hodge returned to Perry, where he managed a 24 hour truck stop as well as a nightclub.  He was the local legend and until health concerns took over, still visited with local amateur wrestlers from Perry High School to assist and give advice.  At times, Hodge would still do physical hands-on tutoring, despite the potential of re-injuring his neck.

 "I don't care," Hodge told Sports Illustrated in 1999.   "If I can go doing something I love, then send me to heaven right now."

In recent years, Hodge had sadly been battling dementia.

Danny Hodge's passing is akin to the passing of a Pope, as it's unlikely there will ever be someone so vastly talented that he excelled at every combat sport he entered and maintained an incredible level of grace and talents throughout, leaving him an absolutely renowned figure for all within and around all areas of wrestling and MMA.

Oklahoma Shooter: The Dan Hodge Story, by Mike Chapman was published in 2009 and is an excellent read about Hodge's career and was used as a primary resource for this article.   It is well worth tracking down.

Everyone at PWInsider.com mourns the passing of Danny Hodge and sends our deepest condolences to his family, friends and fans.  There will never be another like him.

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