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WWE Hall of Famer Captain Lou Albano was posthumously inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame as part of their 2024 Gala and Induction Ceremony in Chicago this past Friday 11/15.
Albano's induction was accepted by his son Lou Albano Jr and grandson Lou Albano III.
Bruno Sammartino was inducted into the Hall of Fame back in 1989.
Albano, long considered to be one of the best managers of all time passed away at the age of 76 in October 2009 following an undisclosed illness.
Although Albano wrestled early in his career as one half of the Sicilians with Tony Altimore, he wasn't a standout performer in the ring. He and Altimore held the United States Tag Team and the Midwestern Tag Team championships. Urban legend at the time, recounted in Gary Hart's autobiography, tells a story that legitimate mobsters approached the pair and told them to tone down their Italian wiseguy act.
Albano moved into managing at the suggestion of Bruno Sammartino, who told him he was a “good bullsh**er” and would be a natural. Albano went to Vince McMahon Sr. with the idea, setting off his real claim to fame, his legendary speaking ability to go off on ranting interviews. For years in the old WWF territory under Vince McMahon Sr., Albano worked as the dastardly manager and mouthpiece for countless tag teams, leading heel teams to WWF Tag Team championships including The Wild Samoans, The Moondogs, The Valiant Brothers, Mr. Fuji and Mr. Saito and others.
Although he was best known for his Tag Team championships (listed as leading 15 teams to championships), Albano also worked with Ivan Koloff leading him to a WWWF championship win over Bruno Sammartino and WWF Intercontinental championships for Don Muraco, Greg Valentine, and Pat Patterson.
In the early 1980s, Albano became one of the catalysts for the "Rock N' Wrestling" craze when he appeared in Cyndi Lauper's "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" music video in the role of her father. This led to Albano claiming on WWF television taking credit for Lauper's success as she was a top flight act in those days. This led to Lauper coming into the company. The two eventually reconciled with Albano "teaching" Lauper how to manage for her role as Wendi Richter's mouthpiece. A famous angle at the time featured Roddy Piper attacking Albano and Lauper in Madison Square Garden during an in-ring ceremony, which brought out Hulk Hogan and Mr. T (sitting in the crowd), helping to set up the main event for the first Wrestlemania event in 1985.
Now firmly a babyface, Albano moved on to managing babyfaces including Andre the Giant, George Steele, and The British Bulldogs before retiring in 1989. He was well known for doing a lot of charitable work, especially for those suffering from multiple sclerosis. Albano made semi-regular appearances for WWF over the years, sitting ringside at PPV events and returning to manage the Headshrinkers (Samu and Fatu, now best known as Rikishi) to the WWF Tag Team championships in the mid-1990s. Albano was inducted into the then-WWF Hall of Fame in November 1996 in New York City.
Outside of the ring, the Lauper music video led to a series of acting roles, most notably as Frankie the Fixer in the 1986 feature film "Wiseguys" starring Danny Devito and Joe Piscopo. Albano often mentioned possibly starring in a sequel as Frankie's twin brother but it never came to be. He also had a starring role as Mario in the afternoon children's series "Super Mario Bros." based off the popular video game. He also had a host of smaller film and television roles, including “Miami Vice”, “227”, and Nickelodeon's “Hey Dude.” Albano often played off his well known persona, doing wrestling related roles in "Stay Tuned" and "Bodyslam - The Wrestling Movie."
In later years, Albano was credited as a writer for the "Idiot's Guide to Professional Wrestling" book alongside boxing pundit Burt Sugar and made semi-regular convention and independent wrestling appearances. An autobiography "Often Imitated, Never Duplicated", written by Albano was released independently in 2008.
Still a great talker, Albano was making appearances semi-regularly at the time of his passing and would often pull the spotlight to him the second he saw a camera on him or a chance to zing a one liner during a Q & A Session, grabbing the attention as only he could, in his own unique way.
Thanks to Dan Garza.
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