Phantom — R.I.P. Don Curtis
March 12th, 2008Wrestling lost one of its great technicians and a truly class athlete when Don Curtis passed away from complications following a stroke this March.
He was not only a superb wrestler; he was also a good will ambassador for the game. One could say what they wanted about professional wrestling being on the level, but no one could doubt that Don Curtis was on the level.
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Curtis was also part of the postwar class of collegiate athletes who went into pro wrestling. Wrestling has not had so many amateur wrestlers turn pro before or since, and it helped fuel the popularity of the game in the early television era (late 40s-late 50s).
Don Curtis was born Donald Beitelman in Buffalo, NY on May 22, 1927. While at Riverside High School in Buffalo he played football and also wrestled. World War II found him an enlistee and he served his country in the Navy as a member of a submarine crew.
After the war he enlisted at the University of Buffalo, where he continued his athletics, playing football as a tackle (In the days of two-way football, he also played middle guard, or defensive tackle as it is known today.) and wrestling (he was captain of the wrestling team for two years) once the football season ended. (He was inducted into the university’s hall of fame in 1980.) His degree was in physical education and he planned on a career as a gym teacher. But while practicing on the mats one day during his senior year he happened to meet NWA Champion Lou Thesz. He and Thesz wrestled on the mat and Thesz became very impressed with the young Beitelman, recommending him to Ed Don George, who promoted in upstate New York. George contacted Beitelman, and at first the young man demurred, but George told him he could make more wrestling than as a gym teacher and Beitelman agreed to let George train him for the pro mats. Beitelman was also wanted by the NFL, but chose pro wrestling instead. To give an idea of how little the NFL was paying in those days, for Curtis to accept an offer from George, known as one of the cheapest promoters in wrestling, is nothing short of astonishing in a way.
Beitelman began wrestling for George in May, 1951. At first, there was no attempt to bill him as being from Buffalo. Rather, he was billed as “The Canadian Ace” from Toronto. In June of 1951 he made his Buffalo debut in a match against Howard Cantonwine. Working in Canada in the summer of 1951 he made the acquaintance of Earl McCready. McCready was also impressed with Beitelman’s ring work and arranged for Beitelman to wrestle in Australia and New Zealand. In New Zealand during this time, wrestling cards were mixed affairs between amateur matches and a pro match or two heading the card. Beitelman’s wrestling ability, plus his naturally charismatic personality, propelled him to main event status in a short time. He also worked in Hawaii, holding the Hawaii tag belts with Roger Mackay. Beitelman would not return to the American mainland until around the middle of 1956.
It was while working in the Amarillo territory that Don Beitelman became Don Curtis, courtesy of then booker Dizzy Davis. Davis told him his last name was too difficult to pronounce, much less spell easily. “Curtis” had more of a memorable ring to it, and so Don Beitelman became Don Curtis. He became so attached to his ring name that in 1967 he legally changed his name to Donald B. Curtis. While in Amarillo Curtis held both the local tag title (with Dizzy Davis) and the Southwest Heavyweight Title.
Curtis’s big break came when Vince McMahon, Sr. hired him for his Capitol Wrestling in the Northeast and teamed him with Mark Lewin. Curtis had known Lewin since high school, Lewin’s older brothers Donn and Ted being in the business and hometown celebrities of a sort. Tagging with Lewin was a natural. Their two styles complimented one another: Lewin was a solid mat technician while Curtis was developing great aerial maneuvers. I seem to remember Curtis doing a somewhat early version of what later became known as the” hurricanarana” out of a flying head scissors, and applying a “missile drop kick” off the top turnbuckle out of a tag from Lewin. It also became evident that what Curtis lacked in charisma as a single, he more than made up for in a tag team. Curtis and Lewin were brought in as U.S. Tag Team Champions, having “won” the belts in Kansas City sometime in 1958, defeating Dick the Bruiser and Hans Schmidt. Their strongest adversaries were Dr. Jerry and Eddie Graham, with whom they traded the tag belts in 1958 before losing to the duo of Jerry Graham and Johnny Valentine (subbing for the injured Eddie) in 1959. All in all, during his stay in the Northeast, he appeared in Madison Square Garden more than 40 times, wrestling such luminaries as Dick the Bruiser and Hans Schmidt.
In 1959 he relocated to Florida and shortly after arriving, won the Southern Heavyweight Title from Iron Mike DiBiase, and holding it for almost nine months, finally dropping it to Buddy Austin on January 10, 1961. Curtis teamed with old foe Eddie Graham to capture the Southern Tag Title on May 10, 1960 from the Masked Mighty Yankees. He would hold that belt two more times: in 1964 with Cowboy Bob Ellis and finally in 1967 with Jose Lothario when they defeated Stan Kowalski and Black Jack Daniels.
Great tag wrestlers are seldom without willing partners. He held the Florida and Georgia versions of the NWA World Tag Title with Joe Scarpa (later famous in the WWF as Chief Jay Strongbow); twice held the Florida version of the World Tag title with old mate Mark Lewin, and when Lewin left Florida after a salary dispute with Eddie Graham, Don teamed with Abe Jacobs, whom he befriended in New Zealand and knew well during his Capitol days. His last major title was something of an anomaly: the Florida Brass Knuckles Title, which he won from Dale Lewis in 1967.
Curtis decided to relocate permanently to Florida and took up residence in Jacksonville in 1966. (A piece of trivia: his first match there was against Hans Schmidt in 1961.) As Curtis’s active career wound down, he took up the promoter’s role, running Jacksonville. Nor were his promotional endeavors restricted to pro wrestling: In 1975 he organized a dual wrestling meet with the Soviet Union in Jacksonville.
Away from the mat, Curtis kept active in public life through such civic and charitable activities as the Police Athletic League. (Not only was he the Chairman of the board there, but he also worked as a wrestling coach and teacher.) He also worked with a Florida Wrestling favorite, the Florida Sheriffs Boys Ranch. He served on the Governor’s Sports and Fitness Council, the Florida Police Olympics, and the Jacksonville Area Golf Association, where he helped organize charity tournament.
After leaving wrestling in 1981, he was appointed Chief of the Gator Bowl Complex and finished up as a City Manager until he retired in 1990 to run a successful real estate business, which left him plenty of time to pursue his passion for golf and enjoy life with wife Dotty, his family and grandchildren. The retirement years were not very kind to him physically, as his years on the mat, performing aerial maneuvers on a hard mat, caught up with his body. He developed frontal lobe dementia and was cared for by wife Dotty until his death. He passed away on Thursday, March 6, 2008.
– The Phantom of the Ring
TITLE HISTORY
November, 28, 1954: NWA Hawaii Tag Team Title with Roger Mackay.
May 4, 1957: NWA Southwest Tag Team Title (Amarillo) with Dizzy Davis.
May 1957: North American Heavyweight Title (Amarillo).
1958: NWA U.S. Tag Team Title (Capitol Wrestling version) with Mark Lewin.
December 12, 1958: NWA U.S. Tag Team Title (Capitol Wrestling version) with Mark Lewin.
March 22, 1960: NWA Southern Heavyweight Title (Florida version)
May 10, 1960: NWA Southern Tag Team Title (Florida version) with Eddie Graham.
March 29, 1962: NWA World Tag Team Title (Florida version) with Joe Scarpa.
June 1962: NWA World Tag Team Title (Georgia version) with Joe Scarpa.
January 24, 1963: NWA World Tag Team Title (Florida version) with Mark Lewin.
November 21, 1963: NWA World Tag Team Title (Florida version) with Mark Lewin.
March 1964: NWA Southern Tag Team Title (Florida version) with Cowboy Bob Ellis.
May 5, 1964: NWA World Tag Team Title (Florida version) with Abe Jacobs.
March 3, 1967: NWA Southern Tag Team Title (Florida version) with Jose Lothario.
November 20, 1969: NWA Florida Brass Knuckles Title
KNOWN TITLE MATCHES
Apr. 04, 1957 Amarillo vs. Lou Thesz Draw
May 04, 1957 Amarillo vs. Lou Thesz 90 min. Draw
Jul. 17, 1962 Tampa vs. Buddy Rogers Loss
Jun. 27, 1963 Jacksonville vs. Lou Thesz Loss
Aug. 01, 1963 Jacksonville vs. Lou Thesz Loss
Jan. 07, 1965 Amarillo vs. Lou Thesz Loss
Feb. 02, 1965 Odessa, TX vs. Lou Thesz Loss
Feb. 04, 1965 Amarillo vs. Lou Thesz Loss
Dec. 01, 1965 Ft. Lauderdale vs. Lou Thesz Loss
Jan. 19, 1966 Eau Gallie, FL vs. Gene Kiniski Unknown
Aug. 05, 1966 Ft. Lauderdale vs. Gene Kiniski Unknown
Aug. 14, 1966 Tampa vs. Gene Kiniski Unknown
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