New book offers wrestling trivia & history

Friday, April 19th, 2013 | Books, Wrestling | No Comments

“How much do you know about Mankind’s Oldest Sport?”

That is the question posed on the cover of the new wrestling book written by the sport’s most prolific writer. Mike Chapman’s Super Book of Wrestling Trivia brings to the reader some of the most memorable events in the history of Mankind’s Oldest Sport.

“The three main goals of the book are to educate young people about the grand heritage of the sport and to entertain older readers with a nostalgic trip into the past,” said Chapman. “And to have a little fun along the way.”

Wrestling has been around for at least 5,000 years. The book has separate chapters on wrestling in antiquity, in early America, in the NCAAs, and international wrestling, including the Olympics. There are also sections on professional wrestling, wrestling as a part of mixed martial arts, wrestling in the military, and wrestling in pop culture.

The 176-page book features nearly 50 photos. Included are a classic sketch of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob wrestling the angel of the Lord, as described in the Bible in Genesis; photos of Kirk Douglas wrestling in the 1955 movie “Ulysses,” about the Greek hero during the time of the Trojan War, and Tom Cruise wrestling in the 1989 film “Born on the 4th of July.”

Read more and order today!

Tags: Ben Askren, Cael Sanderson, Jim Jordan, Pat Smith, Steve Fraser, Tom Brands, Trivia, Wrestling

Mike at Dedication of Earl Caddock Memorial Drive in Walnut

Monday, May 28th, 2012 | Books, Wrestling | No Comments

The city of Walnut has announced the dedication of Pearl Street in Walnut to be designated the Earl Caddock Memorial Drive in honor of the town’s most famous citizen. Author Mike Chapman will be a part of the ceremony on Sunday morning, June 17, giving a short address and signing copies of his book on Earl.

Earl Caddock came off an Iowa farm to become a great amateur wrestler and then won the world heavyweight championship of professional wrestling, back when the sports was a true athletic contest. He was an AAU national champion, in 1914 and 1915, but the cancellation of the 1916 Olympics ended his amateur career. With Frank Gotch of Humboldt, Iowa, acknowledged as the top athlete in America at the time, Caddock decided to follow Gotch into professional wrestling. On April 9, 1917, he took a perfect record of 79-0 (53-0 as an amateur and 26-0 as a pro) into the ring in Omaha to take on the world champion, Joe Stecher. After more than two hours of grueling wrestling, Earl Caddock emerged as the heavyweight champion of the world.

In 1919 and 1920, Caddock was one of the nation’s most popular athletes, standing alongside such legendary figures as Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey and Jim Thorpe.

At the peak of his sports career, Caddock enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in World War I and served gallantly in France as a doughboy, suffering lung damage from gas attacks. He returned to make his home in Walnut, Iowa. After three more years of wrestling, Caddock retired from the ring and began a successful career as a businessman in both Walnut and in Omaha. Caddock is buried in the Layton Cemetery just east of Walnut on Pearl St.

A new book, CADDOCK: Walnut’s Wrestling Wonder, was written by Mike Chapman, noted wrestling author and historian, and published by Culture House Books of Newton, in cooperation with the city of Walnut. Mike will be on hand for the dedication and available for book signing after the event. Members of the Caddock family will also attend.

The dedication is June 17, at 9 AM, in conjunction with the Walnut Antique Show. The dedication ceremony will be held in front of the Village Blacksmith Shop antique store located one block east of Antique City Drive on Pearl Street. Earl Caddock built this building as one of his businesses during the early part of the 20th century.

For more information about Walnut or the Walnut Antique Show, go to:
www.WalnutIowa.org or www.WalnutAntiqueShow.com

Tags: Earl Caddock, Walnut Iowa

A Touching Letter

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 | Books | No Comments

Mike received the following letter recently from a reader. It was really touching. Thank you sincerely, Mr. LaVeck, for the kind words.

Mr. Chapman,

I wanted to let you know how much my son and I have enjoyed your books, but in particular our experience reading “Gotch: An American Hero.”

My son just turned 12 and is an avid wrestler. We live in Maryland and he competes all over the mid-Atlantic and we both love the sport.

We have several of your books, but this week we were on spring break and Alexander and I decided to finally get to your novel about Frank Gotch. We sat on the balcony of an oceanfront condominium every day for the past 6 days and completed the entire book together.

It was a rewarding experience to read the book and allow the fictionalized account of Gotch’s life to illuminate what we had already learned through your non-fiction materials.

We often read together, but I know this will likely be a joint reading experience that we both remember for the rest of our lives, not only because of the beautiful location, but because we both enjoyed the story, and the writing so much and we now are both huge admirers of Frank Gotch…and we both have you to thank for that.

Thank you very much…we already have “Caddock” but we are looking forward to all of your future titles.

Sincerely,

Art LaVeck (and Alexander)

Mike Discusses Earl Caddock on No Holds Barred

Sunday, February 19th, 2012 | Books, Radio, Wrestling | No Comments

Mike was interviewed last Thursday on the podcast No Holds Barred, with host Eddie Goldman. You can listen to the interview below:

The interview focused on Earl Caddock, his place in wrestling history, Mike’s new book, and what was going on in pro wrestling at the time he competed. The discussion continue into the long heritage of wrestling, the Caddock-Stecher match of 1920, the importance of real wrestlers like Frank Gotch, and how the era of real matches faded quickly after Caddock lost his title. Also examined is the current revival of catch-as-catch-can wrestling and what it would take to bring back a form of real pro wrestling.

Goldman also links, on his site, to a youtube video of the match in which Caddock lost his title to Joe Stecher, on January 30, 1920 at Madison Square Garden in New York:

Tags: Earl Caddock, Eddie Goldman, Joe Stecher, No Holds Barred