Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Grappling with Tragedy is a series of articles that deal with unfortunate, tragic incidents that have occurred throughout the history of professional wrestling. It is unlike the ‘Wrestling with Sin’ series that deals more with the seedier side of wrestling like arrests, murders and suicides. Grappling looks more at particular tragic incidents that have in some instances altered pro wrestling in some way.
John Grandovich
John Leon Grandovich was born in a very small area in Croatia, with a population of just 140 people. Grandovich began his professional wrestling career in the late 1920’s into the 1940’s. He was nicknamed ‘The Russian Bear’ but also wrestled under a mask as ‘The Masked Wolf’ ‘The Red Wolf’ and ‘The Black Monster.’ He also wrestled under the name of Ivan Grandovich.
Grandovich defeated Ed Virag in Topeka, Kansas in 1943 to become the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight champion. This was during an era before the NWA world title became the signature championship in all of professional wrestling. In March of 1946, Grandovich wrestled against Orville Brown in a two out of three falls match. During the first fall, Brown threw Grandovich in a back body drop to the mat. Grandovich landed on his head and according to Orville Brown….heard a snap.
Brown was awarded the first fall, but Grandovich did not get up for the start of the second fall. The match was ultimately awarded to Brown via forfeit as Grandovich was unable to continue. Grandovich insisted he was okay after the match and did not receive medical attention. The promoter of the event became concerned when Grandovich failed to pick up his money from the contest. A few days later, John Grandovich died from his injuries. He was just 39 years old at the time of his death.