New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1916-01-16
Joe Stecher, Greatest
Grappler, Coming East

Row they gained their money on the
mat have given the sport setback
from which IL has not yet fully recov-
cred Therefore, snybody who sees
Stecher in action in this city VIII be
sure that the Nebraska farmer ~ CIV
ing OF his best
Just as an illustration Of the effect
Stecher has on the box Office when he
takes part IN bout. IL may be said
that before he wrestled Cutler in
Omaha, last July, several of the most
noted wrestlers in the country met IN
the same city and could draw only a
$3.50 house The Stecher-Cutler match
attracted n $4,000 gate. Quite vote
Of confidence i'm young Mr. Steeher. Ell
Nobody seems 20 know just who
started this latest sensation of the mat
on wrestling career, and the chances
are that Joe would still be digging po-
tatoes and hoeing the corn nelds ON
his native heath If somebody had not
whispered the word "wrcstlc' in his
ear.
There are four girls and three boys
in the Stecher family, and all are OF
the sturdy stock that tilis the soil and
does the farm chores in the fiat lands
Of Nebraska. IL has been said Of the
eldest girl, Joe's favorite sister, that
she can hold her own on the wrestling
mat with almost any man, so II does
not seem SO remarkable that her TWEEN
ty-two-year-ol6 brother should have
achieved such q startling reputation.
Pictures Of Stecher are misleading
in that they DO not show any Of that
DEVELOPMENT that we naturally asso-
ciate with a wrestler. The upper part
Of joe's body does not bulge with huge
muscles. His arms are modelled after
the Bob FitzSimmons plan long. thin.
wiry.
But IL is below the waist lire that
the Nebrasksn gets his power. The
legs are long and marvellously de
veloped, with ridges OF muscle showing
along the inner side, and there IS
reason for the abnormal strength
Stecher has achieved in this part OF
his anatomy.
Farmer" Burns. one of the great
wrestlers of few years Oack, took
Joe in hand when the latter first be
came interested in the game and
started his raw boned pupil TO work
at breaking packing boxes with his
legs. Burns was always a firm be-
lever in the use of the legs in catch
as-catch- can wrestling, and believed,
too. that the scissors hold was the most
deadly grip one man could obtain on
another, were its possibilities fully
realized.
At first Joe tried his hand or, rather
his legs, at crushing small fragile
boxes. Burns instructed him carefully
in the art Of locking his feet and then
applying the pressure by degrees. As
Stecher grew more adept in the gentle
art Of cracking boxes between his
knees Burns increased the size and
resisting powers of the lumber. In a
few weeks Joe was crushing SINAI!
hacking cases. upholstered with pads,
between his legs. and, after Spartan
course of training, Burns DECIDED ms
pupil has mastered this detail o. the
wrestling art. Il remained 10 brush
w Stecher in the other holds USED a.
catch as catch-can style, and then Joe
in November, 1912. was sent out on MS
professional career.
In almost every match in which he
took part. IL was the deadly body scis-
sors hold that won for Stecher, and
small wonder, for how could any man
Withstand the terrible pressure tna'
the Nebraska farmer boy eXerted with
mis- legs? Joe has frequently squeezed
a full sized bag OF oats between MS
legs until il burst, and when he secured
this hold on an opponent the match
usually had a speedy ending, with the
other man either forced 10 cry quits
or run the chance Of serious injury;
II Is said of Stecher that, once he has
locked his sinewy legs about al OPP
ponent's body, there ia nothing for the
victim 20 do but surrender. The Ne
braskan's powerful legs coil about an
adversary's body like twin pythons and
gradually squeeze breath and resistance
out of him.
While no definite arrangements nave
vet been made as TO Stecher's first op-
ponent here in the East, II seems PROB
able that Zbyszko will have the con,
tract. The mighty Pole has secured
permission from Samuel Rachman, pro-
,oter o. the tournament at the Man
haitian Opera House, to meet Stecher at
Madison Square Garden. Zbyszko IS
under contract 20 Rachman, but he was
so insistent in his demand that he be
allowed to face Stecher that Raehman
released him temporarily, so " ladek
could make the match. The big Rus
sian expresses the utmost confidence
In his ability TO throw the Nebraska
boy, ,,,
known his desire 10 test Stecher's skill
on the mat, saying that he Is well
enough acquainted with the farmers
wrestling style TO defeat him. Lewis
has likewise stated he would Ike TO
meet Stecher Of catch-a catch-csn,
while Alex. Aberg, champion Of the
world at Grace Roman, is willing 70
wager $4,000 of his own money that
he can beat the Nebraskan at that style
Of mat work.
All of which makes it seem fairly
certain that Stecher will have plenty
Of work TO do, and that New Workers
arc going TO see man regarded as the
greatest wrestler of all time IN action.