El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-03-17
RANKED
AMONG
SELECT
Joe Stecher Seen By Many
as a Wrestler in Glass
All By Himself.
CONSIDER NEBRASKA
BOY GOOD AS GOTCH

Omaha Neb.. March 17.-Jos Stecher.
the husky Nebraska farmer boy. has
distinction which few athletes Of the
present day can claim-the distinction
Of standing in a class very much by
himself.
Look over the field Of sorts and you
find but few who rank in this select
SET Johnny KiIbane is one. Ty Cobb is
without a doubt the greatest an-around
hall r,Iaver Of the dav and Willie Hoppe
stands head and shoulders above every
Filf'srd expert in the world There
are few others
Furh has been written about
Stecher's great strength he has
heen given plenty OF recognition
for his PROV ess on the mat and to
DAY he Is recognized a. the peer or
MASTERS
But have YOU ever considered that
Stecher. as he stands today IS JUST as
great at his style OF WFeS -
Frank Goteh was at his Few years
This may sound like broad state
ment. Mebbe It is and mebbe Il ism l
but the fact remains that there IS not
another wrestler in the world VINO can
hold candle to Stecher in the use OF
the body scissors hold
Frank GOtch's forte was his
famous toe hold, and he was
finished master in its use GOteh
Vv3x also n great rOugh-aud-tumble
wrestler. His great strength. well
distributed for the most part. hut
favOrin@ his powerful arms and
shoulders 90 some extent, made him
n demon on the canvas.
In comparison with Goteh stseheT Is
q different type OF wrestler The big
bow from the Cornhusker state Is en-
dowed with almost superhuman
strength in his hips and legs once
caught in the vice OF ms oody SCISSORS
an opponent is helpless Even the
biggest and strongest men who nave
tackled s3techer nave found II I'M
possible to extricate themselves from
his now famous scissors n9io
Where GOtch forced his oppO-
nents to pin their shoulders to the
mat through the use of the agonix-
ing toe hold. Stecher's Persu1der Is
the crushing scissors win ms
powerful limbs locked around an
opponent's middle Steeher slowly
cruSheS him into submission.
The best Wrestlers who have tr1eC
to defeat stecher attempted TO wear
him out. Charley Cutler, Stranger
Lewis and others took the defensive
when they entered the arena with the
Nebraska boy. for when on the defen-
sive they had a better chance 10 keep
away from his famous hold.
Many followers of wrestling who
have never seen Stecher work
probably do not appreciate just
what the TumoHA GruencE uACahA ~
the wrestler who gets eauSht In II
Briefly IL il n rih-eruShinG hold
Nothing more nor less than slow
torture
Stecher has perfected the hold until
now he can clamp il onto an opponent
from almost any position He may be
nearly down himself and still lock his
man with those powerful limbs Once
ne gets the hold >techer locks his
ankles, brings his knees toward each
other with a slow. but powerful inward
pressure. and II his man doesn't yelp
for mercy he IS soon rolled over on his
back
Ste~her stands ready TO defend
his eIaims to the catch-as-cateh-
can title, and. although illness kept
him out of several big matches
during the past winter. he an
nOunceS now that he il ready
In all probability IL will be some
months before the wrestler springs up
! who viii be able TO defeat Stecher. and
like Gotch. he may be enabled 10 retire
undefeated Those who know both
wrestlers intimately are OF the opinion
that Stecher would have defeated
GCtch had they met last Summer. TO-
the Oh mpion toeho'der is getting along
in years now and Stecher IS in his
/ prime