The New York herald., 1921-03-15
ZBYSZKO THROWS
STECHER IN 2 H. 10 M.
BIG Pole Amazes Crowd by
Pinning Rival With Crotch
Hold and Body Heave.
ny CHARLES f. MATHIsoN.

In climax so spectacular and utterly
unexpected that the large crowd In the
| Seventy-first Regiment Armory was
dumfounded Stanislaus Zbyszko, the
veteran Polish wrestler. vanquished Joe
Stecher. former champion and one OF the
most formidable grapplers in the sgame
after two hours and fifteen minutes, with
a crotch hold and body heave.
The 4s-year-old wrestler not only won
a bout in which he had been the under
dog for hours. but lie achieved victory at
time when It appeared that he was a
beaten man.
The men had been wrestling for two
hours and ten minutes when Stecher, for
\ the first time In the contest, got his
dreaded body scissors adjusted. The big
| Poiander writhed. painted and groaned
as the supple legs Of the body scissors
expert pressed against his abdomen and
made breathing difficult. He turned
from one side 10 the other in his efforts
10 escape, but as Stecher had a secure
arm hold the victim of the clutch was
apparently powerless
| Four minutes zbyszko struggled in the
lock, and he seemed TO b. growing
weaker and nearing the finish.
| Referee Bothner STOPPED over the
writhing forms OF the grapplers with hand
raised to indicate that Stecaer was the
winner when suddenly with terrific
\ effort the Pole wrfggled out Of the hold
and got on top OF Stecher.
| Then Zbyszko took a crotch hold and
neck lock and lifted the form Of Stechcr
from the floor. Up as high as his shoul-
der the Pole raised the body OF Stecher
and then with a heave threw him fiat on
his back like a bag of oats.
| Before the astonished Stecher could
even make an effort to turn over the
Pole threw his 225 pounds Of bone. fat
! and muscle on the PROSTATE Stecher
and pinned his shoulders to the mat.
| The execution OF the hold, which is a
| favorite Graeco- Roman clutch, and the
subjugation OF the victim did not take
more than ten seconds. and for several
seconds after the fall the crowd sat
still in amazement. Then they broke
into cheer for the man who had fought
an uphill battle and won despite the
handicap OF age and physical rust
The fact that Zbyszko had been on the
defensive almost from the time they first
took hold till ne startled the crowd with
his unexpeced victory naturally gave the
impression that II was simply a matter
of time when the old chap would sue
cumb to the superior strength and skill
of his younger opponent. libby had t1c
advantage OF weight. scaling 225 pounds
to 208 by his opponent. but the old fellow
seemed fat and unwieldy. and it did not
seem possible for him long to Withstand
the attack of his 1.-THE, muscular and ac-
tive adversary.
Stecher took a waist hold on libby
early In the combat. and the old chap
was so worried he held on to the ropes
till compelled TO let go by Referee
Bothner Stecher finally tripped libby
and brought him to the floor. but failed
to hold him there.
Zbyszxo was almost entirely on the
defensive from the start, and soon real
lied that the young giant from the West
was too powerful for man of his years.
This made the bout slow and the gallery
gods voiced their disapproval.
After twenty-five minutes OF strug-
Cling the Pole got toe hold. but
Stccher broke it and fastened a head
lock on libby. The latter wriggled
out OF 1t and both reached their feet
Stecher soon got his bulky opponent
and tried desperately for body scis-
sors, but libby managed to prevent 1t,
and got on his feet.
lib had an excellent defence for the
body scissors. He invariably got hold Of
one of Stecher's feet and prevented clos
ing Of the scissors.
When Stecber finally got the scissors
feet. lifting Stecher on his back.
Stecher shifted his attack. took a head
lock and held II for two minutes before
lib wriggled out OF II. Stccher was slow
to take advantage OF shaky opponent
and the Pole recovered.
Then came the scissors followed By
the crotch hold and the finish,
John Pesek. the Nebraska Tiger, deep
ened the high opinion OF local patrons
by disposing OF Tommy Draak, the
rugged Hollander, rather easily In twen-
ty minutes and fifty-fivo seconds. The
hold was a wrist lock. Yet the Nebras-
kan took several other holds that caused
Draak to squirm and grunt. Pesek used
a hammer lock with discouraging effect,
the victim shaking his head and arm
after each application. No hold was
barred except the strangle, and PeselS
used nearly every one OF them on
Draak.
The contest was a spectacular one.
Pesek tumbling about the ring sc a
champion acrobat.
No matter what hold Draak adjusted
II was broken by Pescll like strands OF
uncooked spaghetti.
Jim Londos. the Greek champion. had
a rather easy time with Louis Romero.
putting him down with jiu Iitsu hold
had Romero pinned on the mat with a
combination arm and wrist hold and
the pressure wac so painful the victim
pounded franticaliy on the floor with
his free hand as signal that he had
enough.
Jack Curlcy created sensation by
escorting into the ring TALL well knit
man wearing a lavender mask. lie was
introduced as a college wrestler and was
said to be q Harvard man. He s 10
wrestle Stranger Lewis at the Hotel
Commodore next month under the au-
spices Of the International Srorting Club.
According 70 Americus. coach OF Har-
ward wrestlers the unknown will give
Lewis lively struggle.
Alex Hedlund OF Sweden subdued
Emil Heintz OF Jersey City In five min
utes with head chancery and arm lock.
Eugene Bruce downed Otto Sampson
with double wrist hold in thirteen
minutes.