Gene Kiniski Eugene Nicholas Kiniski ( November 23 , 1928 – April 14 , 2010 ) , better known as Gene Kiniski , was a Canadian professional wrestler and the father of wrestlers Nick Kiniski and Kelly Kiniski . He was born outside of Edmonton , Alberta , Canada . Kiniski was one of the first World Champions after Bronko Nagurski in professional wrestling to have a previous background in football . Early life . He was one of six children and over six feet tall by the age of seventeen , Gene wrestled and played football at St . Joseph ’ s High School . In March 1947 , he entered the annual Edmonton School ’ s Boxing and Wrestling Tournament at Westglen gymnasium . Due to his size , he was the lone heavyweight competing . Gene captured the attention of Annis Stkus , a scout for the Edmonton Eskimos , of the then Western Interprovincial Football Union in 1949 , ( which later merged with the Interprovincial Rugby Football Union to form the Canadian Football League ) . Along with Kiniski , wrestlers Al Oeming and Stu Hart were at the training camp as well . Two of his Eskimos teammates were future wrestlers Wilbur Snyder and Joe Blanchard . Gene secured himself a spot on the defensive line and his play earned him a scholarship to the University of Arizona . He was enrolled there from September 18 , 1950 to January 26 , 1952 and played on the defensive line for Bob Winslow . Rod Fenton recruited Kiniski into professional wrestling in Arizona in 1952 . He returned to Edmonton to play football for the Eskimos too , and he suffered a torn kneecap in the team ’ s first game against Saskatchewan in August 1952 . Kiniski retired from football in 1953 to resume wrestling full - time . Birth of a wrestling career . After retiring from football , Kiniski trained with Dory Funk Sr . and Tony Morelli for a wrestling career , eventually making his pro debut in 1953 . Kiniski ’ s first exposure on television was in Southern California in 1954 alongside other wrestlers such as Wilbur Snyder and Bobo Brazil . One year later , he teamed up with John Tolos to win his first major championship , the International TV Tag Team title , in Los Angeles , then challenged NWA World Champion Lou Thesz in November 1954 . As an emerging talent , Kiniski got the opportunity to wrestle Lou Thesz at the Olympic Auditorium on November 3 , 1954 . Kiniski lost in two straight falls . From there , Kiniski ventured to San Francisco and teamed with Lord James Blears to win the territory ' s version of the NWA World Tag Team title three times in 1955 ; after that , he went to Texas and , wrestling as Gene Kelly , captured the NWA Texas Heavyweight Championship in 1956 . Toronto and Montreal Runs . Kiniski began wrestling in his native Canada for the first time in November 1956 , debuting for Toronto ' s Maple Leaf Wrestling . His first main - event match in the territory took place at Maple Leaf Gardens in January 1957 , when he teamed with Buddy Rogers against Whipper Billy Watson and Pat O ' Connor and saw the beginning of a lengthy feud with Watson that spanned across Canada ; the Kiniski - Watson feud gained national exposure due to their matches sometimes being seen on CBC Television . He also challenged NWA World Heavyweight titleholders Watson , Thesz and Dick Hutton for the title on several occasions between 1955 and 1957 . In 1957 , Kiniski competed in Montreal and Toronto . His feuds with Whipper Billy Watson , Yukon Eric , Edouard Carpentier , and Pat O ’ Connor pushed his career further . Gene captured the British Empire title from O ’ Connor on May 2 , 1957 , and the Montreal version of the world title from Carpentier on June 12 , 1957 . Kiniski headlined a wrestling card at Delormier stadium in Montreal , where he dropped the Montreal world title to Killer Kowalski on July 17 , 1957 in front of 21 , 000 fans . Championship runs . Kiniski joined the American Wrestling Association in 1960 and defeated AWA World Champion Verne Gagne to win the title on July 11 , 1961 , also capturing the AWA World Tag Team title twice with Hard Boiled Haggerty . The title reign lasted less than a month . Kiniski won another title in West Texas a year later . In 1962 , Kiniski began what became the peak period of his career when he went to Vancouver to join NWA All Star Wrestling . Early on , he won the NWA British Empire Heavyweight title twice and the Pacific Coast Tag Team title three times , and he challenged again for the NWA World title , taking on Rogers in a main event at Empire Stadium in Vancouver on July 30 , 1962 ( Rogers beat Kiniski to retain his title ) , and Thesz in 1963 . He made Vancouver his home base while also making appearances in other promotions throughout North America and in Japan , particularly a lengthy stint in the World Wide Wrestling Federation ( WWWF ) in 1964 ; while there , he challenged WWWF Champion Bruno Sammartino several times . Kiniski wrestled Sammartino on November 16 , 1964 at Madison Square Garden . Thinking that he had pinned Sammartino in the second fall , Kiniski took the belt and left the ring . Despite being counted out , Kiniski kept the title until a rematch on December 14 settled the matter of who was the real champion . He also went to Dick the Bruiser ' s Indianapolis - based World Wrestling Association in December 1965 and captured its World Heavyweight title , holding it for four months . A few weeks later , Kiniski earned the opportunity to contend for the National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight title . The pinnacle of Kiniski ' s career finally came on January 7 , 1966 , when he defeated Thesz to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in St . Louis , Missouri in front of 11 , 612 fans at the Kiel Auditorium in St . Louis . Heel champion . Compared to Thesz , Kiniski was a heel and was very comfortable in his role as a “ bad guy ” world champion . As world champion , Kiniski wrestled many well - known luminaries . These included Bobo Brazil , Dick the Bruiser , Johnny Valentine , Bill Watts , Edouard Carpentier , Pat O ’ Connor , and the Funks , Terry and Dory , Jr . , respectively . He travelled worldwide to defend his title during his three - year reign as champion , including making frequent stops back in Vancouver to defend his title in NWA All Star , taking on challengers such as Lou Thesz , Don Leo Jonathan , Dutch Savage , Bill Dromo , Bearcat Wright , John Tolos , Chris Tolos , Abdullah the Butcher , Haystacks Calhoun , Bobby Shane , Dean Higuchi , Tex McKenzie and Paddy Barrett in the promotion . After stops in Honolulu , Tokyo , and becoming the first World Champion to appear in Los Angeles in more than 11 years in November 1968 , Kiniski was exhausted . At the 1968 NWA Convention , Kiniski announced that it was time to step down . Gene agreed to lose the championship to Dory Funk , Jr . He went down to a spinning toehold on February 11 , 1969 in Tampa . Into the 1970s . The NWA World title loss was not the end of the line , however , as Kiniski continued winning championships in NWA All Star and elsewhere . He won the NWA Missouri Heavyweight title from Terry Funk in St . Louis on March 16 , 1973 , while back in Vancouver , he won the Pacific Coast Heavyweight title seven times from 1970 to 1979 , and won the Canadian Tag Team title ten times between 1963 and 1976 , and in Japan , he captured the NWA International Heavyweight title in 1970 . He also got involved in the promotional side of the business when he joined forces with Sandor Kovacs and Portland , Oregon promoter Don Owen to acquire the Vancouver territory in the late 1960s ; that , combined with Kiniski ' s NWA World title reign at the time , helped make Vancouver a wrestling hotbed for several years , until Kovacs sold his share in the promotion to Al Tomko in 1977 . Kiniski retained his ownership stake in NWA All Star until around 1983 . Late career . Kiniski remained involved in the sport for a few more years , teaming periodically with his sons , Kelly and Nick , refereeing the main event of the inaugural NWA Starrcade ( Ric Flair vs . NWA World Champion Harley Race in a steel cage ) in 1983 , and later promoting events for Stampede Wrestling and the AWA in Vancouver while occasionally stepping into the ring . His final matches as an active wrestler took place in Winnipeg ' s West Four Wrestling Alliance on February 25 , 1992 , defeating " Bulldog " Bob Brown and Randy Rudd in singles matches and teaming with Chris Jericho and Lance Storm to battle Brown , The Natural and Gerry Morrow to a no - contest in a six - man match at a WFWA TV taping in Winnipeg . He acted as the cornerman for Dory Funk Jr . in a match between Funk and Nick Bockwinkel ( with Verne Gagne ) at WCW Slamboree in 1993 . He was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996 , and into the Tragos / Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in Newton , Iowa in 2004 . In 2000 , he was the interim president ( commissioner ) of All Japan Pro Wrestling ' s Pacific Wrestling Federation title governing body , but only while they searched for a permanent replacement for Lord James Blears and to present the vacant AJPW Triple Crown Championship to the winner of a tournament . The winner turned out to be Genichiro Tenryu ; Kiniski left thereafter , and in 2001 the permanent PWF president was announced as Stan Hansen , who had competed in the tournament and lost to Tenryu in the semifinals . Acting . In addition to his sports pursuits , Kiniski went into acting on occasion , appearing in the 1978 Sylvester Stallone movie Paradise Alley , as well as Double Happiness ( which also starred Sandra Oh ) and the made - in - Vancouver cult film Terminal City Ricochet ( with former " Big Valley " regular Peter Breck ) , playing a bit role as a policeman . On the TV side , he appeared as one of the wrestling legends interviewed on the Comedy Network series " Wrestling with the Past " , and he served as a commercial pitchman in several TV ads aired in the Vancouver area . He also made an appearance in an episode of the CBUT arts and entertainment magazine show " Zero Avenue " in 1993 , discussing art with host / interviewer Christine Lippa in a Vancouver - area art gallery . Death . Kiniski had been battling cancer in recent years when it was reported by Jim Ross on his blog on April 4 , 2010 that the cancer had recently spread to Kiniski ' s brain . He died on April 14 , 2010 in his adopted hometown of Blaine , Washington at age 81 .