Hard Boiled Haggerty

**Donald Joseph Stansauk** (April 2, 1925 – January 27, 2004) was an American professional wrestler and actor, known by his ring name, **Hard Boiled Haggerty**. He was previously a professional American football player, and became a successful character actor after his wrestling career.

## Early life and football career

Born Donald Joseph Stansauk on April 2, 1925, in Los Angeles, California, Haggerty came from a Lithuanian family. He also served in the U.S. Navy on the battleship the USS *New Jersey* during World War II.

After attending Pasadena City College and the University of Denver, Stansauk was drafted by the Detroit Lions in the eighteenth round of the National Football League entry draft in 1950. He played defensive tackle and, after a season with the Lions, was traded to the Green Bay Packers. Over the next two seasons, Stansauk played in 15 games and recovered two fumbles.

## Professional wrestling career

He made his wrestling debut under his real name in Green Bay, Wisconsin. From there, he moved to Chicago, where he was given the ring name Don Sparrow by promoter Karl Pojello, who thought that Stansauk "moved like a bird". He was given the name "Hard Boiled Haggerty" by promoter Wally Karbo while wrestling in Minneapolis and fought as a heel. Haggerty won his first championship on April 4, 1950 with Ray Eckert, winning the San Francisco version of the National Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship.

After dropping the title the following month, he teamed with Dutch Howlett on June 22 to win the Midwest Wrestling Association American Tag Team Championship in Ohio, defeating Jack Kennedy and Lucky Simunovich. After losing the belts, Haggerty continued wrestling in California. On September 5, 1951, he won the NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship with Tom Rice by defeating Killer Kowalski and Hans Hermann. They defeated Enrique Torres and Ron Etchison on January 29, 1954 to win the titles again until dropping it to them on February 12. He had another reign in March with Danny Plechas.

On September 20, 1956, Haggerty and Dick Hutton defeated Guy Brunetti and Joe Brunetti for the NWA Canadian Open Tag Team Championship while competing for Maple Leaf Wrestling; their reign lasted a week until dropping it back to them. Later that year, he competed for the International Wrestling Association in Montreal, winning the IWA World Heavyweight Championship on October 3, defeating Killer Kowalski for the belt. He held the title for less than a month, losing it back to Kowalski in a rematch.

Haggerty then formed a team with Kinji Shibuya in Minneapolis, winning their version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship on April 22, 1958. They held the title for only a day, however, before it was returned to the previous champions because of concerns regarding the referee for the title match. On January 27, 1960, Haggerty won the NWA Hawaii Tag Team Championship with Bill Savage by defeating Jerry Gordet and Lord James Blears. They lost the belts to Blears and Herb Freeman on March 9, but on April 13, Haggerty teamed with Butcher Vachon to regain the championship, until losing it on May 11 to Gordet and Nick Kozak.

Hard Boiled Haggerty found great success in his career in the American Wrestling Association (AWA). On October 4, 1960, Haggerty and Lenny Montana defeated Murder Inc. (Stan Kowalski and Tiny Mills) to win the AWA World Tag Team Championship. When Montana broke his leg, Haggerty chose Gene Kiniski as his new partner. They held the titles until dropping them on May 21, 1961, to Leo Nomellini and Wilbur Snyder. They regained the titles on July 19, however, during a cage match between Kiniski and Verne Gagne on August 8, Haggerty's interference backfired which caused the team to split up. He challenged Kiniski for the AWA United States Heavyweight Championship and took the belt from him in September, holding it until dropping it on October 17 to Mr. M. To determine the fate of the tag titles, on September 16, Haggerty and Kiniski wrestled a singles match. Haggerty won the match and the belts, which he held until November 16, competing with Bob Geigel as his new partner.

Less than a year later, Haggerty reunited with Kiniski in Vancouver. On March 26, 1962, they defeated Mr. Kleen and Whipper Billy Watson to win their version of the NWA Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship. They held onto the titles until July 9, dropping them to Bearcat Wright and Watson. However, they won the titles back from the duo on August 7. The championships were retired by November, thus Haggerty and Kiniski earned the distinction of being the final champions. Haggerty then succeeded in taking the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship from Neff Maivia on February 6, 1964. He held the belt for over two months but lost it back to Maivia on April 8 during a rematch.

While wrestling with the Los Angeles-based Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA), he continued to find success in tag team action. Haggerty and Dick "The Destroyer" Beyer defeated Alberto Torres and Ramón Torres on July 30, 1964, to win the WWA World Tag Team Championship. On October 27, they dropped the belts to Fred Blassie and Mr. Moto, but it was a week later on November 3 that they won it back, until dropping it on December 9 to Bob Ellis and Édouard Carpentier. On February 24, 1965, Haggerty won the NWA Hawaii United States Championship from Enrique Torres and held the belt until September 15 that year, when he lost the title to King Curtis Iaukea. He later returned to Los Angeles, where he teamed with El Shareef to win the WWA World Tag Team Championship twice more until his retirement in 1973.

## Acting and retirement

In 1968, Hard Boiled Haggerty appeared in an uncredited role as Ape in the film "P.J." His official Hollywood debut was in “Paint Your Wagon” with Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin in 1969. According to the Los Angeles Times: *"The names of his characters pretty much describe what he was hired to do: the Turk, a sadistic bouncer bashing Anthony Quinn in “A Dream of Kings” in 1969; Redneck in “Who Is Killing the Stuntmen?” in 1977; Tigerman in “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century” in 1979; and Awful Abdul in “Million Dollar Mystery” in 1987. He portrayed any menacing character a director needed -- bartender, pool player, masseur, jailer, lumberjack, cop."*

He also had a role in several television shows, including Adam-12, Kung Fu, Get Smart, Starsky and Hutch, Columbo, Baretta, Happy Days, The Bob Newhart Show, The Love Boat, The Incredible Hulk and Crazy Like a Fox.

He was a highly respected member of the Cauliflower Alley Club, and earned one of their highest honors in 1993, the Iron Mike Mazurki Award. While living at Pacific Palisades, Don Haggerty (as he was then known) was an ardent member of Elysium Institute in Topanga. He was described as having a great sense of humor, and was admired by all.

## Death

On June 20, 2003, Haggerty was involved in a car accident in Los Angeles, suffering from a broken neck and ribs as a result. On January 27, 2004, Haggerty died from natural causes at his home in Malibu, California at the age of 78.