Zebra Kid

**George Alexander Bollas** (September 19, 1923 - January 28, 1977) was an American professional wrestler who was best known for his masked persona of the **Zebra Kid**.

## Early life

George Alexander Bollas was born on September 19, 1923, the youngest of four children to Greek immigrant parents; his father operated a restaurant. Weighing 200 pounds by the age of 12, Bollas attended Warren G. Harding High School, where he played football. Bollas was also a talented amateur wrestler at Ohio State University, proving that on March 23, 1946, when he defeated Morris Chitwood of Indiana University to win the NCAA Heavyweight Championship.

## Professional wrestling career

From 1946 to 1947, Bollas worked for Ohio promoter Al Haft as the Mystery Man to pick up extra money for college. During this time, Haft had a penchant for hiring OSU athletes to perform at his shows, albeit under masks. It was in 1947 that Bollas left college to start his career in professional wrestling; according to his son, he made this decision to support his family after his father was sick.

Bollas worked for Haft full-time by then until 1948, when he moved to New York. There, he made a name for himself as the Greek Hercules, but was banned from performing there after inciting a riot during a match with wrestler Mattie Mario. That same year, he appeared as the Intercollegiate Dark Secret while performing in Charlotte, North Carolina. After this, he found the gimmick that made him a star.

Bollas had stretch marks on his body from fluctuating weight, and other wrestlers called him "Zebra" due to this. As a result, the gimmick of the Zebra Kid was born while Bollas was competing in Los Angeles. Not long after, he signed a contract to work for Jack Pfeffer's promotion in Toledo, Ohio. On July 7, 1949, the Zebra Kid defeated "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers for Pfeffer's World Heavyweight Championship. He held onto the belt until August 8 when he was defeated for the title via disqualification by "Butcher" Dave Levin. Pfeffer and Bollas had issues with each other, however, specifically when Pfeffer would ridicule Bollas for running late to shows. Immediately, Bollas stopped working for Pfeffer.

Fast forward a year later, and he had met with Verne Gagne, moving to the Minneapolis territory where Gagne established himself. The Zebra Kid often saw himself in a main event position as he feuded with Gagne and Bronko Nagurski. On November 8, 1951, the Zebra Kid unsuccessfully challenged Lou Thesz for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Later that month, he wrestled a curfew draw with Whipper Billy Watson for Frank Tunney's Toronto promotion. In July 1952, he teamed with celebrated heel Hans Schnabel, defeating Gino Garibaldi and Leo Nomellini to win the San Francisco version of the Pacific Coast Tag Team Championship. They dropped the titles on August 13 to Garibaldi and Enrique Torres.

Other wrestlers emulated the Zebra Kid gimmick during this time period, including Lenny Montana, but Bollas had been the most established performer under this gimmick and had wrestled the most matches under it than the others. Bollas also engaged in a feud with Rikidozan in San Francisco. On December 23, 1952, The Zebra Kid defeated Sandor Szabo for the Beat the Champ International Television Championship in Los Angeles; Szabo won the title back from Bollas on February 3, 1953. Afterwards, Bollas' success dwindled when he briefly abandoned his Zebra Kid gimmick.

In October 1954, Bollas returned as the Zebra Kid and was now working for Honolulu promoter Al Karasick. Having peaked physically during this time, he defeated Lucky Simunovich on April 10, 1955 to win the NWA Hawaii Heavyweight Championship. His feud with Rikidozan also continued, when after a match Bollas won by disqualification, Rikidozan ripped the mask off of the Zebra Kid and was suspended from NWA Hawaii. Bollas continued to hold the Hawaii Heavyweight Championship until December, when he dropped it to Al Lolotai. From 1956 to 1957, The Zebra Kid wrestled in places like Georgia Championship Wrestling, Indiana, Columbus, and Memphis.

Bollas defeated Bob McCune for the Ohio State Championship in Columbus on March 23, 1957, the anniversary of his NCAA title victory. He then feuded with the likes of Bearcat Wright, Leon Graham, Frankie Talaber, and Billy Darnell. After emerging victorious in a match with Wright on July 13, a mob of fifty fans attacked him, but he was back in action several weeks later. In August, he was unmasked by Buddy Rogers, and the angle was repeated the night afterwards; Bollas had been unmasked various times before. Bollas proceeded to "job his way out of the territory" for the final three months of his contract, and ended the year with a successful program in Memphis and Nashville.

The Zebra Kid had an extended working tour overseas, including Australia and New Zealand in 1958. His return to the United States saw him sign with Capital Wrestling in February 1959, where he engaged in a memorable feud with Johnny Valentine as well as teaming with Jim Austeri as The Zebra Kids. Bollas soon returned to Texas, winning the Texas Brass Knuckles Championship on June 16, 1959, by defeating The Golden Giant, and dropping it to Danny McShain in October. In 1960, he toured Paris and Athens, the latter of where he defeated the Greek hero Lambrakis before a crowd of 43,000. On January 4, 1961, the Zebra Kid and Mike Sharpe defeated Nick Bockwinkel and Edouard Carpentier to capture the International Television Tag Team Championship, holding it until June 21, when they were dethroned by Alberto Torres and Ramón Torres. He later travelled to Japan for Rikidozan’s Japan Wrestling Association and returned to Texas again.

George Bollas and his family settled in England in 1964 with plans of getting into the promotional side of the business. Now in the state of semi-retirement, Bollas promoted matches in Greece with his cousin and defeated George Gordienko before a crowd of 15,000 in Athens. However, his cousin split the money with him and took it all, leaving George broke. The Zebra Kid retired after suffering a serious eye injury in Germany in 1968.

## Death

George "Zebra Kid" Bollas died at a hospital in Akron, Ohio on January 28, 1977, at the age of 53. His knees had been worn out after years of wrestling. In addition to heart problems, he had issues exercising and controlling his weight overall.