Sandor Szabo

Sandor Szabo – Born on January 4, 1906 in Kosice, in what was then part of Hungary, Sandor first learned to box and wrestle in exchange for bread in worn-torn Budapest, where his family has fled when his home was over run during World War I. He became a top amateur wrestler, winning the bronze medal at 82 kilograms at the 1926 European championships, and won the gold the next year. Sandor came to the United States as part of the Hungarian national team in 1929, and immigrated. He began his pro-wrestling career in 1930. He first came to Los Angeles in 1935 for Lou Daro’s International tournament. It was a double elimination tournament in which he defeated Pat Fraley, Howard Cantonwine, Bob “Rebel” Russell, Everett Kibbons, Blue Sun Jennings, and Kimon Kudo. He lost to Chief Little Wolf on June 12, 1935 in front of 10,400 and then was eliminated by Little Wolf on June 19, 1935. Sandor disn’t leave after the tournament and in fact moved his family to Santa Monica, where he would live the rest of his life. He held the Pacific Coast title thirteen times between 1937 and 1951. In August 1939 he wrestled world champion Jim Londos to a draw in a match that lasted two hours and ten minutes. In 1941 he won the NWA title in St. Louis. He also won the Beat the Champ title on multiple occasions throughout the 1950s as well as multiple tag team championships at the Olympic with Wilbur Snyder and Bobo Brazil. Szabo also was well known for a hit record featuring the song “Hold Me in Your Arms” in 1952. He retired from wrestling in 1963 and worked as Jules Strongbow’s assistant at the Olympic till his death on October 16, 1966.

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