Book captures spirit of 'Dick the Bruiser'
From a lonely room he rented at the old YMCA in downtown Lafayette to center ring at Madison Square Garden, William Afflis' 62 years on Earth were seldom dull.
Most people know Afflis better as Dick The Bruiser. Hall of Fame pro wrestler. Outstanding football player. Good businessman.
The latter might surprise people but that was one of the discoveries made by Richard Vicek, a former Lafayette resident and graduate of Saint Joseph's College who has written the definitive biography: "Bruiser: The World's Most Dangerous Wrestler."
"I didn't know he was the underlying co-owner of the wrestling promotions in Indianapolis," Vicek said.
Not that anyone could figure that out from looking at the articles of incorporation. Afflis' wife was president of Indiana Championship Wrestling. Afflis' business partner, Wilbur Snyder a.k.a. the World's Most Scientific Wrestler, listed his wife as vice president and Afflis' mother was secretary-treasurer.
"He was smart enough to know you have to create storylines and publicity stunts to get people to show up at the arenas," Vicek said. "In those days, wrestlers got 30 percent of the box office. I even have a sample payout from an event at White Sox Park in Chicago. The highest percentages went to Bruiser, Snyder and Vern Gagne. The next cream of the crop talent — The Sheik, Bobby Heenan, Billy Robinson, Nick Bockwinkel, the Crusher — got the next cut. The opening matches, they may get $100.
"He had to pay 10 percent of the gate to the state athletic commission, but no surprise, his was the only company granted a license throughout the 60s, 70s and into the 80s to stage wrestling matches. It was a monopoly."
Afflis also directed and choreographed the television "interviews" between matches. He would keep a calendar of upcoming matches and schedule the interviews tailored for the specific television market. Usually, he saved himself for last.
"They would stage it so that Sam Menacker or Chuck Marlowe would say our time's expired. Bruiser would go berzerk and start ranting," Vicek said.
Vicek was inspired to write the story of Dick the Bruiser from age 9, when his parents took him to the old International Ampitheater in Chicago.
Dick the Bruiser: 'World's most dangerous wrestler'
"The first two cards I attended, Bruiser was in the main event," Vicek recalled. "Wow! There's 9,000 people chanting 'We want blood.' I believed all of this.
"Recently, I asked my dad, who's 87 years old, why you never told me this was a staged performance? He said, 'Aw, I didn't want to spoil the fun for you.' "
Afflis' ties to Lafayette were formed just after World War II, when his mother lost her state government job and the family moved back to Delphi. Afflis, who had played varsity football as a freshman and sophomore at Shortridge High School, was in a bind.
"My folks moved back to Delphi and there was no football team," Afflis told WASK's Lanny Sigo in a 1983 interview. "To have been able to have eligibility and play at Lafayette Jefferson, I moved to the YMCA in Lafayette.
"I lived my junior and senior year at the old YMCA on Seventh Street. I lived here, ate here and slept the nights here, so I was a resident of Lafayette."
The two years in Lafayette helped Afflis build an independent spirit that remained for the duration of his life. The move also paid off with a college scholarship to Purdue after being one of two all-state guards during his senior year at Jeff.
Afflis didn't stay long at Purdue or his other collegiate destination, Nevada, before moving on to the National Football League. He played four seasons for the Green Bay Packers in the post-Curly Lambeau, pre-Vince Lombardi era from 1951-54.
"In those days there were only 12 NFL teams with 33 guys each," Vicek said. "That's roughly 400 athletes out of 130 million in the nation. That is an elite group of athletes. That was before big money and big TV.
"He said in interviews he may have made $5,000 a year in those days. That was still more than Joe Lunchbox but still ... He didn't miss a game for four years."
With the wear and tear of pro football getting to him — including a kick to the throat that left Afflis with a distinctive growl for the rest of his life — he started looking for other ways to make a living. Afflis started dabbling in professional wrestling during the offseason. When he realized he could make more money without the risk of serious injury, Afflis became Dick The Bruiser.
Within a year, Dick The Bruiser is in main events in Chicago. The next year, he is in the main event against Angelo Rocca at Madison Square Garden in New York.
He bragged in an interview that he made over $100,000 a year in the early 1960s when the median yearly wage was $4,000.
"It's amazing how quickly his career took off, and it was his ability to project ferociousness," Vicek said. "That made him unique. He was a villain when he started out. He didn't change his wrestling style to flying dropkicks, head scissors; he was ... a brawler.
"When people saw him on TV, and that growling voice, they bought into it. Even if you suspected wrestling was a put-on, when you saw Bruiser looking into the camera with a microphone in his face, growling about what the weasel Bobby Heenan did to me last week at the coliseum, you believed it."
Forgotten graves of notable Indianapolis people
As Afflis became famous, his classmates in Delphi and Lafayette took pride. Several assisted Vicek on his research, providing items from school yearbooks to photographs, including one of Afflis standing bare-chested on the roof of his fraternity house at Purdue when he was 17 years old.
Vicek interviewed more than 250 people for the book, describing the process as "recreating a jigsaw puzzle with 5,000 pieces."
Now, 25 years after Afflis' death due to a ruptured blood vessel in his esophagus while lifting weights, his story is finally being told.
"Die-hard wrestling fans know about this, but I think the non-wrestling fan will be fascinated by Bruiser's story," Vicek said. "I'm not going to say he was the Babe Ruth or Jackie Robinson of pro wrestling, but he was so unique. He was able to project violence in the ring. He projected believability. After seeing him, people would think these matches must be real."
Thompson is the sports content coach for the Journal & Courier. Contact him at kthompson@jconline.com.
To buy the book
"Dick The Bruiser: The World's Most Dangerous Wrestler" is available through Crowbar Press (www.crowbarpress.com). Cost is $19.95 plus postage and handling.