George Tragos

Tragos emigrated from Greece to the United States in 1910. In 1922, he became an amateur wrestling coach at the University of Missouri at Columbia and began wrestling professionally. He wrestled in St. Louis for most of his career.

Tragos had a vicious reputation as a wrestler, often deliberately injuring his opponents. Lou Thesz, who trained under Tragos, said Tragos never harmed him because he had always shown Tragos the utmost respect befitting a top-tier grappler, but he observed Tragos maim numerous people over insults. In one instance, a professional wrestling promoter ordered him to lose to an opponent whom Tragos considered an inferior grappler (this is normal in professional wrestling, which even back then was effectively theatre). His ego bruised, Tragos took vicarious revenge upon his opponent by maiming his opponent's arm using a dangerous double wristlock maneuver. There was so much internal damage that the arm eventually became gangrenous and had to be amputated. Tragos expressed no remorse, dismissing the incident as simply part of the sport.[1]

• George Tragos/Lou Thesz Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
  • Class of 1999.[2]

• Lou Thesz; Kit Bauman (2011). Hooker. Crowbar Press. ISBN 978-0-9844090-4-4.
• Tim Hornbaker (2017). Legends of Pro Wrestling: 150 Years of Headlocks, Body Slams, and Piledrivers. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781613218754.

• George Tragos at the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum