It was in her promotion that a Texas-born grappler named George Wagner first donned an elaborate robe, dyed his hair blond, walked to the ring with a valet, and became the 1950s television sensation Gorgeous George, the toast of the coast.. Big hug and a kiss! Gene Lebell Congratulations, Connie P Conrad Palmisano, Congratulations Uncle Gene for receiving the lifetime award. You were a better reference than SAG! LeBell, known as the Godfather of So they said I could make good money in professional wrestling, which I did. Michael Hughes, Thank you for being such an influence and inspiration to MANY! The diminutive kid was bullied, finally responding by choking the offending cadet a move he applied to Steven Seagal 52 years later while filming Hard to Kill.. It has been an honor to work with you ,and see how much you have done, over the years. As Rousey rose to prominence in the UFC as the first woman on its roster and its first female champion, LeBell was always in her corner, often seen with a stopwatch to record her first-round finishes. His mother later married Cal Eaton, with whom she promoted fights. This is very much deserved. Over his career, LeBell was bludgeoned, shot, run over, karate-chopped (he became friends with Bruce Lee) and drowned for $2,000 per week earning more than most lawyers during those days. He won the Amateur Athletic Union National Judo Championships in 1954 Roberts, Nobody in the world more respected!! Logan Holladay, Congratulations to Uncle Gene for a lifetime of stunts and terrorizing the stunt people; either riding dirt bikes or putting them to sleep. The Eagles won, the Falcons and Patriots made some interesting decisions (for better or worse), and late-round quarterbacks are coming out of the woodwork. LeBell was also at the center of one of the most highly anticipated fights of the 1970s. (Hans Gutknecht/LA Daily News), Gene LeBell, Photo courtesy of Midge LeBell, Gene LeBell, Ronda Rousey and Midge LeBell during the Ronda Rousey Health Rocks After After Party at Paladinos in Tarzana Sunday, November 9, 2014.Proceeds from the event went to provide preventative medical treatment to musicians and entertainers with no insurance. (James C. Udel, Variety, 2018). Gene LeBell remained a towering figure in the history and expansion of mixed martial arts and sports entertainment. Can Phoenix generate enough easy offense to keep up with Denver? pic.twitter.com/IqcuVDIu7O, Chuck Norris (@chucknorris) August 10, 2022. Michael Hilow, Congratulations to the prettiest man in Hollywood, and the reason the phrase Bad Ass was created.. No one is more deserving than my buddy, and everyones Uncle.. Uncle Gene! He was larger than life, and he was so kind. The pink uniform originated from a trip to Japan where a pair of red socks, or shorts, made their way into the laundry, turning his white uniform to pink. Gene LeBell Gene LeBell talks about Bruce Lee. Outside of his film and television work, in 1963 he took part in a preview of todays mixed martial arts fights when he faced a middleweight boxer, Milo Savage, and defeated him in the fourth round with a choke hold that rendered Savage unconscious. Norman Howell, Congratulations Gene LeBell an incredible Honor an so well deserved. At 20, he was walloped by John Wayne in Big Jim McLain (1952). He once sparred with legendary boxer Sugar Ray Robinson as a teenager. focusing on living legends of the below-the-line world. "Is he still While working with rising martial arts star Bruce Lee on the set of The Green Hornet, LeBell was instructed by the stunt coordinator to subdue the actorwho was said to be terrorizing the stuntman for a particular sceneand did so by quickly grabbing Lee in a firemans carry and running around the set with him. You truly are a one-off, a living legend. Midge and Gene were married twice. I was told that all the judo and karate people were not making any money at that time; they were starving, LeBell recalled in that interview. However, the writing was on the wall for Savage: LeBell threw and then mounted the boxer in the second round, although he couldnt secure a finish, then hip-tossed him in the fourth round before using a gi choke to render his foe unconsciousmuch to the displeasure of the crowd, which was unused to seeing people choked in this way. The news was confirmed by actor and former MMA fighter Bas Rutten on Facebook. Sandra Brumfield Avo, Gene is as it has been said amongst the fight world..is the Toughest Man. LeBells wrestling fortunes variedhis brother Mike told Sports Illustrated in 1995 that he had fired Gene on several occasions, noting that sometimes even I thought he was crazybut his career continued its upward trajectory as he moved into the Hollywood stunt work that would see him participating in thousands of projects over the years. Steve Boyum, Absolutely couldnt go to a better candidate. He is there to help you any time any where. We cant have blood! Gaffer tape stanched the bleeding, and LeBell managed six more takes. Will Bowman, Well deserved! He totally supported me, he was telling my mom to let me do it, and he was telling me, Ive won every R-E-A-L fight and never made a penny and lost every R-E-E-L fight and I am comfortably retired, think about that kid. He said he would help me out with this MMA stuff, but he was always trying to get me stunt jobs and to meet the right people in the stunt works so I would have somewhere to go after fighting. Gene LeBell, 89, Judo Champion, Wrestler and Star Stuntman, Dies Your IP: Realizing that judo was no way to make a living, he shifted to professional wrestling later in 1955. LeBell lived long enough to learn submission wrestling from the likes of Ed Strangler Lewis, study judo in postwar Japan, win the first notable mixed martial arts match in 1963 and then referee the much-hyped but disappointing 1976 proto-MMA showdown between boxer Muhammad Ali and wrestler Antonio Inoki, trade fighting tips and blows with a young Bruce Lee on the set of The Green Hornet, allegedly choke out martial-arts action star Steven Seagal on the set of Out for Justice in 1991, and even decline an invitation to the early Ultimate Fighting Championship events when he and 82-year-old jujitsu pioneer Hlio Gracie couldnt settle on a fighting weight. According to a 2014 interview in Black Belt, LeBell had no idea the fight would be as significant as later developments in the sport of MMA have made it.