Wrestler Inspiration for Superman Used to Wrestle Right Here in Wichita Falls
The inspiration for the comic book hero Superman was actually a wrestler and some older locals might have seen him wrestle right here in Wichita Falls.
Whether you like comic books or not, we all know at least a little something about Superman, but did you know the original cartoons were modeled after a wrestler? The cartoons were based on the Action Comics series, but back in the day cartoons used something called 'Rotoscoping' -- tracing over real people, making the cartoons appear more believable. You can see one of these Superman cartoons above.
The person they used to do this for this new Superman cartoon was wrestler Karl Krauser. The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame here in Wichita Falls actually shared a pretty cool flyer of Karl (seen above).
Karl wrestled in Wichita Falls at Spudder Baseball Park. Yup, Wichita Falls also used to have a minor league baseball team called the Spudders. For a period of time they were associated with the Saint Louis Browns, who would go on to become my Baltimore Orioles.
I actually found a clip of Karl Krauser wrestling sometime in the 30s or 40s. What I found most amazing is they used chairs in the ring back then. Why did I think that was an 80s-style attack? I couldn't imagine being the first wrestler to come up with the idea of hitting someone with a chair from the crowd.
Just a cool old-school Wichita Falls story. I like it when Wichita Falls has a cool nerd connection like comic books and wrestling. We already had the Cowboys come here for training camp, just need some weird 'Star Wars' connection and you have all my favorite things.
BONUS: Speaking of 'Star Wars' in Wichita Falls