Salt Lake Tribune | 1917-03-18 | Page 47 | Joe Stecher is in Class by Himself

JOE STECHER IS 1 CLASS BY HIMSELF Nebraskan's Famous , Scissors Scis-sors Hold as Distinctive as Gotch's Toe Hold. CHICAGO, March 17.-Toe Steelier, the husky Nebraska farmer boy, has, a distinction -which few athletes of the present day can claim the distinction of standing in a class very much by himself. Look over the field of sports and vou find but few who rank in this select set. Johnny Kilbane is one, Ty Cobb is without a doubt the greatest all-around all-around ball player of the day and Willie Hoppe stands head and shoulders above everj- billiard expert in the world. There are few others.' Much has been written about Stech-er's Stech-er's great strength. He has been given plenty of recognition for his prowess on the mat, and today he is recognized as j the world's champion. But have you ever considered that Steelier, as he stands today, is just as: great at his style of wrestling as Frank Gotch was at his a few years ago? This may sound like a broad statement. state-ment. Maybe it is and maybe it isn't, but the fact remains that there is not another wrestler in the world who can hold a candle to Stecher in the use of the body scissors hold. Frank Gotch's forte was his famous toe hold, and he was a finished master in its use. Gotch was also a great rough-and-tumble wrestler. His great strength, well distributed for the most part, but favoring his powerful arms and shoulders to some extent, made him a i demon on the canvas. Famous Scissors. In comparison with Gotch Stecher Is a different type of wrestler. The big boy from the Cornhusker state is endowed en-dowed with almost superhuman strength in his hips and legs. Once caught in the vise of his body scissors an opponent op-ponent is helpless. Even the biggest and strongest men who have tackled Stecher have found it impossible to extricate ex-tricate themselves from the now famous scissors hold. "Where Gotch forced his opponents to pin their shoulders to the mat through the use of the agonizing toe-hold, Stecher "s persuader is the crushing scissors. scis-sors. With his powerful limbs locked around an opponent's middle Stecher slowly crushes him into submission. The best wrestlers who have tried to defeat Stecher attempted to wear him out. Charley Cutler, Strangler Lewis and others took the defensive when they entered the arena with the Nebraska boy. for when on the defensive they had a better chance to keep away from his famous hold. Many followers of wrestling who have never "seen Stecher work probably do not appreciate just what his famous crusher means to the wrestler who gets caught in it. Briefly, it is a rib-crushing hold. Nothing more nor less than slow torture. Stecher has perfected the hold until now he can clamp it onto an opponent from ulmost any position. He may be nearly down himself and still lock his man with those powerful limbs. Once ho gets the hold Stecher lorks his ankles, brings his knees toward to-ward each other with a slow but powerful power-ful inward pressure, and if his man doesn't yelp for mercy he is soon rolled over on his back. Stecher stands ready to defend his claims to the catch-as-catch-can title, and. although illne?s kept him out of several big matches during the past winter, win-ter, he announces now that he is readv. In all probability it will be some moons before the wrestler springs up who will be aide to defeat Stecher. and, like Gotch. he may be enabled to retire Tin-defeated. Tin-defeated. Those who know both wrestlers intimately are of the opinion that Stecher would have defeated Gotch had Ihcv met last summer, for the champion cham-pion toe-holrlcr is getting aUmg in years now and Steelier is in his prime.