- 09/08/2008 (5:10:26 pm)
- Georgiann Makropoulos
Also a great article on Kowalski from Mooneyham.
Walter “Killer” Kowalski: the Wrestling Legend
By: Colleen West Age 12
Walter “Killer” Kowalski was a great man. He still is a great wrestling legend. Kowalski just recently passed away and one of his last events was on November 18, 2007. This event was the Toys For Tots charity in
Kowalski volunteered to do an autograph signing for the Marine Corp. Toys For Tots on November 18, 2007. I am one of the many who had the honor of meeting this wrestling legend. At this time, he was 81 years old and seemed so full of life. Many arrived to see this man and all left overjoyed to have spoken to Kowalski.
Speaking to Kowalski was like speaking to an average person. Although I didn’t have much time with him, I did learn this about him. He didn’t want much, just to make the people he saw satisfied and he got what he asked for and more. Kowalski never asked for special treatment or anything of the sort. He was one of those legends that if you saw him walking down the street, he would stop and say hello and have a friendly conversation with you. Nobody expected him to leave forever until he had that one heart attack. The doctors didn’t think he would make it overnight, but he was still with us for three more weeks.
After three weeks Kowalski could no longer fight it, so he died. All the people who had the honor of meeting him will never forget what he had done for everyone. The charities, the donations, the laughs, all were part of his giving personality. Those he met and those who had the honor of seeing him wrestle will never forget the joy he brought to others and themselves. Walter Kowalski was a great legend, but most of all he was a great man, and a friend to all of those who met him.
Thank you for everything Mr. Kowalski. May God’s angels bring you to Heaven on a golden chariot for all of the people you touched.
LONG LIVE THE MEMORY OF WALTER KOWALSKI, A GREAT MAN!!
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I know I sent you Mike Mooneyham's column on Killer Kowalski previously, but I read it again today and I'm even more impressed with it.
The column was poetic, even majestic.
I have forwarded it to hundreds of my friends, relatives, fellow pro wrestling fans, and others who simply appreciate fine writing and a well-turned phrase.
As you know, Kowalski was known throughout the world; obituaries ran on the Associated Press wire, and in such papers as The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The London Times, and The Sydney (Australia) Morning Herald. These papers did not simply run the AP obit - they wrote their own; that is how important this guy was to the broader culture.
But none of those papers' writers captured Kowalski like Mike Mooneyham did.
I was pleased for Kowalski that he was so fondly remembered; I knew him, but not well. What I did know of him was that he was both imposing and kind. But I could not capture his essence like Mike Mooneyham did in his recent column.
Mike is a fan of pro wrestling, but a journalist as well, and keeps a respectable distance from his subject. But his column was not mere journalism - it was poetry, an obit of lyrics and wonders, and a heart-stirring tribute to a real man. I didn't full out cry, but I sure teared up, and how often does a column on pro wrestling make you do that?
Say what you will about pro wrestling and its practitioners, they are men, real men, with real lives and hopes and dreams and loves and losses. And Mike knows that and wrote of Kowalski's life in all its glory.
The world is a less-nice, less-gentle, less-fortunate place now that Killer Kowalski is dead. But, thanks to Mike Mooneyham, we know what we lost, and we know that angels tread the earth.
Christopher Cruise
