Charles Kalani, Jr.

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Charles Kalani, Jr.
Statistics
Ring name(s) Professor Toru Tanaka/Professor Tanaka
Billed height 5"11"
Billed weight 275
Born January 6, 1930(1930-01-06)
Honolulu, Hawaii
Died August 22, 2000 (aged 70)
Billed from Japan
Debut 1967

Charles "Charlie" J. Kalani, Jr. (January 6, 1930 - August 22, 2000) was an American professional wrestler, professional boxer,[1] college football player, Soldier, actor, and Martial Artist who, in fighting rings, was also known as Professor Toru Tanaka, or simply, Professor Tanaka.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of Charles J. Kalani and Christina Leong Kalani (who was part Chinese). Charlie began studying judo at age nine. At Iolani High School (class of 1949),[2] he was a natural at many sports, and Doris Kalani credited his time on the football team with keeping him away from trouble. "He was a street kid getting into trouble and would have ended up in reform school if Father [Kenneth] Bray hadn't helped him out by bringing him to Iolani. He felt Iolani saved him," she told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.

He would leave Hawaii for Utah's Weber Junior College (now Weber State University). On December 6, 1951, the Associated Press reported he received honorable mention for playing football at the University of Utah. It was at the University of Utah that he also met his wife Doris in 1952. On December 3, 1952 the Associated Press reported Charlie would become a professional boxer. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1955, Charlie would rise to the rank of sergeant, and excelled on the pistol team.

For four years, Charlie and Doris were at the base in Nuremberg, Germany. "A German friend of his started taking judo from Charlie. ... Charlie was giving little demonstrations at the gym on the base. That friend told him about some wrestling matches that were around in the area," said Doris. "It was like being in a circus being married to him. We were married for 50 years. It was always sports and activities like that going on all the time. I remember going to a wrestling match in Nurenberg. They had wrestlers from other countries at this match, like Italy, Poland. I don't remember any American wrestlers at that time."

[edit] Career

After his discharge from the service in 1966, the couple moved to Monterey, California, where Charlie ran a Judo and Danzan-ryu Jujitsu academy with Professor John Chow-Hoon. San Francisco promoter Roy Shire asked him to wrestle in 1967, but he had to get meaner. "Charlie was almost full-blooded Hawaiian," said Doris. "In wrestling, Hawaii seemed not as exciting as Japan, so they talked him into becoming a Japanese wrestler."

Charlie's most famous tag team partner was Harry Fujiwara (better known as Mr. Fuji), whom he knew from high school in Hawaii. In his book, Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks, Freddie Blassie explored the relationship between the two "Japanese" heels. "From Tanaka's point of view, he was passing time with Fuji because it made sense to team up with another Japanese villain. The two certainly had no great admiration for one another. Tanaka was a by-the-book guy, who looked at wrestling a means to make a living. He wanted to work his match, shake hands with everyone afterwards, and save some money. He was a professional," wrote Blassie. "If you wanted to talk about an angle beforehand, you always went to Tanaka. He was the ring general, who'd lead everyone else in the match. Fuji was certainly a good performer, but you couldn't control him. So, in addition to worrying about their opponents, Tanaka had the responsibility of making sure that Fuji didn't get out of hand. I guess he did a pretty good job because, years later, when Tanaka was relegated to working these tiny independent shows to earn a few extra bucks, Fuji himself had become a manager."

By the early 1980s, Kalani's body couldn't handle the beatings in the ring any longer, and he moved into the film world on a more permanent basis. His first film was 1981's An Eye for an Eye and his last film was 1995's Hard Justice.

Charlie died of heart failure on August 22, 2000 at the age of 70. He had a full military funeral.

[edit] Filmography

Professor Tanaka was also featured in a television commercial for a brand of rice in Puerto Rico. His other appearance in a commercial was for Colgate toothpaste with Pat Morita. Tanaka was seen as an extra in a few of David Lee Roth's music videos in the mid-1980s.

Tanaka was one of three semi-retired professional wrestlers to compete in a tug-of-war match with two other wrestlers teamed up against a large group of children on the Nickelodeon series Wild and Crazy Kids in the early 1990's.

[edit] Managers

[edit] Wrestlers managed

[edit] Championships and accomplishments

  • International Wrestling Alliance
  • IWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
  • IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Skull Murphy
  • L&G Promotions
  • NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (2 times)

1Records don't show which NWA affiliate Tanaka worked for when his two reigns with the title began. While usually defended in Southeastern Championship Wrestling, it was occasionally used in other promotions.

[edit] See also

Professional wrestling
Portal

[edit] References

  1. ^ Human:49443 - Boxrec Boxing Encyclopedia
  2. ^ Alumni Making Headlines (April 2006). The Professor Toru Tanaka (Charles Kalani ’49) Remembered. Iolani School website.

[edit] External links

Languages