Wahoo McDaniel

Edward McDaniel (June 19, 1938 – April 18, 2002), better known by his ring name Wahoo McDaniel, was a Choctaw-Chickasaw Native American who achieved fame as a professional American football player, and later as a professional wrestler. He is notable for having held the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship five times. McDaniel was a major star in prominent National Wrestling Alliance affiliated promotions such as Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling, NWA Big Time Wrestling and Jim Crockett Promotions.

Wahoo McDaniel
Born
Edward McDaniel

(1938-06-19)June 19, 1938
DiedApril 18, 2002(2002-04-18) (aged 63)
Spouse(s)Monta Rae (divorced)
Karen Reeves (divorced)
Children3
Ring name(s)Wahoo McDaniel
Wahoo McDaniels
Billed height5 ft 11 in (180 cm)[1]
Billed weight280 lb (127 kg)[1]
Billed fromMidland, Texas
Trained byDory Funk
Debut1961
Retired1996

Football career
No. 62, 54
Position:Linebacker / Guard
Personal information
Height:6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:235 lb (107 kg)
Career information
College:Oklahoma
AFL draft:1960 / Round: 2
Pick: First Selections
(by the Los Angeles Chargers)
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Player stats at NFL.com
Player stats at PFR

Early life

McDaniel was born in the small town of Bernice, Oklahoma in 1938. His father worked in oil and he moved to several towns before settling down in Midland, Texas while McDaniel was in middle school. One of his baseball coaches was George H. W. Bush. The name "Wahoo" actually came from his father, who was known as "Big Wahoo". He was a problematic teenager but he was accepted to the University of Oklahoma. There he became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and he was also a part of Bud Wilkinson's Sooners football program.[2]

Professional football career

McDaniel began his career as a professional football player in 1960, playing for the Houston Oilers during their inaugural AFL Championship-winning season.[3][4] He then played for Denver Broncos between 1961 and 1963.[4] After he started playing as a linebacker for the New York Jets in 1964, McDaniel started wearing a custom jersey which had the name "Wahoo" sewn on the back above jersey 54.[5] Whenever he made a tackle as a Jet, the public address announcer would ask the crowd WHO made that tackle, and the crowd would shout, "Wahoo! Wahoo! Wahoo!"[5] After two seasons with the Jets, McDaniel went to the Miami Dolphins in 1966, and played with this team until his retirement after the 1968 season.[4]

Professional wrestling career

In 1974, McDaniel came to Mid-Atlantic to wrestle for Jim Crockett Promotions and help build up the territory as a singles territory in a feud with a rival from Texas, Johnny Valentine. The feud evolved into a tag feud with McDaniel and Paul Jones taking on Valentine and Ric Flair, who McDaniel met in the AWA. His performance was heavily disliked and criticized.[6]

McDaniel and Valentine went on to have a feud remembered to this day for the sheer force of their punch/chop exchanges, both men widely known for their hard-hitting style. McDaniel won the Mid-Atlantic title from Valentine on June 29, 1975, in Asheville, North Carolina.[7]

In 1977, Johnny Valentine's son Greg Valentine attacked McDaniel and broke his leg in an angle to establish Greg as Johnny's successor. Valentine originally won the title on June 11, 1977, with McDaniel regaining it in Raleigh, North Carolina two months later. On September 7, 1977, Valentine regained the title at the WRAL-TV studio tapings, breaking McDaniel's leg in the process. This angle is particularly remembered for a follow-up interview weeks later with Flair and Valentine throwing change at McDaniel, and Valentine asking him if he needed a custom-made wheelchair for his fat body. Valentine then infuriated fans (thus building up the demand for a rematch) by parading around in T-shirts which read "I Broke Wahoo's Leg" and "No More Wahoo."[8]

McDaniel is often compared to Chief Jay Strongbow, an Italian-American who played a Native American wrestler at the time. Wahoo was respected by other wrestlers and football players for his toughness, physical style and his crazy antics outside of the ring. The respect as a legitimate athlete made it easy for him to go to different territories and be successful when many babyfaces had trouble doing so. Joe Namath and Larry Csonka, who played with him early in their careers, wrote stories about him in their autobiographies. Along that same line, Len Dawson has been quoted as saying: "The hardest hit I ever received on a football field was by Wahoo McDaniel."[9]

In 2019, he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.[10]

Personal life

McDaniel was married five times to four different women. With his first wife, Monta Rae, he had two daughters, Nikki, born in June 1963 and living in Houston and Cindi, born in October 1965 and living in Rowlett, Texas. He has four grandchildren, Dustin and Brittany through Nikki and twins, Morgan and Taylor, through Cindi. He also had a son, Zac, from a later marriage to Karen Reeves.[11][12]

McDaniel's health started to deteriorate in the mid-1990s, which led to his retirement in 1996, and he eventually lost both kidneys. He was awaiting a kidney transplant when he died of complications from diabetes and kidney failure on April 18, 2002.[13]

Championships and accomplishments

See also

References

  1. "Wahoo McDaniel - OWW Profile". onlineworlofwrestling.com. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on October 8, 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. Eskenazi, Gerald (April 25, 2002). "Wahoo McDaniel, 63, a Wrestler and a Folk Hero for Fans of the Early Jets". New York Times. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  4. "Wahoo McDaniel". NFL.com. Retrieved November 16, 2020.
  5. Shrake, Edwin. "Wahoo! Wahoo! Wahoo!". Sports Illustrated Vault | SI.com.
  6. "The Betrayal of Chief Wahoo McDaniel (Part Three)". Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  7. "Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling". www.kayfabememories.com.
  8. "Greg Valentine vs Wahoo McDaniel Part 2". YouTube. Uploaded by Bischoffamamia2.0. September 24, 2014.CS1 maint: others (link)
  9. "Where Are They Now", Inside the NFL, Home Box Office, November 1986.
  10. "Ex-Jets linebacker to be inducted into WWE Hall of Fame". Jets Wire. April 8, 2019. Retrieved May 17, 2020.
  11. Shropshire, Mike (July 2, 2001). "He was a flamboyant footballer and a wacko wrestler. Now he just hopes to stay alive long enough to raise his son". Sports Illustrated.
  12. Hayward, Len (October 20, 2012). "Friends, family recall Wahoo's legacy". mrt.com.
  13. Eskenazi, Gerald (April 25, 2002). "Wahoo McDaniel, 63, a Wrestler and a Folk Hero for Fans of the Early Jets". The New York Times.
  14. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  15. Florida Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  16. NWA Florida Television Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  17. NWA Southern Heavyweight Title (Florida) history At wrestling-titles.com
  18. NWA United States Tag Team Title (Florida) history At wrestling-titles.com
  19. NWA World Tag Team Title (Florida) history At wrestling-titles.com
  20. NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  21. NWA Georgia Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  22. NWA Macon Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  23. IWA World Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  24. NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  25. NWA National Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  26. "WWE United States Championship". Retrieved May 25, 2020.
  27. NWA/WCW United States Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  28. NWA World Tag Team Title (Mid-Atlantic/WCW) history At wrestling-titles.com
  29. WCW Hall of Fame Inductees At wrestling-titles.com
  30. "Pro Wrestling History". prowrestlinghistory.com.
  31. Gerweck, Steve (November 14, 2011). "NWA Hall of Fame Class for 2011 announced". WrestleView. Retrieved November 14, 2011.
  32. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). "Texas: NWA / World Class American Heavyweight Title [Von Eric]". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. pp. 265–266. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  33. "NWA United States Heavyweight Title (1967-1968/05) - American Heavyweight Title (1968/05-1986/02)". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
  34. Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "(Dallas) Texas: NWA American Tag Team Title [Fritz Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 978-0-9698161-5-7.
  35. "N.W.A. American Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
    • Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: NWA Texas Heavyweight Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 268–269. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  36. "NWA Texas Heavyweight Title". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved March 30, 2017.
  37. Will, Gary; Duncan, Royal (2000). "Texas: NWA Texas Tag Team Title [Von Erich]". Wrestling Title Histories: professional wrestling champions around the world from the 19th century to the present. Pennsylvania: Archeus Communications. pp. 275–276. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
  38. "NWA Texas Tag Team Title [E. Texas]". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved December 27, 2019.
  39. Southern Championship Wrestling (2002). "SCW Hall of Fame". SCW Superstars. SCWprowrestling.com. Archived from the original on October 5, 2002. Retrieved April 15, 2012.
  40. SCW Southwest Television/Heavyweight Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  41. SCW Southwest Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
  42. SCW World Tag Team Title history At wrestling-titles.com
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