Professor Tanaka
Charles J. Kalani Jr. (January 6, 1930 – August 22, 2000) was an American professional wrestler, professional boxer,[3] college football player, soldier, actor, and martial artist who, in fighting rings, was also known as Professor Toru Tanaka, or simply Professor Tanaka.
Professor Tanaka | |
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Birth name | Charles J. Kalani Jr. |
Born | Honolulu, Hawaii | January 6, 1930
Died | August 22, 2000 70)[1] Lake Forest, California | (aged
Professional wrestling career | |
Ring name(s) | Professor Tanaka Professor Toru Tanaka |
Billed height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)[2] |
Billed weight | 280 lb (130 kg)[2] |
Billed from | Hiroshima, Japan[2] |
Debut | 1967 |
Retired | Early 1980s[2] |
Early life
Kalani was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of Charles J. Kalani and Christina Leong Kalani. Charlie began studying judo in 1939. He graduated from Iolani School in 1949.[4] His wife, Doris Kalani, later said that Kalani's time on the football team and Kenneth A. Bray's influence with keeping him away from trouble.[5]
After graduating from high school, Kalani attended Weber Junior College (now Weber State University), where he met his wife in 1952.[5] Together, they had three children: Cheryle Kalani, Carl Kalani, Karen Kalani Beck
In 1955, Kalani was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he rose to the rank of sergeant.[6] Kalani left the military in 1966 and moved to Monterey, California. He ran a Judo and Danzan-ryu Jujitsu academy with Professor John Chow-Hoon. San Francisco promoter Roy Shire asked Kalani to wrestle in 1967, launching his wrestling career.[7]
Professional wrestling career
One of the characteristics of Kalani's wrestling gimmick was that he threw salt in his opponents' eyes.[8] Kalani'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 as 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.
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.— Freddie Blassie, Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks
Tanaka had a long successful run with the WWF in the 1960s, including being #1 contender to champion Bruno Sammartino. In their first Madison Square Garden meeting, Tanaka was disqualified for throwing salt. He was pinned by Sammartino in a rematch six months later. Tanaka also main evented the Garden in tag matches, twice with Gorilla Monsoon vs. Sammartino and Spyros Arion (Tanaka and his partner winning the first via disqualification; losing the second in a Texas Death Match); a year later with Monsoon against Sammartino and Victor Rivera. Monsoon & Tanaka had other Garden matches, including victories over Al Costello & Dr. Bill Miller; and Bobo Brazil and Earl Maynard.
Tanaka subsequently teamed with Mitsu Arakawa in the WWF, acquiring the International Tagteam Championship; losing it at Madison Square Garden to Tony Marino and Victor Rivera. The team of Tanaka and Fuji won three WWWF World Tag Team Championships, with Blassie as manager for the third reign and The Grand Wizard as manager for the first two. They first won the belts from Sonny King and Chief Jay Strongbow on June 27, 1972 in Philadelphia, PA at a House show. They lost the belts to Haystacks Calhoun and Tony Garea on May 30, 1973, again at a Hamburg house show, but regained them on September 11, 1973 in Philadelphia, PA before losing them again to Tony Garea and Dean Ho on November 14, 1973, again in Hamburg. Their third win came on September 27, 1977 at a Philadelphia house show when they defeated Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko in a tournament final for the vacant belts, holding them until March 14, 1978 when they lost the titles to Dino Bravo and Dominic DeNucci in Philadelphia. This third reign set a record for number of championship reigns which would be equalized by The Wild Samoans in 1983, Demolition in 1990, Money Inc. in 1993, The Quebecers in 1994 and The Smoking Gunns in 1996, but not bettered until The New Age Outlaws won a fourth reign in 1999.
Other media
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.
By the early 1980s, Kalani's body could not handle the beatings in the ring any longer, and he moved into the film world on a more permanent basis. His first film was the 1981 Chuck Norris vehicle An Eye for an Eye and his last film was 1995's Hard Justice. He appeared opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Running Man as a sadistic ice-skating "stalker" named Subzero who uses a bladed hockey stick which "slices his enemies limb from limb into quivering, bloody sushi". Other notable roles include Missing in Action 2: The Beginning, The Perfect Weapon, and Pee-Wee's Big Adventure.
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 1990s.
Death
Kalani died of heart failure on August 22, 2000. He was given a full military funeral.[8]
Filmography
- An Eye for an Eye (1981) - The Professor
- Fantasy Island (1981/1982, season 5/episode 20) - Magog
- Little House on the Prairie (A new beginning; "Alden's Dilemma" Season 9 aired first on December 6, 1982) - Japanese sumo (uncredited)
- Angel Of H.E.A.T. (1983)
- Off the Wall (1983) - Banzai Wrestler #1
- Revenge of the Ninja (1983) - Sumo Servant
- The A-Team (1984, TV Series) - Ling, the Bodyguard
- Chattanooga Choo Choo (1984) - Hashimoto
- Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985) - Lao
- Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985) - Butler [2][8]
- Volunteers (1985) - Sumo Guard
- The A-Team - The Spy Who Mugged Me (1986) - Fröbe
- Bad Guys (1986) - Lord Percy's Bodyguard
- Shanghai Surprise (1986) - Yamagani San
- Catch The Heat (1987) - Dozu
- The Running Man (1987) - Subzero[2]
- Dead Heat (1988) - Butcher
- Tax Season (1989)
- Hyper Space (1989) - Android
- Black Rain (1989) - Sugai's Man #1
- Darkman (1990) - Chinese Warrior #2
- Martial Law (1990) - Jimmy Kong
- The Perfect Weapon (1991) - Tanaka
- Alligator II: The Mutation (1991) - Wrestler, Tokyo Joe
- Deadly Game (1991) - Ikiru-Sun
- Showdown in Little Tokyo (1991) - Yoshida's Bodyguard
- 3 Ninjas (1992) - Rushmore
- Last Action Hero (1993) - Tough Asian Man[2]
- Hard Justice (1995) - Cookie (uncredited)
Championships and accomplishments
- 50th State Big Time Wrestling
- NWA North American Heavyweight Championship (Hawaii version) (1 time)
- All-California Championship Wrestling
- ACCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Peter Maivia Jr.[9]
- California Pro Wrestling
- Championship Wrestling from Florida
- Continental Wrestling Association
- AWA Southern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mr. Fuji
- Georgia Championship Wrestling
- NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA Macon Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Assassin #2 (1) and Mr. Fuji (1)
- L&G Promotions
- National Wrestling Alliance
- Northeast Championship Wrestling (Tom Janette)
- NCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[9]
- NWA Big Time Wrestling
- NWA Hollywood Wrestling
- NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Dr. Hiro Ota
- NWA New Zealand
- Southeastern Championship Wrestling
- NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mr. Fuji
- World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
- IWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Skull Murphy
- World Wide Wrestling Federation/WWE
- WWWF International Tag Team Championship (1 time, inaugural) - with Mitsu Arakawa
- WWWF World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Mr. Fuji[16]
- WWE Hall of Fame (Class of 2019)[17]
1Records do not 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.
References
- "Charlie Kalani, 70, Remembered As Versatile Actor". Classic Wrestling Articles.
- Shields, Brian; Sullivan, Kevin (2009). WWE Encyclopedia. Dorling Kindersley. p. 238. ISBN 978-0-7566-4190-0.
- "Charley Kalani". Boxrec Boxing Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
- Alumni Making Headlines (April 2006). "The Professor Toru Tanaka (Charles Kalani '49) Remembered". Iolani School website. Archived from the original on 2013-01-13.
- Ohira, Rod (September 15, 2000). "Charlie Kalani, 70, remembered as versatile actor". archives.starbulletin.com. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
- "Professor Tanaka Death". Wrestler Deaths. 2017-12-31. Retrieved 2019-01-24.
- Greg., Oliver (2007). The Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame : the heels. Johnson, Steven, 1957-. Toronto: ECW Press. ISBN 9781554907595. OCLC 301504187.
- Ellison, Lillian (2003). The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle. ReaganBooks. p. 145. ISBN 978-0-06-001258-8.
- Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2000). Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- 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.
- "NWA United States Heavyweight Title (1967-1968/05) - American Heavyweight Title (1968/05-1986/02)". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved December 26, 2019.
- 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.
- "N.W.A. American Tag Team Title". Wrestling-Titles.com. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
- Royal Duncan & Gary Will (2006). "(Texas) Dallas: NWA Texas Brass Knuckles Title". Wrestling Title Histories (4th ed.). Archeus Communications. p. 271. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
- "Texas Brass Knucks Title [East Texas]". Wrestling-Titles. Retrieved December 22, 2019.
- WWWF/WWF International Tag Team Title History
- "TEN NEW WWE HALL OF FAME LEGACY INDUCTEES - PWInsider.com". www.pwinsider.com.
External links
- Professor Toru Tanaka on WWE.com
- Professor Tanaka on IMDb
- Professor Tanaka's profile at Cagematch.net, Wrestlingdata.com, Internet Wrestling Database
- Charlie Kalani at the Danzan-ryu Jujitsu Homepage