09/29/2026
LEGENDS: Gene LeBell
October 9, 1932 – August 9, 2022
“The Godfather of Grappling”
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Gene LeBell started young in the world of fighting. Gene’s mother, Aileen Eaton, owned and operated the Olympic Auditorium. The Olympic was built in 1927 for the Olympic Games in 1932. It has housed some of the greatest boxers and wrestlers of all time – Muhammad Ali, Jerry Quarry, Gorgeous George, Jimmy Londos, John “The Golden Greek” Tolos, Sugar Ray Robinson, Andre the Giant, Archie Moore, Sonny Liston, Joe Frazier, Floyd Patterson, Lou Thesz, and a thousand more – and Gene was warming up the mat with them as early as age 6.
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One wrestler in particular, Ed “Strangler” Lewis, started Gene off in the world of grappling. Ed explained that with grappling you could do just about anything to your opponent. You could hit the guy, do heel locks, ankle locks, armbars, back locks, neck locks, tweak the nose or choke him out.
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Needless to say, when Gene entered his first out of school judo tournament at the age of 14, the officials were horrified to see Gene performing illegal grappling moves on his opponents – tossing them into the air as if they’re as light as feathers, jumping on them, dropping elbows on them, and simply terrorizing his competitors. Unfortunately it was a short day for Gene, the officials ended up disqualifying him from the event.
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At the age of 20, he set his sights on the National Judo Championship in 1954. After the smoke cleared, Gene LeBell was the last man standing – he had won the National AAU Heavyweight Judo Championship and the USA Overall Judo Championship back to back. He came back and took the national championships again in 1955, this time at the Olympic Auditorium where he had trained during his youth.
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➡️ FOR MORE ON GENE LeBELL AND OTHER CATCH WRESTLING LEGENDS VISIT THEM AT: https://snakepitusa.com/about-us/legends/
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