Wladek Zbyszko

Władysław Cyganiewicz, known in the ring as Władek Zbyszko, was a Polish catch wrestler, professional wrestler and strongman, born on 30 November 1892 and dead on 10 June 1968. He took the surname Zbyszko, his older brother Stanislaus Zbyszko's childhood nickname borrowed from a medieval knight in a Polish novel, as his ring name. Born in the Grand Duchy of Kraków under Austria-Hungary, he studied at the University of Krakow, took a law degree at the University of Vienna and was also regarded as an excellent pianist. He began wrestling in Europe, reached the United States in the 1910s as the youngest European champion, and won the American Heavyweight Championship from Ed Strangler Lewis in January 1917. He claimed the Boston version of the AWA World Heavyweight Championship that year, lost it to Earl Caddock in 1918, toured Europe and South America with his brother, drew with Hélio Gracie in Brazil in 1934 and wrestled as late as 1950 before retiring to a farm in Missouri.