Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 March 1913 — GOTCH GETS TOE-HOLD OVER WESTERGAARD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

GOTCH GETS TOE-HOLD OVER WESTERGAARD

ZZIIT HEN I WM in’England try•••Af ing to force Hackep- ■ 1 schmldt out of his shell, I was asked quite often to explain the toe hold," relates Gotch. “A sporting writer asked me whether I thought it right to use such a painful grip. He said it was against the rules to twist a Wrestler’s finger and it was Certainly just as unfair to twist one of his toes. “To have answered that question would have spoiled a Sood joke, but it expresses the general idea of the toe hold, which is an erroneous one.

“One day when I had been wrestling in Cincinnati a newspaper man wanted me to show him how I secured the toe hold. I told him to get down on the floor and I would show him a touch of real life.

" ‘Gotch bent over me,’ said this writer, ‘toyed a while with one of my feet, then quickly grabbed the other and gave it a twist. I looked for a nice clean spot on which to put my shoulders to keep my leg from snapping off. -1 wanted the leg for future use. It felt as though Gotch wanted to take it along with him. At that he exerted only a few pounds pressure.’

“This writer had caught the principal idea of the toe hold —the idea of leverage. I made a study of mechanics and it was there that I learned the true vdjue of leverage in wrestling. The plan of this and other such holds is to make one’s opponent use many times more power to resist one than the attacker exerts in his aggressive moves. I have wrestled stronger men than I am, but in every move I try to make my opponent use more strength than I do. In this way he tires much quicker. He is fighting himself and his opponent much of the time. *

“The defensive wrestler must be on bis hands and knees on the mat in order to work the toe hold over the leg. An opponent may lie flat on the mat of his own accord and if he refuses to take this means of resting up, he may be forceg down by supe-

rlor strength or by suddenly raising him by the near leg and lunging him forward.

... “In this position the attacker straddles and sits om the near leg of the defensive wrestler above the knee. He feints for the further foot of his opponent When the defensive wrestler shifts to protect his other foot, the near one may be grasped quickly and raised up over the attacker's leg.

‘This plunges the head of the defensive wrestler forward on his face. It brings his weight to bear on his own imprisoned leg in such a wai as to make him share in the leverage that is exerted by the completed hold. “The imprisoned leg should be drawn up as high as possible to give the longest leverage, in which position it is possible for a small man to hold a giant This works on the same principle as the handle of a pump. “There seems a movement In some quarters to bar the toe hold in championship matches. Well, I won’* mourn its loss if the grip has to go, but I think it has a rightful place just as certainly as the headlock, hammerlock and several forms of the wrist lock. I probably would have won every match that went to my credit if the toe hold had been barred. With the toe hold over the leg, to which the principal objection is made, I have won a small portion of my matches. Donelson, Roney, Raoul De Rouen, Harrington and Grant are a few on whom I have affixed toe holds and won. I defeated most of my opponents, however, with other grips. “In grasping the foot to pull it over the leg, the attacker should catch it just below the toes. The attacker usually discovers that the muscles of the leg are relaxed, showing the defensive wrestler was off hit guard.

“I remember when I wrestled Joe Grant in Washington, I used the toe hold. President Roosevelt said after the match he had thought his man would win, but he stood no show against such grips as the toe hold.’’ (Copyright. 1913. by Joseph B. Bowles.)

Gotch Applying Toe Hold Over the Leg on Westergaard.