- Charles Kalani, Jr.
-
Charles Kalani, Jr. 
Ring name(s) Professor (Toru) Tanaka Billed height 5"11" Billed weight 275 Born January 6, 1930
Honolulu, HawaiiDied August 22, 2000 (aged 70) Billed from Japan Debut 1967 Charles "Charlie" J. Kalani, Jr. (January 6, 1930 - August 22, 2000) was an American professional wrestler, professional boxer,[1] college football player, soldier, actor, and Martial Artist who, in fighting rings, was also known as Professor Toru Tanaka, or simply, Professor Tanaka.
Contents
Early life
He was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of Charles J. Kalani and Christina Leong Kalani (who was part Chinese). Charlie began studying judo at age nine. At Iolani School (class of 1949),[2] he was a natural at many sports, and Doris Kalani credited his time on the football team with keeping him away from trouble. "He was a street kid getting into trouble and would have ended up in reform school if Father Kenneth A. Bray hadn't helped him out by bringing him to Iolani. He felt Iolani saved him," she told the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
He left Hawaii for Utah's Weber Junior College (now Weber State University). On December 6, 1951, the Associated Press reported he received honorable mention for playing football at the University of Utah. It was at the University of Utah that he also met his wife Doris in 1952. On December 3, 1952 the Associated Press reported Kalani would become a professional boxer. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1955, Kalani rose to the rank of sergeant and excelled on the pistol team. For four years, the couple were stationed at a base in Nuremberg, Germany.
After Kalani's discharge from the service in 1966, the couple moved to Monterey, California, where he ran a Judo and Danzan-ryu Jujitsu academy with Professor John Chow-Hoon. San Francisco promoter Roy Shire asked him to wrestle in 1967, but he had to get meaner. "Charlie was almost full-blooded Hawaiian," said Doris. "In wrestling, Hawaii seemed not as exciting as Japan, so they talked him into becoming a Japanese wrestler."
Professional wrestling
One of the characteristics of Kalani's wrestling gimmick was that he threw salt in his opponents' eyes.[3] 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 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 GeeksOther 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 1981's An Eye for an Eye and his last film was 1995's Hard Justice. He appeared in Arnold Schwarzenegger's The Running Man and Chuck Norris' Missing in Action 2: The Beginning and The Butler in 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.
Personal life
[3] Kalani died of heart failure on August 22, 2000. He had a full military funeral.
Filmography
- An Eye for an Eye (1981)
- Angel Of H.E.A.T. (1982)
- Little House on the Prairie - A new beginning; "Alden's Dilemma" Season 9 aired first on December 6, 1982
- Revenge of the Ninja (1983)
- The A-Team - The Maltese Cow (1983)
- Off the Wall (1983)
- Chattanooga Choo Choo (1984)
- Volunteers (1985)
- Pee-wee's Big Adventure (1985)[3]
- Missing in Action 2: The Beginning (1985)
- The A-Team - The Spy Who Mugged Me (1986)
- Bad Guys (1986)
- Shanghai Surprise (1986)
- The Running Man (1987)
- Catch The Heat (1987)
- Dead Heat (1988)
- Black Rain (1989)
- Tax Season (1989)
- Darkman (1990)
- Martial Law (1990)
- Deadly Game (1991)
- The Perfect Weapon (1991)
- Alligator II: The Mutation (1991)
- 3 Ninjas (1992)
- Last Action Hero (1993)
- Hard Justice (1995)
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Managers
- Grand Wizard (Ernie Roth)
- Fred Blassie
- Lou Albano
- Wrestlers managed
Championships and accomplishments
- All-California Championship Wrestling
- ACCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Peter Maivia, Jr.[4]
- California Pro Wrestling
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- NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Assassin #2 (1) and Mr. Fuji (1)
- L&G Promotions
- Northeast Championship Wrestling (Tom Janette)
- NCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)[4]
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- NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- NWA Americas Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Dr. Hiro Ota
-
- NWA British Empire Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
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- NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mr. Fuji
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- IWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
- IWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Skull Murphy
- World Wide Wrestling Federation
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- WWWF International Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Mitsu Arakawa
- WWWF World Tag Team Championship (3 times) - with Mr. Fuji
1Records don't 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
- ^ Human:49443 - Boxrec Boxing Encyclopedia
- ^ Alumni Making Headlines (April 2006). "The Professor Toru Tanaka (Charles Kalani ’49) Remembered". Iolani School website. http://www.iolani.org/wn_alumni_051206_mm.htm.
- ^ a b c Ellison, Lillian (2003). The Fabulous Moolah: First Goddess of the Squared Circle. ReaganBooks. p. 145. ISBN 9780060012588.
- ^ a b c d Royal Duncan & Gary Will (4th Edition 2000). Wrestling Title Histories. Archeus Communications. ISBN 0-9698161-5-4.
External links
- Professor Toru Tanaka at the Internet Movie Database
- Charlie Kalani at the Danzan-ryu Jujitsu Homepage
Categories:- 1930 births
- 2000 deaths
- American film actors
- American martial artists
- American professional wrestlers
- American people of Chinese descent
- ʻIolani School alumni
- Weber State University alumni
- People from Honolulu, Hawaii
- Sportspeople from Hawaii
- United States Army soldiers
- Deaths from heart failure
- American sportspeople
- American military personnel of Native Hawaiian descent
- The Heenan Family members
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