Celebrated Twin Cities pro wrestler Gagne dies

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Verne Gagne, one of professional wrestling's most celebrated performers and promoters, has died. He was 89.

Gagne died Monday at his daughter's home in the Twin Cities area, according to longtime friend Gene Okerlund, a pro wrestling announcer who was inducted into the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame with Gagne in 2006. Gagne had Alzheimer's disease.

"Verne was one of the pioneers," said Okerlund, 72. "He put (pro wrestling) on the map in the early days when no one had seen it before."

Gagne won several regional championships after turning pro in 1950 before heading to the newly formed American Wrestling Association, based in Minneapolis, in 1960, the WWE said.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Gagne became a promoter and eventually the sole owner of the AWA. He remained an active competitor until the early 1980s, holding the AWA World Heavyweight Championship title 10 times between 1960 and 1981.

The AWA "cranked out" a lot of stars, Okerlund said, including Hulk Hogan, Mad Dog Vachon and Nick Bockwinkel. It also was the breeding ground for future WWE stars, including Jesse "The Body" Ventura, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan and Pat Patterson, according to the WWE.

"He was a task master without a question," Okerlund said. "He demanded a lot out of people and he got a lot out of people."

Gagne was a three-sport high school athlete from Robbinsdale, Minnesota, and won multiple state championships in wrestling. He played football and wrestled at University of Minnesota, but left after a year to join the Marines at the end of World War II. When he returned to finish college, he collected four Big Ten wrestling championships, two NCAA wrestling championships, the 1949 AAU Wrestling Championship and a spot on the 1948 United States Olympic team.

Gagne is survived by his four children. His wife, Mary, died in 2002.