Longtime wrestling manager Captain Lou Albano passed away today at the age of 76. In the 1970s, Albano was one of the big three managers in the WWWF, along with the already-deceased Classie Freddie Blassie and The Grand Wizard.
In the 1980s, Albano became a crossover celebrity after appearing in Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” video and parlayed that into things like the Super Mario Brothers Super Show television show.
I came straight here when I heard the news.
Very sad to read :(
Some of Lou.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TF-gepJ7vvI
What a great personality and legend! Also, according to his neighbors in upstate, he was a heck of a nice guy.
Anyone who actually followed the real-life aspects of pro wrestling and the locker room rumors knows that “Captain Lou” was a pretty insufferable individual in real life.
By the 1980s he hardly ever went “on the road” and only appeared on wrestling shows that were taped for television. Vince McMahon Sr. forced his son to promise to give Albano a job for life when he sold the company to his son in 1981, but five years later Vince had had enough and fired him.
Well, rumor has it Lou would regularly get liquored up and tell off Vince just before going on air.
quit talking shit about Mario. That’s my childhood right there…
@Mike: But those anecdotes only tell me he was an asshole to Vince McMahon Jr. And, honestly… that’s not much of a crime in my book.