One Saturday evening in December of 1968, one of my brothers turned on "All-Star Wrestling" on channel 18. I had never seen it before, but from the first moment I saw it I was hooked. After watching the program, my brother Dave commented, 'You should see when The Crusher is wrestling. Nobody can knock him down.' I was intrigued. A week or two later, The Crusher did indeed appear in a TV match. His opponent managed to knock him off his feet, which I presumed was something seldom done. Now I was really interested. But it didn't take long for The Crusher to recover and beat his opponent. I've been a huge Crusher fan ever since.

As the years went by, I began learning more and more about the local wrestling scene and found that The Crusher had a previous history as "Reggie Lisowski." My father recalled seeing Reggie with his "brother" Stan at the South Side Armory in the '50s. Later, my mother would recall seeing the Lisowskis at a nearby bar, with Reggie surrounded by "dollies."

This led me to the Milwaukee Central Library, where I spent countless hours pouring over Milwaukee's two main newspapers, the Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Sentinel. The further back in time I went, the more information I found about Reggie Lisowski; The 16,000-plus fans he and Stan drew to Milwaukee County Stadium for an all-heel main event against Hans Schmidt and Dick the Bruiser; the first scheduled match I could find, November 30, 1949 at the Paris Ballroom against a French wrestler named Marcel Buchet; a 1952 article which included a photo of a leaner, darker-haired Reggie in a star-spangled jacket; many prominent articles of the Lisowski Brothers matches in the sports section of the Journal.

Finding this information gave me the idea of putting together a record book of The Crusher's matches. In 1979, I completed such a book. As time went on I continued to track The Crusher's matches, with the idea of someday updating his record.

By 1999, I had added another 1,000 or so bouts and published a second edition of "The Crusher Record Book." I gave a copy to Mid-American Wrestling promoter Carmine DeSpirito, who kindly gave me The Crusher's home address and urged me to send a copy to The Crusher. (Carmine had coaxed The Crusher into making an autograph appearance for him in 1994 at the Wilson Park Stadium). Naturally, I was thrilled to send a copy to Crusher. A few months later, Carmine brought The Crusher to a Mid-American Wrestling card again, this time at the dog track in Kenosha, WI. He was again kind enough to allow me to visit with The Crusher. My cousin, senior MAW referee Scott DeMarc, introduced me to Crusher, telling him that I was the guy who sent him the record book. Crusher told me that I had put a lot of work into the book and that it brought back a lot of memories - but not all of them good. He said the early days were "hard times" when he made $5 a match. He also told me of the time he was in Albuquerque, NM with only 50 cents in his pocket. I told Crusher that it was obvious that he was still working out, since "you still have the 'hundred megaton biceps.' He smiled and nodded at that. By this time, Carmine had brought in some photos of The Crusher for him to sign in advance for the fans who had come for an autograph and asked me to help Crusher with them. This gave me the opportunity to ask The Crusher some questions. I asked him if he minded, and he replied it was OK, as long as we kept the questions about wrestling. "Otherwise I lose interest," he said. Scott DeMarc asked The Crusher if he wanted a beer, to which he replied he did, but a light beer; "I'm on a diet." It was a thrill to have a beer with The Crusher.

I asked The Crusher about his relationship with Dick the Bruiser. "Well . . . we respected each other," was his reply. He also told me that Bruiser didn't like to sign autographs, but that he never turned them down. He said he still had gotten requests for anything with Bruiser's autograph, but he'd tell them if they find something, they should tell him instead. I asked him about his son Dave, who, years earlier while answering phones on a local telethon, said he might follow in his father's footsteps The Crusher said his son had gotten a job with a large company and was making more money doing that then he could wrestling. He said he never encouraged his kids to get into wrestling. I inquired about his son Larry, and Crusher said that he was retired from the Fire Department and living in Florida, having been injured on the job. The Crusher said Larry had nerve damage in his arm and doctors couldn't be sure that surgery wouldn't make it worse. (Later I remembered this was a similar description that Crusher gave to the Milwaukee Journal in a 1985 interview in regards to an injury he received in the ring against ponderous Jerry Blackwell). We talked more about the record book I had sent him. He took issue with me about the number of losses I had listed, especially in matches againt Verne Gagne, saying "Nobody ever really beat me." I reminded him that he had one of the best records in professional wrestling, at least 75% wins I told him, noting that was especially good considering he had been a villain most of the earlier part of his career. He mentioned that I should tell more about what happened during the bouts as well. I also talked with him about his famous 1970 Milwaukee Cage Match against Mad Dog Vachon. He seemed surprised. "You were there?" I told him I was and he agreed with me that had he lost that match, the fans would have rioted. Both he and Mad Dog remember that particular bout because of the many fans who tried to scale the cage to get in to aid The Crusher. He also smiled when I told him I had talked to the Dog about that match. I had reminded Mad Dog that he lost, to which the Dog stared me down and told me to "get outta town!"

We talked about his hip replacement surgery at St. Francis Hospital. He said that the hospital had to post a guard at his door because fans were starting to wander in. He emphasized that he didn't request the guard; the hospital did it. He said he didn't mind so much if people came in, but he didn't know whether or not some flake would come in. I told him I thought he could handle any flake, but he replied that he was in pretty tough shape for a while. Then he added, "Well, I probably could'a choked 'em if I could'a got ahold of 'em."

After the bouts, The Crusher signed autographs and I stuck around until he was done. I thanked him for talking to me and told him I'd do right by him in regards to the record book. He replied, "You better or I'll come back to haunt ya."

My own father had died earlier that year, so meeting The Crusher face to face was a huge boost for me. My father and I shared plenty of good times going to the Auditorium and Arena for the wrestling matches, and they were extra special whenever The Crusher was on the card. I will always miss those days.

What I will always remember about talking to The Crusher was his polite honesty and his sense of humor. I know he didn't really care for the "Reggie Lisowski" days being in the record book, that he wanted to be known as "The Crusher," but I've always found the early days to be the most fascinating of his career. Different opponents in cities far away from each other every night. Long times away from home, family and friends. Blood, stitches, injuries . . . It must've been a tough life. But what a life it must've been.