Bronko Lubich: Wrestling champion, promoter
11:16 AM CDT on Saturday, August 18, 2007
By JOE SIMNACHER / The Dallas Morning News
Bronko Lubich was born in Hungary, grew up in Canada and had a long career in professional wrestling.
He captured many tag-team titles as an active wrestler and extended his career as a Dallas-based referee and promoter.
Mr. Lubich, 81, died Saturday of complications from a stroke while in hospice care at his Farmers Branch home.
Services will be conducted at 10 a.m. today at Restland Funeral Home's Memorial Chapel. Burial will be at Restland Memorial Park.
"He was a kind, tender-hearted person, which really didn't come across in the ring," said Mr. Lubich's daughter, Maria Miller of Dallas. "He loved his fellow wrestlers and was always a good adviser and helper for them."
Jimmy Saied Wehba of Garland, who wrestled as the villain Skandor Akbar, said Mr. Lubich was "an outstanding family man and a great guy. I'm very sad."
Bronko Sandor Lupsity was born on Christmas Day 1925 in Batonja, Hungary. He moved with his family to Montreal in December 1937.
Mr. Lubich became an accomplished amateur wrestler who was selected to represent Canada in the 1948 Olympic Games, but he did not compete, his daughter said.
"He broke his arm in a competition before [the Games]," she said. "He said that was the biggest disappointment of his career."
Unable to wait four years for another shot at Olympic gold, he continued to wrestle as an amateur and took a job in an aircraft factory.
He met veteran wrestler Mike DiMitre, who mentored him at the Montreal YMCA.
When he turned professional, he started using the ring name Lubich.
Mr. Lubich wrestled across Canada and in Chicago, the Pacific Northwest, Texas and the Southeast, his daughter said.
He settled in Charlotte, N.C., where he was based for much of his competitive career, his daughter said.
In the 1960s, he was half of the Southern heavyweight tag team championship duo with Aldo Bogni.
"He got a lot of championship belts and was very close to a promoter there, Jim Crockett, who was like a father figure to him," Ms. Miller said.
In 1971, Mr. Lubich moved to Dallas, where he formed a business partnership with Fritz Von Erich.
Mr. Von Erich owned Southwest Promotions Co. in Dallas and was looking for a partner, Ms. Miller said. Mr. Crockett, the Charlotte promoter, recommended Mr. Lubich.
"Dad interviewed with him, and we moved to Texas," Ms. Miller said. "Dad was still wrestling at the time but [was] transitioning over ... to help with the promotional part."
In Dallas, Mr. Lubich became active behind the scenes as a promoter and as a highly visible ring referee.
"That was one reason he refereed," Ms. Miller said. "He was so involved in the business, he had to be there anyway."
Mr. Lubich was known to wrestling fans across Texas. They saw him at the Sportatorium in Dallas, the Northside Coliseum in Fort Worth and throughout the weekly circuit with stops in San Antonio, Corpus Christi and Houston.
"He was busy all week," his daughter said.
The Fort Worth wrestling show was taped and broadcast on Saturday night television.
"That was syndicated and shown all over the world," Ms. Miller said.
Mr. Lubich was a self-taught businessman.
"He only had like a sixth-grade education," Ms. Miller said.
Mr. Lubich left school to help support his family, who lived in a home with a dirt floor.
"He was a hard worker, had a real thirst for knowledge and was an insatiable reader," his daughter said. "He loved history and theology and became a very good businessperson."
Mr. Lubich had saved and invested throughout his career.
"He had a spectacular [investment] portfolio," Ms. Miller said.
He retired in 1990.
In addition to Ms. Miller, Mr. Lubich is survived by two other daughters, Kathy Lupsity of Farmers Branch and Melanie Becker of Plano; and one grandchild.
