Background
Orville Brown was born on March 10, 1908. He grew up on a small farm in Sharon, Kansas, United States of America.
Orville Brown was born on March 10, 1908. He grew up on a small farm in Sharon, Kansas, United States of America.
He only attended one year of school due to financial reasons.
Brown"s professional wrestling career ended on November 1, 1949, when he suffered severe injuries in an automobile accident. Brown worked on the farm during the mornings before walking several miles to school in Kiowa, Kansas. Orville Brown was noticed by Ernest Brown, a former manager of amateur and professional wrestlers, in the late 1920s.
Brown was convinced that Orville might have a future as a wrestler.
He agreed to work with Orville at the local high school in Kiowa, Kansas. After training, Orville Brown was undefeated for 71 matches.
He gained enough notoriety in western Kansas that the promoter in Wichita put him on the preliminary of the weekly matches there. A well-known wrestler named Abe Coleman saw Brown wrestle and recommended him to the promoter in Saint Louis - Tom Packs.
Orville Brown impressed many people with his wrestling skills in matches against former World Heavyweight Champions Jim Londos and Editor "Strangler" Lewis.
Brown began the NWA"s project of unifying the various world heavyweight championships contested at that time with the NWA version. A significant unification match took place against Frank Sexton on March 15, 1949. Sexton held the American Wrestling Alliance Heavyweight Championship, the second most important championship in the country at that time, which he had previously unified with the Maryland version of the World Heavyweight Championship.
Brown held the World Heavyweight title until he was forced to retire in November 1949 due to injuries he suffered on November 1, 1949 in a car accident.
He was scheduled to participate in a unification match against Lou Thesz on November 25, 1949. Thesz was awarded the title as Orville Brown was unable to compete.
After retiring, Orville Brown became a promoter in Kansas City, Missouri. He promoted the Midwest Wrestling Association (MWA) from the founding of the NWA in 1948 until 1958, when the promotion was taken over by Bob Geigel.
Unknown organization
Kansas Heavyweight Championship
Midwest Wrestling Association (Ohio)
MWA World Heavyweight Championship (Ohio version) (1 time)
Midwest Wrestling Association
MWA World Heavyweight Championship (11 times)
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA World Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
Pioneer Era inductee in 2005.