Roger Szostek in 1973

I read this story when it was in the paper and I just had to track it down.

 

Bear-wrestling legend lives on

Post-Tribune (IN) - Friday, April 29, 2011

Author: By Dale Bowman ; Post-Tribune correspondent

The image of Victor the Bear hightailing it away from Roger Szostek sticks with Walter Coffman.

“I can still picture in my mind the bear running away,’’ said Coffman, a senior vice president of investment for Raymond James & Associates, Inc. “He was running away. Roger had him down. The bear ran away and he was not coming back. The bear gave up.’’

One of the collective memories for those of a certain age was attending the mega outdoors show at the Amphitheater on South Halsted in Chicago. At its peak, it drew more than 200,000 people from across the Midwest. Watching Victor whip all comers was an iconic part of the show.

That’s where the story of Szostek , a private investigator and former Lake Station police chief, is different.

After seeing an old grainy photo published this winter of Victor pinning an attendee in 1979, he e-mailed, “If you happen to have any pictures of a skinny kid on top of Victor or even on the stage I would love to see them.’’

In 1973, he and four high school friends from East Gary Edison drove to the show. Szostek , who lied about his age and said he was 18, was one of five people picked to wrestle. He wrestled at 165 pounds in high school.

Promoters asked wrestlers to immediately grapple with Victor, whose superior size and strength took over in those bear hugs.

“The bear would just flip them, throw them 10 feet,’’ Coffman said.

But Szostek told his friends he had a strategy, “When he blows that whistle, I am going to take off running toward the bear.’’

And things turned out far different than usual.

“By a fluke of luck, or answer to a quick prayer, I caught Victor off balance and he landed on his back with me on top of him,’’ Szostek said. “I was afraid that he would hurl be into the adjoining pool or worse if I stood up, so Tuffy (Truesdale) told me to just roll off. Which I did.’’

And he ran off. What he didn’t see was Victor running the other way. Truesdale, the fabled wrestler, did exhibitions with Victor.

The story lived on. Coffman has told it dozens of times. Szostek used it as an icebreaker during the interview process with the Secret Service, and one of the interviewers had wrestled Victor.

Coffman had one other memory, “We basically had to drive all the way home with the windows down because he stunk so bad (from the bear).”

Memories are nice, but Szostek would love a photo.

“I would probably pay a $1,000 for that,’’ he said.     

We don't know of any video with Roger but if you are interested in Victor the Wrestling Bear, check out this video..Victor the Wrestling Bear Youtube