Kızılcıklı Mahmut Pehlivan (1880 or 1878 in Kızılcık village near Silistra

Silistra

Silistra is a port city of northeastern Bulgaria, lying on the southern bank of the lower Danube at the country's border with Romania. Silistra is the administrative centre of Silistra Province and one of the important cities of the historical region of Southern Dobrudzha...

, Principality of Bulgaria

Principality of Bulgaria

The Principality of Bulgaria was a self-governing entity created as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire by the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. The preliminary treaty of San Stefano between the Russian Empire and the Porte , on March 3, had originally proposed a significantly larger Bulgarian territory: its...

 - February 3, 1931 in Eskişehir

Eskisehir

Eskişehir is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. According to the 2009 census, the population of the city is 631,905. The city is located on the banks of the Porsuk River, 792 m above sea level, where it overlooks the fertile Phrygian Valley. In the nearby...

, Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

) was a Turkish

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

 wrestler

Oil wrestling

Oil wrestling , also called grease wrestling, is the Turkish national sport. It is so called because the wrestlers douse themselves with olive oil. It is related to the Uzbeki kurash, Tuvan khuresh and Tatar köräş...

 foremost known for his victory over Tom Jenkins

Tom Jenkins (wrestler)

Tom Jenkins was an American catch wrestler who held the American Heavyweight Championship three times around the turn of the 20th century...

 in 1908 and loss to Frank Gotch

Frank Gotch

Frank Alvin Gotch was an American professional wrestler of German ancestry, the first American to win the world heavyweight free-style championship, and credited for popularizing professional wrestling in the United States...

 in 1909 during a North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

n tour.

Given Yusuf İsmail

Yusuf İsmail

Yusuf İsmail , also widely known as Youssouf Ishmaelo, was a Turkish professional wrestler who competed in Europe and the United States as Yusuf Ismail the Terrible Turk during the 1890s. During his lifetime, his native Turks knew him as Şumnulu Yusuf Pehlivan...

's fame, American professional wrestling

Professional wrestling

Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...

 promoters chose to launch Mahmut with the ring name Youssouf Mahmout as the son of Yusuf İsmail and further, "the Terrible Turk", a moniker originally carried by Yusuf İsmail.

A main street in Eskişehir

Eskisehir

Eskişehir is a city in northwestern Turkey and the capital of the Eskişehir Province. According to the 2009 census, the population of the city is 631,905. The city is located on the banks of the Porsuk River, 792 m above sea level, where it overlooks the fertile Phrygian Valley. In the nearby...

, the Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

n city he later settled is named after him.

Further reading

• "Mahmout Tells Of His Early Life; Turkish Farms Breed Wrestlers. Bulgarian Grappler Who Is Picked as a Likely Opponent for Champion Frank Gotch Describes Training and Conditions in Land of Sultan, Where 100 Contestants Often Participate at Big Festivals." Chicago Tribune. 13 Dec. 1908.

External links

• http://bibnum2.banq.qc.ca/bna/patrie/src/1908/11/27/82779_063_0341.pdfA photograph of the athlete (in PDF format) and caption from a Nov. 27, 1908, edition of La Patrie
  La Patrie
  La Patrie was a Montreal, Quebec daily newspaper founded by Honoré Beaugrand on February 24, 1879. It became a weekly in 1957 and folded in 1978....
  
  , a now-defunct French-language daily newspaper in Montreal
  Montreal
  Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
  
  . (Translated into English, the headline reads: "A Wrestling Champion" and the caption reads: "Youssouf Mahmout, victor over Tom Jenkins in a match last night at Madison Square Garden
  Madison Square Garden
  Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
  
  .")] He is described in a story on the same page as "the Terrible Turk."