Frank Durso
August 1968 Wrestling World Magazine
FRANK DURSO
PORTRAIT OF
A LOSER

by Robert Willis

Most articles in wrestling magazines profile stars or soon-to-be stars. No one knows how the "other half" lives - the half that wins less than half the time, and the half that doesn't have the fans, money or publicity that winners are accustomed to. Frank Durso is a member of that "other half" group, and tells about his travails in this interview
The man wore a kinky, close-cropped beard and moustache. His black curly hair was scraggly and unkempt. He sat quiettly, gazing intently at the massive giants moving about him. The look in his eyes was one of envy. The scene was a neon-lit dressing room in Pittsburgh's multi-million-dollar Civic Arena. The elongated room was filled with mishapen athletes in various stages of undress. The massive giants were professional wrestlers. The bearded one, sitting alone in the corner, diverted his eyesfrom the confusion and casually begansifting through the pages of well worn wrestling magazines. Automatically almost without resalizing it, he flipped to the back pages and for the thousandth time hurriedly scanned the worl wide rankings. He stared impassively at the listings. Bruno Sammartino was listed Number One. Then came Hans Mortier, Soyros Arion was next. Then Taro Tanaka, Bobo Brazil, Gorilla Monsoon, Tank Morgan, Ed Carpentier, Luke Graham, El Toro, Al Costello, Baron Scicluna, Tony Pugliese, George Steele, The Ox and Miguel Perez. An impressive list he thought. But one name wasn't on it. His. And, in all likelihood it would never be. With that, he left the magazine fall to the floor. He learned back, stroked his chin and closed his eyes. For the dream that once prompted Frank Durso to enter professional wrestling nearly eight years ago had long since been shattered. He now realized he would never make it big. He knew he would never wear a championship belt. Never make important money. Never be acclaimed by thousandsof screaming fans. From the very beginning Frank Durso was a loser. His dream never got past the fantasy stage. Why fight it? Why take the beatings? What makes a man keep doggedly at it long after he knows he'll never make it?
"It may sound corny" ,admitted Durso, "but I simple love to wrestle. There's really no other answer. I've wanted to wrestle professionally since I got out of the Marines in 1958 and I'll be at it as long as I can move." The frustration of Frank Durso began with his very first professional match - and hasn't let up since. It was 1961 in Steubenville, Ohio, and Durso lasted three minutes. And lost. "After that first bout'" he says, "I decided on one thing. I decided I'd work dirty from then on. I HAD to. I really got clobbered!" In his first tag match as a pro - with Pittsburgh partner Ron Romano - Durso took it on the chin again. It was a one - fall match against the Bavarian Boys in Nashville, Tennessee. And we lost" Thus was the auspicious beginnings of a loser. Since those early days, Durso figures he's lost 60 to 65 percent of his matches. Yet surprisingly, he's still a winner in the enthusiasm department. "Sure, I figured I'd be a big star some day", he says. "I guess we all feel that way. I've dreamed about winning the title and makin all that money. And I'd still like to. But now, I just don't plan on it!"

Frankness is one of Durso's more endearing qualities. Thus explains his willingness to describe the most terriflying bout in his young career. It was 1963 and his opponent was the towering Killer Kowalski. In his own candid way, Durso explains it this way: "I was scared stiff!" "It was the only time in my life that I've ever been scared of anyone." Frank went on. "I had only been wrestling as a pro for a couple years when I got booked in Bridgeport, Connecticut, against Kowalski. I should have never taken the match. From the moment I entered the ring I knew it was a mistake!" "When I looked into his corner abd saw those eyes staring back at me. I almost froze in my tracks. I should have stayed home in the first place. Naturally I lost. I never even had a chance. I was too scared." The Kowalski incident occurred five years ago.
Durso now has five moreyears of ring experience behind him. What about a rematch against Kowalski? "Well at least I wouldn't be scared of him this time." laughed Durso The good - natured Italian he come a long way since his days as a weight-lifter in Pittsburgh. In recent years. Durso has taken on such mat stalwarts as Gorilla Monsoon, Cheif White Owl, the Battman, Frank Holtz, Chuck Martoni, Ace Freeman, Johnny DeFazio and Bobby "Hurricane" Hunt. He even worked against World Wide Wrestling Federation champion Bruno Sammartino on two occasions both in Philadelphia. "I lost'em both" he quickly pointed out! At 5'9 and 240 pounds, Durso just doesn't measure up to the towering goliaths currentlyplying their trade in wrestling rings today. "I am just too smakk for most of 'em" Frank admits. "But I'll go against anyone. And at anytime too!" His size almost proved to be Durso's initial defeat. Born in Pittsburgh, he played baseball for Washington Vocational High School and weighted only 190 pounds. Following high school and a two - year stint with teh United States Marines. Durso decided he wanted to become a wrestler. He went to the office of promoter Joseph "Toots" Mondt and began to plead his case. "Mr. Mondt said I was too small" said Durso. Of course there was a fella named Primo Carnera in his office at the time and I know I must have looked pretty puny next to him!" The greenhorn grappler didn't take no for a answer. however. He joined the East Liberty YMCA in Pittsburgh and began working out strenuously with weights. He decided to try judo too. "Boy I'll never forget my first encounter with judo" Durso recalled. "I went into this class where a tiny 110-pound instructor was teaching. He looked like he couldn't lift a child! But he sure Fooled me. He threw me all over that room." Next came ex-wrestler Eddie Faiette. The former Steel City mat once ran a "how to" clinic for would-be wrestlers and Durso became a prized pupil. "Eddie taught me quite a bit about this game" commented Durso. "I worked out with him for over a year or so and learned the holds, how to fall and how to protect myself. It was quite a experience." Finally, in 1961 the team of frank Durso and Ron Romano hit the pro circuit as a tag team. They traveled South working in Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alabama and Missouri. They worked against the top tag teams in the South and were even rated Number Five themselves at one point. But, about that time, Durso wandered off on his own and was booked into that ill-fated match in Steubenville, ohio. From that opening defeat until now, Durso as he puts it began to "work dirty"
Working "dirty" doesn't always appeal to the fans, so no wonder Frank Durso is not the most popular wrestler in the game. Putting it another way Durso is a hated man! "Listen I live on boos" he grunted. "The louder they yell at me, the better I like it. Just as long as the keep payin their way into the place. I don't care what they yell at me. I love it." "I won't even take a week off" he continued. "I miss the boos too much!" But despite Durso's easy quips, he remains a lonely man. He makes good money. but his dream of someday winning w world championship has long ago turned into a continuing nightmare. In arenas he dresses alone. He leaves alone. "Of course it bugs me that I'm not a top winner" he admitted. "It's worse when I wrestle on television. Then all the kids in the neighborhood watch me lose. They must figure I'm some kind of clod." Durso's wife Diane is an avid wrestling buff. She travels the circuit with her beareded hubby. "She loves it" ,says Durso, "except on TV. Then she stays in the lobby of the station. After nearly eight years as a ring pro. frank Durso sheepishly boast of a winning percentage of less then forty percent. He suffered shoulder separation and lost cartilage in his left knee. He admits he was once "scared stiff" of Killer Kowalski. The kids in his neighborhood think of him as a loser. He knows he will never be a champion. Has he thought about quitting? "Hell yes" he says, But he's quick to add, "...but I won't"
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