Page 576 - Gay San Francisco: Eyewitness Drummer - Vol. 1

556 Jack Fritscher, Ph.D.
Olive-oil wrestling has few rules. Anything goes in the free-for-all
of 500 men, oiled, sweating in the sun, identified only by silver studs
spelling out their names on the back waist of their leathers. There is much
man-to-man macho chivalry and little shame in losing a match that goes
on for hours and sometimes days. The only real shame is when a hand-
some young wrestler loses his leather breeches and is left standing oiled
and naked in the sunswept field of brawling men. To him it’s shame. To
a tourist it’s a prime Turkish Delight.

GAY WRESTLING: JOHN HANDLEY

Equally delightful is American gay wrestling. The Wrestling Club net-
work now spans from California to Chicago to New York with the New
York Wrestling Club somehow the most colorful because of its founding
president and chief promoter, the dark-mustachioed John Handley, who,
during an interview, will answer questions and lay out the NYWC future
plans most fluidly, as he pretends to reach for his cup of coffee only to feint
the disarmed interviewer into a half-nelson. No exaggeration. Handley is
such a wrestling aficionado that an interviewer gets his best answers being
drop-kicked across Handley’s NYWC wrestling mats. Meeting John is a
bruise forever, and a joy, once you realize that for Liza life is a cabaret, and
for John life is a basic body slam to the canvas.
Handley describes his wrestling style as mean. His favorite holds are
the body scissors, head scissors, and hammerlock. His Dewar’s Profile
quote: “I wrestle because I like beating the shit out of guys.”
No wonder the world is beating a path to this man’s door.

CRUISIN’ FOR A BRUISIN’

The New York Wrestling Club was created to afford civilized men a
chance to get down and grapple. Its newsletter, membership roster, and
social events foster the network of matches between athletes, gay and even
straight, for whom wrestling is a prime interest. “Whatever else happens
between the two men,” Handley says, “is their business.”
Handley twists my arm. “In urban life men need to rebuild primal
physical encounters. Man to man,” he says. “Wrestling is one path. The
most personal of all sports.” He pushes his knee into my groin. “We expect
wrestlers to be sensitive human beings who will make an effort to perceive
in a match all the levels of encounter a one-on-one grapple involves. Some
guys wrestle okay in private, but are afraid to wrestle in a gym or bar.”
He twists my arm tighter, for real. “Failure in a success-oriented society
is hard to take.”

©Jack Fritscher, Ph.D., All Rights Reserved—posted 05-05-2017
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