December 13, 2004
1893
1894
Police Gazette: (issue of) January 27, 1894
A special to the Police Gazette from San Francisco says: Dan McLeod, the wrestler who recently defeated Sebastian Miller, has issued a challenge to Ernest Roeber to wrestle in a catch-as-catch-can match, best two in three falls, for $2,500 a side. Roeber is the "Police Gazette" champion Graeco Roman wrestler and does not profess to wrestle according to McLeod style.
1895
1896
1897
1898
1899
1901
1902
INJURY MAKES TOM JENKINS QUIT
(Chicago Tribune, December 26, 1902)
WORCESTER, Mass., Dec. 25 -- Dan McLeod won the championship of America at catch-as-catch-can wrestling and the $1,500 end of a $2,000 purse in Mechanics' hall before 1,100 people this afternoon by getting the better of Tom Jenkins. Jenkins had a bad leg, caused by blood poisoning, and the pain caused by the points of a brass buckle entering the flesh of this leg made him quit in the third bout.
In order to protect the injured leg Jenkins had a leather bandage with a steel strip down the front of the shin fastened with brass buckles. Two of these were broken in the early part of the match and the brass points dug into his flesh until the pain was unbearable and he was afraid of further blood poisoning.
He had wrestled twenty minutes in the third bout when he told McLeod the condition he was in and offered to quit and call the match a draw or go on wrestling. McLeod insisted on continuing, but Jenkins' manager refused to let the big fellow go on and forfeited the match.
Jenkins won the first fall by a three-quarters Nelson in 59 minutes and McLeod got the second in 24 minutes on a crotch and half Nelson hold.
1903
1904
1905
1906
1909
1910
1913
FORMER CHAMPION OF THE MAT IS NOW A WRESTLING TEACHER
(By Mark Larkin, November 21, 1916, as appeared in the Reno Evening Gazette)
LOS ANGELES - Dan McLeod, former world's wrestling champion, the only man who ever threw Frank Gotch, is now an instructor of wrestling in the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Dan was champion in the days when there was no such thing as "world's champion." There were all "champions of England" or champions of "Ireland or France or America." With the possible exception of Ernest Roeber, world's champion Greek or Roman wrestler, there was nobody who laid claim to a universal wrestling title.
McLeod tossed Roeber and also such noted mat men as Joe Acton; Tom Cannon, champion of England; Farmer Burns; Mort Henderson, the original masked marvel; and the undefeatable Frank Gotch, whom he threw twice, the last time in a scheduled match with lasted an hour.
These are only a few of the men Dan McLeod had thrown. There is not enough paper on this page to enumerate them all. Dan became a wrestler by accident. He was nagged into a match in British Columbia in the late '80s, whereupon he put a man down so hard that it broke two of his ribs and laid him up in the hospital for six weeks. After that there was no peace for him.
In 1889 he won the Pacific Coast heavyweight wrestling championship. A short time later he turned professional, toured the country giving bouts and meeting all comers. It was on one of these tours that he met and defeated Gotch.
In 1912 McLeod quit the wrestling game to become coach at the Los Angeles Club.
"Instead of defeating 'em myself now," says Dan, "I show the other fellow how to do it. It's much harder to show another fellow than to do it myself, but you don't get so badly messed up."
Since McLeod has become an exponent of the mat sport, he has developed several champions. He coached Otto Linner, Pacific Coast champion in the 130-pound class; John Humerich, 120-pound Coast champ; and Ernest Daggett, 158-pound Pacific Coast titleholder; also George W. Retzer, who represented the LAAC in the 1912 Olympiad held at Stockholm. McLeod is considered the best wrestling coach in the country. Such men as Frank Gotch give him the highest credit.
Career Record Compiled by Vance Nevada with files from J. Michael Kenyon, Don Luce
**66 recorded matches as of October 30, 2004
Dan McLeod
 |
DANIEL STEWART McLEOD
(1890-1913)
AKA: George Little
Height: 5'6-1/2"
Weight: 200 .lbs
Born: 1860
Died: June 1958
Titles Held:
American Heavyweight: 1897-1903 (2x)
McLeod was a Nanaimo miner before hitting the road to wrestle in 1890.
* * * * * * * * * *
1890
| ?? | San Francisco, CA | vs. Pete Schumacher |
| 08/17 | San Francisco, CA | drew Evan ?Strangler? Lewis |
| 10/?? | San Francisco, CA | beat Joe Acton |
| 12/?? | San Francisco, CA | beat Sebastian Miller |
| 03/20 | San Francisco, CA | beat Thomas McMahon |
Police Gazette: (issue of) January 27, 1894
A special to the Police Gazette from San Francisco says: Dan McLeod, the wrestler who recently defeated Sebastian Miller, has issued a challenge to Ernest Roeber to wrestle in a catch-as-catch-can match, best two in three falls, for $2,500 a side. Roeber is the "Police Gazette" champion Graeco Roman wrestler and does not profess to wrestle according to McLeod style.
1895
| 10/11 | Indianapolis, IN | beat J.C. Comstock |
| 11/09 | Davenport, IA | vs. D.H. Carroll |
| 12/12 | New York, NY | drew Ed Atherton |
| 08/17 Rochester, NY | beat Ed Atherton |
| 01/29 | Rock Island, IL | beat Ed Atherton |
| 05/06 | Davenport, IA | lost to Martin ?Farmer? Burns |
| 10/26 | Indianapolis, IN | beat Martin ?Farmer? Burns *Won the American Heavyweight title |
| 06/16 | LuVerne, IA | beat Frank Gotch |
| ?? | St. Paul, MN | beat Hjalmar Lundin |
| 02/24 | St. Paul, MN | beat George Baptiste |
| 02/?? | Montreal, QC | beat Paul Pons |
| 03/28 | Buffalo, NY | beat Mort Henderson |
| 04/22 | Buffalo, NY | open challenge against all comers |
| 04/29 | Buffalo, NY | beat Butch Saar |
| 04/30 | Buffalo, NY | beat Joe Lynn |
| 05/01 | Buffalo, NY | vs. Tom Davies |
| 05/02 | Buffalo, NY | beat Jack Anderson |
| 05/03 | Buffalo, NY | vs. Ernest Green |
| 05/04 | Buffalo, NY | beat Tom Davies |
| 07/03 | Buffalo, NY | beat Tom Sharkey |
| 07/18 | Hamilton, ON | beat Martin Muldoon |
| 07/29 | Buffalo, NY | beat Ed Atherton |
| 08/15 | Buffalo, NY | beat Charles Wittmer |
| 11/07 | Indianapolis, IN | lost to Tom Jenkins *Lost the American Heavyweight title |
| 04/19 | Buffalo, NY | drew Jim Parr |
| 06/02 | Cleveland, OH | beat Kid Clay & Doc Payne -- Handicap |
| 06/03 | Cleveland, OH | beat Kid Clay & Charles Weidemeyer -- Handicap |
| 06/04 | Cleveland, OH | beat Frank Vacha |
| 06/05 | Cleveland, OH | beat Frank Vacha & Doc Payne -- Handicap |
| 06/06 | Cleveland, OH | beat Eddy Conley |
| 06/10 | Cleveland, OH | drew Tom Jenkins |
| 06/04 | Cleveland, OH | lost to Tom Jenkins |
| 10/28 | Worcester, MA | drew M.J. Dwyer |
| 12/25 | Worcester, MA | beat Tom Jenkins *Won the American Heavyweight title (2) |
INJURY MAKES TOM JENKINS QUIT
(Chicago Tribune, December 26, 1902)
WORCESTER, Mass., Dec. 25 -- Dan McLeod won the championship of America at catch-as-catch-can wrestling and the $1,500 end of a $2,000 purse in Mechanics' hall before 1,100 people this afternoon by getting the better of Tom Jenkins. Jenkins had a bad leg, caused by blood poisoning, and the pain caused by the points of a brass buckle entering the flesh of this leg made him quit in the third bout.
In order to protect the injured leg Jenkins had a leather bandage with a steel strip down the front of the shin fastened with brass buckles. Two of these were broken in the early part of the match and the brass points dug into his flesh until the pain was unbearable and he was afraid of further blood poisoning.
He had wrestled twenty minutes in the third bout when he told McLeod the condition he was in and offered to quit and call the match a draw or go on wrestling. McLeod insisted on continuing, but Jenkins' manager refused to let the big fellow go on and forfeited the match.
Jenkins won the first fall by a three-quarters Nelson in 59 minutes and McLeod got the second in 24 minutes on a crotch and half Nelson hold.
1903
| 04/08 | Buffalo, NY | lost to Tom Jenkins *Lost the American Heavyweight title |
| 11/06 | Montreal, QC | beat Antoine Gonthier |
| 12/22 | New York, NY | lost to Tom Jenkins |
| 01/29 | Montreal, QC | beat Eugene Tremblay by decision |
| 02/13 | Montreal, QC | vs. Max Luttberg |
| 03/23 | Montreal, QC | drew Jim Parr |
| 05/05 | Vancouver, BC | beat John Berg |
| 05/28 | Nanaimo, BC | beat Bob Swanson |
| 05/30 | Seattle, WA | beat Chief Two Feathers |
| 06/16 | Vancouver, BC | beat Chief Two Feathers |
| 06/18 | Bellingham, WA | beat Joe Carroll |
| 07/28 | Vancouver, BC | beat Charles Anderson |
| 08/06 | Vancouver, BC | lost to Frank Gotch (World champion) |
| 10/05 | New Westminster, BC | lost to Frank Gotch (World champion) |
| 10/20 | Vancouver, BC | drew Chief War Eagle |
| 10/26 | New Westminster, BC | drew Chief War Eagle |
| 11/25 | New Westminster, BC | beat Jake Hildebrand |
| 02/17 | Montreal, QC | vs. Emil Maupas |
| 03/14 | Victoria, BC | lost to Chris Person |
| 04/07 | Vancouver, BC | beat Jack Carkeek by decision |
| 05/16 | Vancouver, BC | lost to Jack Carkeek |
| 12/22 | Montreal, QC | lost to Frank Gotch (World champion) |
| 12/29 | Cleveland, OH | drew Tom Jenkins |
| 12/27 | Ottumwa, IA | beat George Springer |
| 04/20 | Waterloo, IA | lost to Frank Gotch |
| 06/01 | Chicago, IL | lost to Charles ?Butcher Boy? Postl |
| 05/27 | Los Angeles, CA | beat Tony Ajax |
FORMER CHAMPION OF THE MAT IS NOW A WRESTLING TEACHER
(By Mark Larkin, November 21, 1916, as appeared in the Reno Evening Gazette)
LOS ANGELES - Dan McLeod, former world's wrestling champion, the only man who ever threw Frank Gotch, is now an instructor of wrestling in the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
Dan was champion in the days when there was no such thing as "world's champion." There were all "champions of England" or champions of "Ireland or France or America." With the possible exception of Ernest Roeber, world's champion Greek or Roman wrestler, there was nobody who laid claim to a universal wrestling title.
McLeod tossed Roeber and also such noted mat men as Joe Acton; Tom Cannon, champion of England; Farmer Burns; Mort Henderson, the original masked marvel; and the undefeatable Frank Gotch, whom he threw twice, the last time in a scheduled match with lasted an hour.
These are only a few of the men Dan McLeod had thrown. There is not enough paper on this page to enumerate them all. Dan became a wrestler by accident. He was nagged into a match in British Columbia in the late '80s, whereupon he put a man down so hard that it broke two of his ribs and laid him up in the hospital for six weeks. After that there was no peace for him.
In 1889 he won the Pacific Coast heavyweight wrestling championship. A short time later he turned professional, toured the country giving bouts and meeting all comers. It was on one of these tours that he met and defeated Gotch.
In 1912 McLeod quit the wrestling game to become coach at the Los Angeles Club.
"Instead of defeating 'em myself now," says Dan, "I show the other fellow how to do it. It's much harder to show another fellow than to do it myself, but you don't get so badly messed up."
Since McLeod has become an exponent of the mat sport, he has developed several champions. He coached Otto Linner, Pacific Coast champion in the 130-pound class; John Humerich, 120-pound Coast champ; and Ernest Daggett, 158-pound Pacific Coast titleholder; also George W. Retzer, who represented the LAAC in the 1912 Olympiad held at Stockholm. McLeod is considered the best wrestling coach in the country. Such men as Frank Gotch give him the highest credit.
Career Record Compiled by Vance Nevada with files from J. Michael Kenyon, Don Luce
**66 recorded matches as of October 30, 2004