When the world wrestling champ came to Fresno — and competed after horrific crash

When Orville Brown, one of the pioneers of 20th-century pro wrestling, performed in Fresno 80 years ago, he not only left town with a main-event billing and a working western vacation. He left town with his life intact.

Despite being the first National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight champion — wrestling’s top prize for four decades — Brown’s role in developing the modern mat spectacle has largely been forgotten. Not only was he the first champion, but he helped form the NWA, a cooperative of wrestling promoters that existed until the WWE (then known as the WWF) drove most of them out of business in the 1980s.

A horrific car crash in 1949 ended his career, weeks before a world championship unification with 1950s great Lou Thesz. Just three years earlier while wrestling in Fresno, Brown nearly met the same fate.

Brown’s Fresno wreck

By 1946, Brown was one of wrestling’s top stars. Even before the internet or even TV wrestling, Brown had a reputation as tough in the ring and able to draw fans. The Kansas native was not only the top star but owner of the territory that included Kansas City, Wichita, Kansas, and St. Joseph, Missouri.

He took a break that summer for a working vacation. He spent a week in Montana, and two weeks in California. Twice, he wrestled in Fresno with matches held at the long-since-demolished Ryan’s Auditorium.

It was his second match in Fresno that nearly ended Brown.

According to The Bee’s account, on July 20, 1946, a truck attempted to pass Brown’s car on northbound Golden State Highway near Chestnut Avenue. At the same time, a southbound Greyhound bus attempted to pass a car. The truck and bus collided. A piece of iron came loose from the side of the truck “knifing through the side of the bus.”

Two suffered amputations. Another suffered a fractured neck and leg. A fourth passenger had a ruptured spleen. Several others suffered lacerations.

Brown “was shaken up when some of the wreckage smashed the windshield of his automobile. (He) insisted upon proceeding to Fresno to take part in the wrestling matches.”

Two weeks in California

The wreck took place on the last day of Brown’s western tour.

Brown was greeted in Montana as the world champion, headlining five matches. Strictly speaking, he wasn’t champion at the time. In California, The Bee and other papers treated his accomplishments with less enthusiasm.

Some things in wrestling never change. Several wrestlers could claim to be “world champion” in the 1940s. Even today, several wrestlers claim to be “world champion.” The WWE recognizes two.

The Bee previews billed Brown as “title claimant” without explaining what that fully meant. He held the Midwest Wrestling Association version of the world title, but not really.

Prior to taking his vacation away from his Kansas City base, Brown lost his version of the world championship to rival Bobby Bruns on June 20, 1946, in Kansas City. Bruns took the match on a disqualification in controversial fashion, setting up a dispute and rematch when Brown returned later that summer.

That didn’t stop promoters in Montana and California from billing Brown as champion. As Brown headed out of the Midwest, a crazed fan stabbed him at a match in St. Joseph, Missouri on June 22. Brown needed four stitches to close a wound to his throat, or so the story went. Neither the promoter nor Brown declined to press charges. The incident — and the title loss to Bruns — gave a convenient storyline for Brown to be out of action, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the attacker story.

Brown in Fresno

“(Brown) is said to be a wealthy farmer and is backed by the state athletic commission in his neck of the woods as the world champion. He has relatives in Oakdale and plans to spend several weeks in California,” The Bee wrote.

For a “world champion,” Brown shared the main event billing in Fresno with The Swedish Angel vs. Al Steinhauer. Angel parlayed his grotesque-looking face into worldwide stardom. Steinhauer was a Fresno local who later became a police officer.

Brown defeated Tony Martinelli on July 13, 1946, drawing 1,439 fans for a gate of $1,375 at Ryan’s Auditorium. Brown won the first fall of the three fall contest with an “overarm body slam and press.” Martinelli won the second “body drop.” Brown won the match and third fall with a piledriver and elbow smash to the chin.

Martinelli claimed foul because Brown refused a clean break and got the winning blow on a cheap shot. The two had a rematch the following week on July 20, 1946, the day of Brown’s wreck heading to the matches. Without Angel on the card, attendance dipped to 1,311 for a $1,267 gate. Brown again won the match, this time billed as the main event.

The following week, with Brown out of town, the fans returned with 1,633 showing for a card headlined by another former world champ, Sandor Szabo. Despite Brown’s standing in other parts of the wrestling world, his name did not pop the Fresno crowd.

In between Fresno shows, Brown wrestled five dates in Southern California, none in the main event. Some newspaper previews mentioned his world champion status, others ignored the claim.

Forming the NWA

Raised in Kansas, Brown worked on a farm and even as a rodeo cowboy, according to a biography by wrestling historian Steve Yohe. Brown parlayed that into pro wrestling, and quickly became a nationwide star. By 1940, he moved to Kansas City to farm, and invested in the local wrestling promotion, taking control.

In 1948, he formed a wrestling cooperative with five other Midwest-based promoters to form the NWA. The goals included recognizing one world champion, not to directly compete against each other, and offer a hand if there was a promoter daring enough to challenge their supremacy.

The original six promoters expanded to dozens in the intervening decades. The power of the NWA diminished and just about disappeared by 1993, thanks to the rival WWF (as it was known then) changing the landscape of the wrestling business.

The NWA recognized Brown as its world champion. He was set for a unification match with another perennial champ, Lou Thesz in 1949. But the biggest match of Brown’s career was never to be.

A fateful car crash ends Brown’s career

Brown’s Fresno accident was an omen for worse luck on the roads. On Nov. 1, 1949 — weeks before his major unification match with Thesz — Brown suffered a career-ending auto accident. After wrestling in Des Moines, Brown was driving back to Kansas City with Bruns.

In the middle of the night near Bethany, Missouri, a banana truck overturned blocking the road. Brown could not stop his 1949 Cadillac sedan in time and slammed into the jackknifed vehicle.

”The top of the Cadillac was pushed back so far it looked like a convertible. The two wrestlers used their strength to force the front seat backward and that saved both their lives. Bruns suffered a broken shoulder and upper arm injuries, which he recovered from. The frame of the trailer came through the car hitting Brown’s head, resulting in brain damage. Brown was able to get out of the car and walked before falling unconscious. Brown’s mangled Cadillac was sold to salvage for $216,” Yohe wrote.

Brown spent 17 days in the hospital. His title unification match was canceled, and the NWA awarded Thesz the championship. Brown made a brief comeback the following year, but his career was effectively over.

After the end of his in-ring career, Brown continued to promote wrestling, fully retiring in 1963. He died in 1981 at the age of 72.

Orville Brown’s ‘working vacation’ results

David Taub

The Fresno Bee

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David Taub joined the Fresno Bee in 2026 after reporting 10 years for digital publication GV Wire. He has worked in the Fresno market since 2007. Prior to moving to the Central Valley, he worked for TV and radio stations on the Central Coast. He has also worked behind the scenes in local TV and radio. During his career, he has covered City Hall, the state Capitol, the White House and several houses of government in between. When not in a reporting capacity, he works tracking stats for the Fresno Grizzlies as an official scorekeeper, and also with televised basketball and football games. He has worked the Super Bowl, NBA Finals, and several MLB games. Growing up in the San Francisco Bay Area, Taub is a die-hard Giants and 49ers fan. He graduated from the University of Michigan with dual degrees in communications and political science. Go Blue!