Vintage Athletes - Part 31

 Muybridge Wrestlers

Last time we saw some baseball players captured by Eadweard Muybridge's pioneering stop-motion photography for his 1887 book Animal Locomotion.

Today we look at Muybridge's wrestlers.  Muybridge did his work at the University of Pennsylvania, and his subjects were Penn students or graduates who excelled in the subject being portrayed.

Each plate in Animal Locomotion contained one or more series of photographs of the action being portrayed, taken a split-second apart (this was before the movie camera was invented).  I have made some of these photo series into gifs.  The gif above is from plate 347, described as Graeco-Roman wrestling. 

This gif is from plate 346, described as "Wrestling; lock."

This is from plate 348, Graeco-Roman wrestling.  The models for Muybridge's photos were only identified by number.  The models in these three wrestling plates were models 46 and 68.

However, some of Muybridge's models have been identified.  Model 68 was Frank Bird Gummey (1867-1955), shown above as a senior at Penn in 1887.

Gummey was quite an athlete.  He was in the Racket Club and on the tug-of-war, crew and football teams.  He won the 16-pound shot put with a throw of 30 feet 6 inches.  Above is Gummey throwing the shot.

In his junior year, Gummey enrolled in the Medical School.  A rowing enthusiast, he was a member of the college 4-oar shell crew and 8-oar shell crew, and he was also captain of the Medical School crew.  Above is Gummey rowing in a rowing machine.

After graduating from medical school, Gummey entered into private practice as a physician in Philadelphia.  He also served as an Army medical doctor during World War I.

The other wrestler in the wrestling photos, model 46, was Dr. Jacob Kinzer Shell (1862-1940), shown above later in life.  He was a talented football player at Penn, lettering four times in the late 1870s and early 1880s.  He graduated with a degree in medicine and dentistry.

Shell was also a versatile athlete.  In addition to football, he competed in track and field, baseball, lacrosse, golf, cricket, wrestling and boxing.  He held national championships as a middleweight in wrestling and boxing in 1888 and 1889.  Above, Muybridge photographed him pole vaulting, though he's not really vaulting over anything.

Muybridge photographed Shell doing a lot of things, including walking, running, carrying a stone, and heaving a rock, but we end today with Muybridge's depiction of Shell performing the "first ballet action."

Despite having a degree in dentistry, Shell pursued a career in athletics.  After a boxing match in 1888 in which his opponent received the title in an unfair decision, Shell was instrumental in founding the AAU (Amateur Athletic Union).  He became head football coach at Swarthmore College, athletics director at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and finally athletics director at Penn.  

Vintage Athletes - Part 20

Turkish Oil Wrestling

Turkish oil wrestling, the national sport of Turkey, is extremely ancient.  It is said that it was practiced 4500 years ago, and one tournament in Edirne, Turkey has been running since 1362, the oldest sporting competition in the world.

The first five photos were taken by LIFE photographer Stan Wayman in 1961.  Above, competitors kiss before a match, a sign of respect.

The wrestlers wear only leather pants (no underwear) and are completely covered in olive oil to make it hard to get a grip on them.  However, it's legal to stick your hand down your opponent's pants to get a grip.

This guy has gone elbow-deep.

Sticking your hand down your opponent's crotch is perfectly legal.

Here, the opponent's pants seem to be coming off, which is a winning move, as we'll see.

The remaining photos are not vintage, but the rules have not changed in over 600 years, except in 1975 a time limit was placed on matches.  Before then, matches could go on for hours or even days.

Although it's legal to stick your hand down your opponent's ass or crotch, you're not allowed to stick a finger up his ass or grab his dick or balls.

Although who can tell what goes on inside those leather pants?

You lose if you land on your back, even for an instant (if your "belly sees the stars").  You also lose if your opponent lifts you up and takes 3 steps (or 5 steps, depending on the location of the match).  You also lose if your pants are pulled down, exposing your "shameful parts."  That happens very rarely, because the pants are so tight, but it may be happening above.

This looks like exposing "shameful parts", but it may not count if it's only momentary.

This short video shows what goes on.  Note that it ends with a wrestler losing because he went down on his back (his "belly sees the stars").

With the athletes wearing leather pants and covered with oil, the sport is already homoerotic, and then adding the groping inside the opponent's pants, this has to be the most homoerotic sport on Earth.

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An addendum to yesterday's post on Arches National Park: although the park is best known for its rock arches, it has other rock formations, too.  This formation is called the Phallus.  There are other phallic rocks in the world, but I think this one takes the prize for best shape.  It's visible from the main park road, but easily missed among miles of rocks and cliffs.  They should have a turnout and sign to point it out.  After all, how often do you see a 100-foot-tall penis?