Like the swath of sweet corn and wheat that marks the green belt between St. Louis and its sister city, Kansas City has been a fertile ground for professional wrestling.
Born in the winter of 1905, Paul Georgeacopoulos ventured into the world of ringed sports during his teenage years, initially pursuing a career as a boxer, but it didn't pan out as he had hoped.
Ernest Brown, who had managed wrestlers, first noticed him and convinced him to try his hand at it. Orville took to his training and got enough of a reputation in Kansas that he started to wrestle professionally.