The fabulous life of Moolah

Wrestling fans were saddened the world over last week with the news that one of the all-time greats, the Fabulous Moolah, passed away at the ripe old age of 84. Although Moolah never reached the level of fame that the great showmen like Hulk Hogan and The Rock have enjoyed, she was a rare and precious gem in a world of men, maniacs and mayhem.

She was truly one of a kind. Moolah was well known as the first WWF women's champion. She held that title for an astonishing 28 years, a record for the longest title reign by an athlete in any professional sport, assuming wrestling counts. And it sure did for Moolah. Wrestling was her life.

Born Mary Lillian Ellison in 1923 in the small South Carolina community of Tookiedoo, she was the youngest of 13 siblings, and the sole girl. As if that wasn’t tough enough, she was only eight years old when her mother died. By age 10, Lillian was working on a cotton farm. Moolah’s dad tried his best to raise her, taking her to Tuesday night wrestling matches to cheer her up. It did, and she soon began to idolize champion Mildred Burke. After getting married at age 14 and giving birth to a daughter, Moolah ignored her dad’s pleas to stay home with the baby, and set out for a wrestling career of her own. By the late 1940s, she was wrestling for Mildred Burke’s husband Billy Wolfe, a top promoter of the day.

Moolah said she came up with her trademark name because she was in wrestling only for the money. By the early 1950s, she was a valet for "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, providing eye candy for the male audiences. The Fabulous Moolah won her first championship in 1956, and quickly established herself as the heir to Mildred Burke’s throne. Her first world title reign lasted over ten years, and she successfully defended the belt against the top female wrestlers in the world.

In 1972, she became the first woman to wrestle at Madison Square Garden. Thanks to her fame and engaging personality, Moolah managed to befriend some of the biggest celebrities of the day, including Elvis Presley and Jerry Lee Lewis.

She even dated country music legend Hank Williams for a year.

And then along came Vince McMahon, and the WWF. When Vince expanded his WWF nationally in the 1980s, Moolah was a big part of its early success. She became the first female wrestler to enter the WWF Hall of Fame, and appeared from time to time in comedic roles on WWF broadcasts even as she entered her eighties. Her last run with the world title came when she was 76 years old.

Throughout it all, Moolah never lost her passion for the business. She loved to tell tales of life on the road, operated her own wrestling school, and shared a house for more than 40 years with an adopted daughter, Diamond Lil, a midget wrestler she trained to wrestle when Lil was 17. There will always be those who deride wrestling as fake, foolish and cartoonish, but in the world of women’s wrestling, there will always be one irrefutable legend that stands head and shoulders above the rest. She was as unforgettable as she was fabulous. She was Moolah.