The golden age of the American Wrestling Association, as documented by a nine-year-old boy in 1960s Omaha
Mad Dog Vachon, “Tarzan Tyler,” Masao “Rusher” Kimura—the ring names of the wrestlers who grappled for glory in the American Wrestling Association were as evocative as they were hair-raising. In 1969, the Swiss-born photographer Darius Koehli (born 1960), then just nine years old, spent nine months with his father in Omaha, Nebraska, where a neighbor took him to the hottest spot in town, the Civic Auditorium, to see some catch wrestling. With a remarkable eye for slapstick, and using his brand-new Kodak Instamatic, Koehli produced hundreds of snapshots of these formidable hulks, during and after their bouts. In the summer of 2019, Koehli uncovered the photo album he’d assembled 50 years ago in Omaha and decided to revitalize the pictures of this extraordinary time. The selection featured in Why Omaha? provides a glimpse of a bygone era in which professional wrestling was just taking off, enrapturing TV audiences.
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Featured image is from one-of-a-kind new release, Darius Koehli : Why Omaha? Collecting 150 glorious, action-packed Kodak Instamatic snapshots that the then-nine-year-old Swiss-born photographer made at American Wrestling Association matches during the summer of 1969, which he spent with his father in Omaha, Nebraska, this 114-page hardcover captures a "fascinating, illustrious universe" with all of the unselfconscious vitality and curiosity of a kid caught somewhere between slapstick and baffling heroism. "Memories rise up in my mind," Koehli writes, "the old photographs tell of rousing battles, stuffy arenas and lurid announcers, excited crowds hooting and hollering, sweat and blood, mysterious masked accomplices and steely bodies. Magical names, magical images—welcome to a world long forgotten… Welcome back to Omaha 1969!" continue to blog
FORMAT: Hbk, 8.25 x 8.25 in. / 114 pgs / 150 color. LIST PRICE: U.S. $50.00 LIST PRICE: CANADA $69 ISBN: 9783907236413 PUBLISHER: Edition Patrick Frey AVAILABLE: 12/13/2022 DISTRIBUTION: D.A.P. RETAILER DISC: TRADE PUBLISHING STATUS: Active AVAILABILITY: In stock TERRITORY: NA ONLY
Published by Edition Patrick Frey. Text by Darius Koehli.
The golden age of the American Wrestling Association, as documented by a nine-year-old boy in 1960s Omaha
Mad Dog Vachon, “Tarzan Tyler,” Masao “Rusher” Kimura—the ring names of the wrestlers who grappled for glory in the American Wrestling Association were as evocative as they were hair-raising. In 1969, the Swiss-born photographer Darius Koehli (born 1960), then just nine years old, spent nine months with his father in Omaha, Nebraska, where a neighbor took him to the hottest spot in town, the Civic Auditorium, to see some catch wrestling. With a remarkable eye for slapstick, and using his brand-new Kodak Instamatic, Koehli produced hundreds of snapshots of these formidable hulks, during and after their bouts. In the summer of 2019, Koehli uncovered the photo album he’d assembled 50 years ago in Omaha and decided to revitalize the pictures of this extraordinary time.
The selection featured in Why Omaha? provides a glimpse of a bygone era in which professional wrestling was just taking off, enrapturing TV audiences.
