Toru Tanaka

Charles J. Kalani Jr. (January 6, 1930 – August 22, 2000) was an American professional wrestler, professional boxer, college football player, soldier, actor, and martial artist who, in fighting rings, was also known as Professor Toru Tanaka, or simply Professor Tanaka.

Early life

Kalani was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, the son of Charles J. Kalani and Christina Leong Kalani. Charlie began studying judo in 1939. He graduated from Iolani School in 1949. His wife, Doris Kalani, later credited Kalani's time on the football team and Kenneth A. Bray's influence with keeping him away from trouble. After graduating from high school, Kalani attended Weber Junior College (now Weber State University), where he met his wife in 1952. Together, they had three children: Cheryle Kalani, Carl Kalani, and Karen Kalani Beck.

In 1955, Kalani was drafted into the U.S. Army, where he rose to the rank of sergeant. Kalani left the military in 1966 and moved to Monterey, California. He ran a Judo and Danzan-ryu Jujitsu academy with Professor John Chow-Hoon. San Francisco promoter Roy Shire asked Kalani to wrestle in 1967, launching his wrestling career.

Professional wrestling career

One of the characteristics of Kalani's wrestling gimmick was that he threw salt in his opponents' eyes, a tactic that is most commonly associated with Japanese villain wrestlers. Kalani did play the stereotypical Japanese villain with the requisite knowledge of martial arts. He employed a combination of power skills, martial arts, and his feared Japanese sleeper submission hold. Kalani's most famous tag team partner was Harry Fujiwara (better known as Mr. Fuji), whom he knew from high school in Hawaii. In his book, ''Listen, You Pencil Neck Geeks'', Freddie Blassie explored the relationship between the two "Japanese" heels.

Tanaka had a long successful run with the WWF in the 1960s, including being #1 contender to champion Bruno Sammartino. Sammartino was the one who requested Tanaka (who was working in Australia) to the WWF's owner at the time, Vince McMahon Sr. In their first Madison Square Garden meeting, Tanaka was disqualified for throwing salt. He was pinned by Sammartino in a rematch six months later, and Tanaka occasionally teamed with Gorilla Monsoon. Tanaka also main evented the Garden in tag matches, twice with Gorilla Monsoon vs. Sammartino and Spyros Arion (Tanaka and his partner winning the first via disqualification; losing the second in a Texas Death Match); a year later with Monsoon against Sammartino and Victor Rivera. Monsoon & Tanaka had other Garden matches, including victories over Al Costello & Dr. Bill Miller; and Bobo Brazil and Earl Maynard.

Tanaka subsequently teamed with Mitsu Arakawa in the WWF, acquiring the International Tag Team Championship; losing it at Madison Square Garden to Tony Marino and Victor Rivera. The team of Tanaka and Fuji won three WWF World Tag Team Championships, with Blassie as manager for the third reign and The Grand Wizard as manager for the first two. They first won the belts from Sonny King and Chief Jay Strongbow on June 27, 1972, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at a House show. They lost the belts to Haystacks Calhoun and Tony Garea on May 30, 1973, again at a Hamburg house show, but regained them on September 11, 1973, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, before losing them again to Tony Garea and Dean Ho on November 14, 1973, again in Hamburg. Their third win came on September 27, 1977, at a Philadelphia house show when they defeated Tony Garea and Larry Zbyszko in a tournament final for the vacant belts, holding them until March 14, 1978, when they lost the titles to Dino Bravo and Dominic DeNucci in Philadelphia. This third reign set a record for number of championship reigns which would be equalized by The Wild Samoans in 1983, Demolition in 1990, Money Inc. in 1993, The Quebecers in 1994 and The Smoking Gunns in 1996, but not bettered until The New Age Outlaws won a fourth reign in 1999.

Other media

Professor Tanaka was also featured in a television commercial for a brand of rice in Puerto Rico. His other appearance in a commercial was for Colgate toothpaste with Pat Morita. Tanaka was seen as an extra in a few of David Lee Roth's music videos in the mid-1980s.

By the early 1980s, Kalani's body could not handle the beatings in the ring any longer, and he moved into the film world on a more permanent basis. His first film was the 1981 Chuck Norris vehicle ''An Eye for an Eye'' and his last film was 1995's ''Hard Justice''. He appeared opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in ''The Running Man'' as a sadistic ice-skating "stalker" named Subzero who uses a bladed hockey stick which "slices his enemies limb from limb into quivering, bloody sushi". Other notable roles include '' Missing in Action 2: The Beginning'', '' The Perfect Weapon'', and '' Pee-Wee's Big Adventure''.

Tanaka was one of three semi-retired professional wrestlers to compete in a tug-of-war match with two other wrestlers teamed up against a large group of children on the Nickelodeon series ''Wild and Crazy Kids'' in the early 1990s.

Death

Kalani died of heart failure on August 22, 2000. He was given a full military funeral.

Filmography

* 1981 ''An Eye for an Eye'' as "The Professor"
* 1981-1982 ''Fantasy Island'' (season 5/episode 20) as Magog
* 1982 ''Little House on the Prairie (A new beginning''; "Alden's Dilemma" Season 9 aired first on December 6, 1982) as Japanese Sumo (uncredited)
* 1983 ''Angel Of H.E.A.T.''
* 1983 ''Off the Wall'' as Banzai Wrestler #1
* 1983 '' Revenge of the Ninja'' as Sumo Servant
* 1984 ''The A-Team'' (TV Series) as Ling, The Bodyguard
* 1984 ''Chattanooga Choo Choo'' as Hashimoto
* 1985 '' Missing in Action 2: The Beginning'' as Lao
* 1985 '' Pee-wee's Big Adventure'' as The Butler
* 1985 '' Volunteers'' as Sumo Guard
* 1986 ''The A-Team'' - ''The Spy Who Mugged Me'' as Fröbe
* 1986 ''Bad Guys'' as Lord Percy's Bodyguard
* 1986 '' Shanghai Surprise'' as Yamagani San
* 1987 ''Catch The Heat'' as Dozu
* 1987 ''The Running Man'' as "Subzero"
* 1988 '' Dead Heat'' as "The Butcher"
* 1989 ''Tax Season''
* 1989 ''Hyper Space'' as The Android
* 1989 '' Black Rain'' as Sugai's Bodyguard
* 1990 ''Darkman'' as Chinese Warrior #2
* 1990 ''Martial Law'' as Jimmy Kong
* 1991 '' The Perfect Weapon'' as Tanaka
* 1991 '' Alligator II: The Mutation'' as Joe "Tokyo Joe", The Wrestler
* 1991 ''Deadly Game'' as Ikiru-Sun
* 1992 '' 3 Ninjas'' as Rushmore
* 1993 ''Last Action Hero'' as Tough Asian Man
* 1995 ''Hard Justice'' as "Cookie" (uncredited)

Championships and accomplishments

* 50th State Big Time Wrestling
** NWA North American Heavyweight Championship ''(Hawaii version)'' ( 1 time)
*All-California Championship Wrestling
**ACCW Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Peter Maivia Jr.
*California Pro Wrestling
**CPW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
**CPW Brass Knuckles Championship (1 time)
*Championship Wrestling from Florida
** NWA Florida Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Dick Slater
*Continental Wrestling Association
**AWA Southern Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Mr. Fuji
*Georgia Championship Wrestling
**NWA Georgia Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)
** NWA Macon Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)
**NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Assassin #2 (1) and Mr. Fuji (1)
*L&G Promotions
:* L&G Caribbean Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)
*National Wrestling Alliance
** NWA Southeastern Heavyweight Championship ''(Northern Division)'' (2 times)¹
*Northeast Championship Wrestling (Tom Janette)
**NCW Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* NWA Big Time Wrestling
** NWA American Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
** NWA American Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Thunderbolt Patterson
** NWA Brass Knuckles Championship ''(Texas version)'' (4 times)
* NWA Hollywood Wrestling
** NWA Americas Heavyweight Championship ( 1 time)
**NWA Americas Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Dr. Hiro Ota
*NWA New Zealand
** NWA British Empire/Commonwealth Championship (2 times)
* Southeastern Championship Wrestling
** NWA Southeastern Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Mr. Fuji
*World Championship Wrestling (Australia)
**IWA World Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
** IWA World Tag Team Championship ( 1 time) - with Skull Murphy
* World Wide Wrestling Federation/WWE
**WWWF International Tag Team Championship ( 1 time, inaugural) - with Mitsu Arakawa
** WWWF World Tag Team Championship ( 3 times) - with Mr. Fuji
**WWE Hall of Fame ( Class of 2019)
¹Records do not show which NWA affiliate Tanaka worked for when his two reigns with the title began. While usually defended in Southeastern Championship Wrestling, it was occasionally used in other promotions.

References

External links

*
*
*
Charlie Kalani at the Danzan-ryu Jujitsu Homepage

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Professor
1930 births
2000 deaths
American male film actors
American male professional wrestlers
Faux Japanese professional wrestlers
ʻIolani School alumni
Weber State University alumni
Sportspeople from Honolulu
Professional wrestlers from Hawaii
United States Army non-commissioned officers
American military personnel of Native Hawaiian descent
The Heenan Family members
Male actors from Honolulu
20th-century American male actors
Hawaii people of Chinese descent
WWE Hall of Fame Legacy inductees
20th-century professional wrestlers
American male judoka
American jujutsuka
NWA Florida Tag Team Champions
WCWA Brass Knuckles Champions
NWA Americas Tag Team Champions
NWA Americas Heavyweight Champions
IWA World Heavyweight Champions (Australia)
IWA World Tag Team Champions (Australia)
NWA Macon Heavyweight Champions
NWA Georgia Heavyweight Champions
NWA Georgia Tag Team Champions