Tag: angelo mosca

It was November 30, 1963, nearly 58 years ago, but in Canadian Football lore, it was a moment that has more than stood the test of time.

It was the 51st Grey Cup game, Canadian Football’s version of the Super Bowl, although years before there was a such thing as the Super Bowl. It was held at Empire Field in Vancouver, the first time the city ever hosted the game. The local Western Conference champion British Columbia Lions were facing the Eastern Conference champions, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

The Lions were led by quarterback Joe Kapp, who in college at the University of California was the roommate of future wrestling Hall of Famer King Curtis Iaukea, and years later would become a major NFL star, leading the Minnesota Vikings to the Super Bowl. But the star of the team, the player Lions fans of that era remember above all others, was running back Willie “The Wisp” Fleming.

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Former WWF star and CFL Hall of Famer Angelo Mosca has passed away.

Mosca’s wife, Helen, announced his passing via a statement on her Facebook page.

“It is with great sadness that the family of Angelo Mosca announce his passing on November 6, 2021, after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s,” the statement reads. “Angelo was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather as well as friend to so many. Angelo was 84 years old. We ask that you respect the family’s privacy at this time. More details will be shared when arrangements have been made.”

Before entering professional wrestling, Mosca was a football player. Despite being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1959, Mosca instead chose to play for the Canadian Football League, playing for the Hamilton Tiger Cats and later the Ottawa Rough Riders. He would win five Grey Cup games through 1972, when he retired from football. He was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1987.

Mosca began wrestling in Montreal, wrestling during the football off-season, and would later wrestle across Toronto and all of North America, including Stampede Wrestling. In the World Wrestling Federation, he was known as a heel that would be one of the top challengers to Bob Backlund during Backlund’s first reign as WWF Champion, and also feuded with Pat Patterson. He would eventually become a commentator for the WWF, doing color commentary for tapings in Ontario in 1984 and 1985. He left the WWF and later retired from wrestling in 1986.