Ed Chuman died he was 62

Edward E. Chuman, a tough businessman with a flair for theatrics who proved a natural for professional wrestling, riled crowds as the masked manager "Dr. X" and staged shows that featured an incendiary mix of heroes and villains.

Mr. Chuman, 62, died of heart failure Friday, Jan. 15, in his Roselle home, said his wife, Pam. He had just returned from a hospital after a bout with pneumonia and had suffered long-standing lung problems related to Legionnaires' disease that he contracted about 12 years ago, his wife said.

Mr. Chuman promoted wrestling in several states for the National Wrestling Alliance, an organization that dates to the late 1940s but in recent years has played second fiddle to the nationally televised events of World Wrestling Entertainment. As a promoter for alliance shows, he put together crowd-pleasing events at venues ranging from barrooms to auditoriums in towns across the Midwest.

"There's an art to wrestling, and either you get it or you don't, and he got it," said Joe Cabibbo, who wrestles as "The Sheik." "He was a master of it."

With extensive contacts throughout the industry, Mr. Chuman was a manager and adviser to wrestlers including the "Awesome Kong," one of the top female grapplers, said Rico Mann, who designs wrestling belts.

In a sometimes crazy business, he maintained a reputation as an honest broker.

"He was just the most honest guy I ever met in the entertainment business, where there's sharks for managers," Cabibbo said. "He never took a nickel extra."

As a boy, Mr. Chuman, who grew up in Hillside and attended Proviso West High School, watched wrestling with his grandfather and idolized "Nature Boy" Buddy Rogers, said his friend Phil Wills.

He was working as a manager at a Kmart when he ran into the wrestler Angelo Poffo, who offered Mr. Chuman a chance to climb into the ring, Wills said. Wrestling as "Sidney Bockabella," he performed in all sorts of dives in southern Illinois and Kentucky, where fans sometimes took the staged matches a little too seriously.


"Ed had a lot of stories where they believed it a little too much, and things got hairy," Wills said.

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