Welcome to davemarxphotos.com
Your Subtitle text
Professional Wrestling
This page highlights photos taken during the 1970's when I was growing up in Rock Island, IL, which is part of the Quad-Cities. This also includes Moline, IL as well as Davenport & Bettendorf, IA.
I first got attracted to Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a youth watching pro wrestling on TV. After a short while, I starting going to the live matches in either Moline's Wharton Field House & during the summers at Davenport's John O'Donnell Stadium - a minor league baseball ballpark next to the Mississippi River (Wharton Field House was not air-conditioned). Soon I had front-row ringside seats, which allowed easy access for all of my photos.
During the mid-1970's both venues were changed to Davenport's Palmer Auditorium, which is part of Palmer College, a world-renowned chiropractic school, because this facility was air conditioned. The wrestlers came to the Quad-Cities at least once a month and many times, twice a month.
Once I was old enough to drive, I took many of the wrestlers to and from the airport to the arena as well as to WQAD-TV, Channel 8 (ABC affiliate) after the matches for their TV interviews. This is how I got to know many of the wrestlers, especially the "bad guys" which included on a regular basis Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel, Pat Patterson, Ray Stevens, Lord Alfred Hayes, The Super Destroyer, The Super Destroyer Mark II, and others. To this day, I still cannot imagine how I got 7'4" 460 lbs. Andre The Giant, 285 lbs. Dusty Rhodes, and 265 lbs. Ivan Putski in the backseat of my 1974 Chevy Monte Carlo!
All photos are film, which I had to scan to digital for this website. Many of the pictures were developed on matte paper, and when scanned, do not have the sharpness of glossy prints; many also have a dot effect. All color pictures were taken with a Kodak Instantmatic camera that was basically a point-and-shoot camera with no focus nor zoom capability. Despite the elementary capacity of the camera, I was still able to capture fast paced movement with minimal camera blur. Every black & white picture was taken with my Rock Island High School graphic arts class 35mm camera-my first foray into a SLR camera. The B&W pictures were developed either at school or at home in my dark room, which is where the autographed B&W photos were enlarged into 8x10 prints. I have some photos in this website that may not be as sharply focused as I would prefer, but the timing and/or subject matter was still worthwhile to be included (give me a break).
The AWA was the starting point for many of the most recognizable pro wrestlers of all-time. When Andre The Giant came to the US from France, he got his start in the AWA, as did Ric Flair, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Hulk Hogan. I hope you enjoy the photos as I did when I was there taking the pictures. In today's era of professional wrestling, looking back to the 1970's is certainly a more basic form of entertainment while still delivering enough action to keep the arena's filled. Enjoy.
I first got attracted to Verne Gagne's American Wrestling Association (AWA) as a youth watching pro wrestling on TV. After a short while, I starting going to the live matches in either Moline's Wharton Field House & during the summers at Davenport's John O'Donnell Stadium - a minor league baseball ballpark next to the Mississippi River (Wharton Field House was not air-conditioned). Soon I had front-row ringside seats, which allowed easy access for all of my photos.
During the mid-1970's both venues were changed to Davenport's Palmer Auditorium, which is part of Palmer College, a world-renowned chiropractic school, because this facility was air conditioned. The wrestlers came to the Quad-Cities at least once a month and many times, twice a month.
Once I was old enough to drive, I took many of the wrestlers to and from the airport to the arena as well as to WQAD-TV, Channel 8 (ABC affiliate) after the matches for their TV interviews. This is how I got to know many of the wrestlers, especially the "bad guys" which included on a regular basis Bobby "The Brain" Heenan, Nick Bockwinkel, Pat Patterson, Ray Stevens, Lord Alfred Hayes, The Super Destroyer, The Super Destroyer Mark II, and others. To this day, I still cannot imagine how I got 7'4" 460 lbs. Andre The Giant, 285 lbs. Dusty Rhodes, and 265 lbs. Ivan Putski in the backseat of my 1974 Chevy Monte Carlo!
All photos are film, which I had to scan to digital for this website. Many of the pictures were developed on matte paper, and when scanned, do not have the sharpness of glossy prints; many also have a dot effect. All color pictures were taken with a Kodak Instantmatic camera that was basically a point-and-shoot camera with no focus nor zoom capability. Despite the elementary capacity of the camera, I was still able to capture fast paced movement with minimal camera blur. Every black & white picture was taken with my Rock Island High School graphic arts class 35mm camera-my first foray into a SLR camera. The B&W pictures were developed either at school or at home in my dark room, which is where the autographed B&W photos were enlarged into 8x10 prints. I have some photos in this website that may not be as sharply focused as I would prefer, but the timing and/or subject matter was still worthwhile to be included (give me a break).
The AWA was the starting point for many of the most recognizable pro wrestlers of all-time. When Andre The Giant came to the US from France, he got his start in the AWA, as did Ric Flair, Jesse "The Body" Ventura, and Hulk Hogan. I hope you enjoy the photos as I did when I was there taking the pictures. In today's era of professional wrestling, looking back to the 1970's is certainly a more basic form of entertainment while still delivering enough action to keep the arena's filled. Enjoy.
