Capt. Lou Albano dies

[James Lofton]

Capt. Lou Albano, best known for being an integral part of the 1980s "Rock & Wrestling Connection" and appearing in several music videos and movies, including the live action "Super Mario Bros. Super Show" has been admitted to hospice care and is not expected to live much longer.

Albano began his career as part of The Sicilians tag team with partner Tony Altamore. As his career as an active wrestler waned he moved into managing and was one of the more prolific and best known managers in the WWE as well as professional wrestling.

Albano managed champions including The Valiant Brothers, The Wild Samoans, The Yukon Lumberjacks, The Mongols and The Moondogs among others. Albano also walked to ringside with the likes of Ivan Koloff, George Steele, Don Muraco, Ken Patera and Andre the Giant.

Albano, long known for being a loud, brash and effective talker when behind the mic was instrumental in Hulk Hogan's career and the livelihood of the WWE (then the WWF) taking off in the early 80s when he feuded with pop star Cyndi Lauper.

Albano has been inducted into several wrestling Hall of Fame's including the WWE and has written "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Professional Wrestling" with Bert Sugar as well as his autobiography "Often Imitated, Never Duplicated."

The 76-year-old Albano has been in poor health for years including suffering a major heart attack in 2005.

http://www.examiner.com/x-22249-Columbus-Pro-Wrestling-Examiner~y2009m10d10-Capt-Lou-Albano-admitted-to-hospice-care

[James Lofton]

One of the icons. Played a big role in the 80s wrestling boom. Probably wouldn't have been the same without him.

I didn't even realize he was that old until reading this article.

[AtariLegend]

Heard enough about the guy and the name, too young to remember him.

Respect to his family and close friends.

[Hammy]

I'm another one of the too young to remember brigade.

I've seen bits here and there over the years and heard the stories of how good he was, infact I was watching the Greatest Wrestling Managers DVD the other week and he was one of those included, so I've seen little bits.

And obviously in the 80s there was a lot of cross promoting by WWF with the MTV Generation and this included Lou and Cyndi 



Hope he gets well soon and reports of his demise are as false as the Piper ones.

[Hammy]

PWInsider has confirmed that wrestling legend and WWE Hall of Famer Captain Lou Albano has passed away. Albano had been under hospice care for some time now.

Dawn Marie’s Wrestler’s Rescue group had recently started helping Albano and his family. Our condolences go out to Albano’s friends and family.

R.I.P.

[James Lofton]

RIP Cap'n Lou.


He is currently two of the trending topics on Twitter, which really shows his impact even though he hadn't done anything monumental in about 20 years. Its so easy to look back and credit Hogan with wrestling's entrance into pop culture, and he does deserve credit, but Captain Lou, Cyndi Lauper, MTV, that wrestling album(Albano had a song on it), and of course the cartoon(which also featured Albano) played a role as well.

It's really sad to see these legends die.

[Hammy]

Wrestler's Rescue issued the following statement on behalf of the Albano family:

Captain Lou Albano Dies at 76

Speaking on behalf of the Albano family, Wrestler's Rescue is sad to report that Captain Lou Albano has died at the age of 76.

Albano carved out his place in pro wrestling history for, as best put by Bruno Sammartino, his inimitable "gift of gab," all complemented by his trademark rubber bands and Hawaiian shirts. Albano enjoyed a rich career as both a wrestler and manager, gaining worldwide fame as Cyndi Lauper's father in the smash hit, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."