{"id":30688,"date":"2017-10-23T11:10:19","date_gmt":"2017-10-23T16:10:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/?p=30688"},"modified":"2017-10-23T10:49:48","modified_gmt":"2017-10-23T15:49:48","slug":"stan-big-k-kowalski-dead-age-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/prowrestling.net\/site\/2017\/10\/23\/stan-big-k-kowalski-dead-age-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Stan &#8220;Big K&#8221; Kowalski dead at age 91"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"prowr-2866688042\" class=\"prowr-apple-podcast-button-link prowr-entity-placement\" style=\"margin-left: auto;margin-right: auto;text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/pro-wrestling-boom-podcast\/id1365989370\" aria-label=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?fit=320%2C78&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"SUBSCRIBE IN APPLE PODCASTS\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?w=320&ssl=1 320w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/prowrestling.net\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/advanced_ads\/2019\/07\/Logo2019_ApplePodcasts_320wide.png?resize=300%2C73&ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 320px) 100vw, 320px\" width=\"320\" height=\"78\"   \/><\/a><\/div><p>Former AWA wrestler Stan Kowalski (Bert Smith) died on Friday at age 91. Kowalski&#8217;s son Scott Smith spoke with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.kare11.com\/news\/minneapolis-pro-wrestler-wwii-vet-stan-kowalski-dies\/485207456\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">KARE11.com<\/a> about the reaction to his father&#8217;s death. &#8220;The outpouring that has happened in the last 48-72 hours,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I\u2019ve seen grown men come to him and cry over him. I didn\u2019t know he was a hero to everybody else.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>Powell&#8217;s POV:<\/strong><\/span> Kowalski was known as &#8220;Krusher&#8221; Kowalski and &#8220;The Big K&#8221; during his AWA days. He teamed with Tiny Mills as Murder Incorporated and the duo were the first AWA Tag Team Champions. Kowalski also wrestled for the WWWF as Krippler Karl Kovac. Kowalski served in the Navy in World War II, and he was very active with veteran charities and even had a VFW award named after him. My condolences to his family and friends.<\/p>\n<div id=\"prowr-3795518167\" class=\"prowr-after-content prowr-entity-placement\"><a class=\"spreaker-player\" href=\"https:\/\/www.spreaker.com\/show\/pwboom\" data-resource=\"show_id=3275525\" data-theme=\"light\" data-playlist=\"show\" data-width=\"100%\" data-height=\"340px\">Listen to \"Pro Wrestling Boom Podcast\" on Spreaker.<\/a><script async src=\"https:\/\/widget.spreaker.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former AWA wrestler Stan Kowalski&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1773,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[1609,1890],"class_list":["post-30688","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-misc_news","category-newsticker","tag-awa","tag-stan-kowalski"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Stan &quot;Big K&quot; 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