Frank Goodish was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico on June 18, 1946. Goodish was an All-State football player whose resume includes:
- The University of Iowa in 1964
- West Texas State University (now West Texas A&M) in 1967-68
- Linebacker for the Washington Redskins in 1968
- Edmonton Eskimos in the Canadian Football League.
Goodish would go on to become a professional wrestler and compete throughout the 1970s and 1980s, beginning his career under his real name and as Frank Brody.
Goodish occasionally wrestled under a mask as Red River Jack in the American Wrestling Alliance (AWA), as an angle against Gary Hart's men and Skandor Akbar's Army.
However, it was under the name Bruiser Brody that he would gain his greatest notoriety and fame.
Brody was a major star in the United States, having competed in the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), American Wrestling Association (AWA) and World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), but achieved his legendary status in All-Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New-Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), World Wrestling Council (WWC) and Championship Wrestling From Hawaii.
He held titles wherever he went, and had a reputation for bullying and refusing to job to other wrestlers. Despite his unwillingness to follow instructions, he was always on the good side of promoters, due to the amount of tickets that putting his name on a card could sell. At one point, in 1985, he was the highest paid wrestler in the world, pulling down $14,000 per week as a result of a bidding war between New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW).
Brody's greatest feuds include Bruno Sammartino, Ivan Putski, Abdullah the Butcher, The Funk Brothers, Carlos Colon, Jerry Blackwell, Ric Flair and Giant Baba. Brody also fought and lost to Dick the Bruiser over the moniker Bruiser, which led to Brody using the name King Kong Brody in the United States in the mid 1980's.
On July 17, 1988, Brody was stabbed to death before a World Wrestling Council (WWC) event in the locker room shower by a fellow wrestler named Invader I (Jose Huertas). Brody was taken by ambulance to Centro Medico, the main hospital facility in San Juan, but he died hours later while undergoing a second surgery. Huertas (who always maintained his innocence) was tried for murder, but was controversially acquitted by a jury of his peers. Apparently, wrestlers who wanted to testify against Huertas were purposely kept unaware of when the trial took place, and received their subpoenas a day after the verdict was made. As a result, a number of wrestlers refused to work in Puerto Rico in protest of the jury verdict, which temporarily crippled the Puerto Rican wrestling scene. Dutch Mantel's personal reflection of the day of the murder, as well as evidence of not receiving the subpoena until a day after the murder, can be accessed by reading the blog, "Bruiser Brody's Death: A Cover-Up?"
He has been honored by two wrestling Halls of Fame in Japan and was named to the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 1996. Moreover, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter renamed the "Best Brawler Award" to the "Bruiser Brody Memorial Award" in his memory, shortly after his death. In addition, his widow (Barbara) signed a "Legends" contract with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), allowing them to produce and distribute merchandise in his likeness. Thus far, an action figure was produced in Series 8 of the Classic Superstars line by Jakks Pacific.
The modern hardcore "brawling style" of wrestling has been heavily influenced by the work of Bruiser Brody, and he has influenced many of today's biggest wrestling stars, including Cactus Jack (a.k.a. Mick Foley) and Sylvester Terkay (whose "Predator" gimmick in UPW was directly patterned after Bruiser Brody). Additionally, a wrestler by the name of "The Berzerker" appeared in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which was a direct-rip off of Bruiser Brody. Many consider Bruiser Brody to be one of the fathers of Hardcore Wrestling, along with The Sheik, Abdullah the Butcher & The Funk Brothers.
