Angelo Mosca, CFL legend and pro wrestling star, dead at 84

HAMILTON, Ontario — Angelo Mosca, a five-time Grey Cup champion and member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame who later became a successful professional wrestler, died Saturday. He was 84.

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“Big Nasty” was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease shortly after his 78th birthday in 2015, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Colorful and controversial, Mosca was known as the meanest player in the CFL. The defensive lineman is best remembered for a controversial hit that knocked tailback Willie Fleming out of the 1963 Grey Cup and subsequent fight with quarterback Joe Kapp, Fleming’s teammate, more than 40 years later, the news organization reported.

Mosca’s death was announced by his wife, Helen Mosca, on Facebook.

“It is with great sadness that the family of Angelo Mosca announce his passing ... after a lengthy battle with Alzheimer’s,” Helen Mosca wrote. “Angelo was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather as well as friend to so many.”

Angelo Mosca was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1987. He was born Feb. 13, 1938, in Waltham, Massachusetts and played college football at Notre Dame, CBC reported. He joined the CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats in 1958 before being selected in the 30th round, 350th overall, in the 1959 NFL draft by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Mosca decided to remain in Canada and was traded to Ottawa in 1960, where he won his first Grey Cup, ESPN reported. He joined the Montreal Alouettes in 1963 and was traded to Hamilton the following year, the sports network reported. He remained with the Tiger-Cats until he retired in 1972 after Hamilton’s Grey Cup victory against Saskatchewan.

“Tough as nails, he overcame a hardscrabble childhood and became a household name,” CFL commissioner Randy Ambrosie said in a statement. “Savvy, smart and ahead of his time, he built his bad guy persona into a personal brand that was bigger than life. Unloved in some markets, where he was the villain, his stature was unmatched in Hamilton, where he was a hero, and when he traded his shoulder pads for wrestling tights, he enthralled Mosca fans in countries near and far.”

“The thing about Angelo, he was just bigger than everybody else and nastier than everybody else,” former Toronto Argonauts quarterback Joe Theismann, who later played for Washington in the NFL, told CBC. “He was just flat nasty. Fortunately, he only landed on me a few times. That’s why I was still able to keep playing.”

The Tiger-Cats called Mosca the most legendary player to ever wear a Hamilton jersey.

“His contributions to the game of Canadian football, to our organization, and to the Hamilton community will never be forgotten,” the team said in a statement.

Mosca appeared in nine Grey Cup games, but he was known for his vicious hit on Fleming during the 1963 Grey Cup. Fleming, playing for British Columbia, had been tackled on the sideline and was lying on his stomach when Mosca hit him, CBC reported. Fleming was knocked out of the game, and Hamilton won the game 21-10.

Kapp, who never shook Mosca’s hand after the game, believed the hit on his teammate was late and dirty, the network reported. The Lions beat Hamilton 34-24 in the 1964 Grey Cup for the Lions’ first Grey Cup title.

Mosca and Kapp had a famous altercation in November 2011. The men were guests at a CFL Alumni luncheon during Grey Cup week in Vancouver, and Kapp attempted to give Mosca flowers as a peace offering, CBC reported. The former lineman rejected the flowers with an expletive, but Kapp shoved the flowers in Mosca’s face.

Mosca retaliated by hitting Kapp in the head with his cane, and the former quarterback punched him in the jaw and dropped him to the ground with a left hand.

Both men apologized after the incident.

“It’s kind of sad. I don’t go to bed thinking about Joe Kapp every night. But Joe Kapp must go to bed every night thinking about Mosca hitting Willie Fleming,” Mosca later said. “I have nothing against Joe Kapp and I don’t care about Joe Kapp.”

After his football career ended, Mosca turned to pro wrestling, performing for the WWWF (later WWF, now WWE) in main events at Madison Square Garden in New York and Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. His mean persona in football served him well in wrestling, as he was known as “King Kong Mosca.”

Mosca later became an announcer for World Wrestling Federation and then managed the pro wrestling career of his son, Angelo Mosca Jr., CBC reported. He wrote a book with Hamilton Spectator columnist Steve Milton, “Tell Me to My Face,” which was released in September 2011.

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