'''Gene Anderson''' (born [[1933]] in [[Minneapolis, Minnesota]] - [[October 31]], [[1991]]) was a [[professional wrestler]] famous for his days of teaming with his "brother" [[Ole Anderson]]. ==Career== Gene Anderson started wrestling in 1961 after being trained by [[Verne Gagne]]. In the late 1965, he formed the [[Minnesota Wrecking Crew]] with fellow collegian [[Lawrence Heinemi|Lars Anderson]] as his "brother". They wrestled in the [[Florida]] territories and won some tag team titles together. Gene then reformed the tag team with his "brother" (another fellow collegian) [[Ole Anderson]] in 1969 after Lars left. They became one of the most successful heel tag teams in the history of professional wrestling. They dominated the Southeastern tag team scene until Gene retired to become a [[Manager (professional wrestling)|manager]] in 1981. Gene and Ole would hold tryouts for wanna-be wrestlers during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They would beat the guys who showed up until they were bloodied and beaten. They also charged them for this torture. If anybody made it through that, they really had to want to be a wrestler. [[Allen Sarven|Al Snow]] is one that did. When Gene quit wrestling, he became a [[Heel (professional wrestling)|heel]] manager for a few years, before retiring from wrestling in 1984. During his career, he managed [[Oreeal Perras|Ivan Koloff]], [[Ray Stevens (wrestler)|Ray Stevens]] and [[James Reiher|Jimmy Snuka]]. After retiring, Gene became a Deputy [[Sheriff]] in [[North Carolina]] but died of a sudden [[heart attack]] on [[October 31]], [[1991]]. ==Trivia== *Gene's son, [[Brad Anderson (wrestler)|Brad Anderson]], is also a professional wrestler and still competes on the independent circuit. *Gene was only related to his son Brad. He ''was not'' related to Ole, Lars or Arn Anderson. He has sometimes been portrayed as [[Ric Flair]]'s cousin, but this is not true either. These are all [[kayfabe]] storylines. ==Profile== *Height: 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) *Weight: 250 lb (113 kg) *Birthday: [[1939]] *Hometown: South St Paul, Minnesota *Death Date: October 31, 1991 *Cause of Death: [[Heart Attack]] *Trainer: [[Verne Gagne]] *Nickname: "Pretty Boy" *Factions: [[Minnesota Wrecking Crew]] *Retired: [[1981]] *Managers: [[Paul Jones (wrestler)|Paul Jones]] ==Championships and accomplishments== *'''[[Florida Championship Wrestling]]''' **2-time Florida Southern Tag Team Champion (with Lars Anderson) *'''[[Georgia Championship Wrestling]]''' **6-time Georgia Tag Team Champion (with Ole Anderson) **1-time Georgia Television Champion *'''[[National Wrestling Alliance]]''' **3-time [[NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship|NWA Atlantic Coast Tag Team Champion]] (with Ole Anderson) **1-time [[NWA Georgia World Tag Team Championship|NWA Georgia World Tag Team Champion]] (with [[Lawrence Heinemi|Lars Anderson]]) **5-time [[NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Championship|NWA Mid-Atlantic Tag Team Champion]] (with Ole Anderson) **9-time [[NWA World Tag Team Championship|NWA World Tag Team Champion]] (with [[Ole Anderson]]) *'''[[Pro Wrestling Illustrated]]''' **PWI ranked him # '''60''' of the best tag teams during the "PWI Years" in 2003 with [[Oreeal Perras|Ivan Koloff]]. He was not ranked with Ole because PWI said their team was before the PWI Years. **Gene won the PWI Tag Team of the Year Award with Ole in 1975 and 1977. [[Category:American professional wrestlers|Anderson, Gene]] [[Category:1933 births|Anderson, Gene]] [[Category:1991 deaths|Anderson, Gene]] [[Category:People from Minneapolis, Minnesota|Anderson, Gene]] [[Category:Anderson wrestling family|Anderson, Gene]]