Gagne was an alternate on the United States freestyle wrestling team in 1948. His Olympic coaches weren't happy about the fact that Verne had made money competing at carnivals as a wrestler.
For this reason, they decided not to put him on the primary team, even though carnival wrestling was very popular at the time.
After the Olympics, Gagne would start wrestling all over Texas, with several NWA territories. As we all know, he would become one of professional wrestling’s greats, with huge success in the NWA and AWA.
Gagne would join the WWE Hall of Fame, class of 2006.
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About the author
J. Carpenter
Jonathan Carpenter is a pro wrestling journalist at Sportskeeda. After obtaining a degree in political science from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, he started writing WWE articles in 2016. Jonathan believes integrity is vital in journalism and ensures his work is high on accuracy. He conducts in-depth research and verifies information from various sources before curating a feature.
Jonathan has engaged in many meaningful conversations with prominent pro wrestling personalities like Drew McIntyre and DDP. He grew up in Memphis, admiring Hall of Famer Hulk Hogan during WWE’s Golden Era in the ‘80s. He has attended many pro wrestling events and credits The Hulkster for making his childhood memorable.
Jonathan, a big fan of Bray Wyatt, would like to see the latter's brother, Bo Dallas, continue his legacy as Uncle Howdy. If he were to work on the storyline, Jonathan would book the return of Erick Rowan as Howdy’s muscle. He thinks it would be a great way to honor the former Universal Champion.
When not writing pro wrestling features, Jonathan likes to collect sports memorabilia and has amassed a large collection of event-used and autographed relics over the years.