Nicknamed "The Solid Man,"[2] Muldoon established himself as champion in Greco-Roman wrestling in the 1880s and over the years gained a remarkable measure of public influence that would continue through his days as a health farm proprietor in Westchester County and his service on NYSAC. Muldoon was a mainstay in New York sports for over 50 years.
Early life
Born in Allegany County, New York, Muldoon was the son of Irish immigrants Patrick Muldoon and Maria Donahoe.[3] His father was a farmer. Showing a knack for strength athletics at a young age, Muldoon gained a local reputation as a standout in caber-tossing, weightlifting, sprinting and amateur wrestling. His youth was otherwise characterized by a brutish, flash temper, and his desire to be treated with the respect of an adult despite being a child.
Muldoon journeyed to Paris to serve as a volunteer in the French Army in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71, where he met publisher James Gordon Bennett, Jr., who told Muldoon he had the potential to be the best Greco-Roman wrestler in the world if he concentrated on it.[4]
By 1876, Muldoon was living in New York City, where he accepted appointment to the New York Police Department at the behest of Senator John Morrissey, former bare-knuckle boxing champion. At the time of his resignation in 1881, Muldoon was a detective.
Following the celebrated match with Whistler, Muldoon assembled an athletic combination and toured the country promoting athletic events and defending his title against all comers. Muldoon became involved in theater around this time, stemming from his fame in athletics. In 1883 he shared the bill with Maurice Barrymore, a boxer turned actor, in Madame Modjeska's production of Shakespeare'sAs You Like It. Barrymore played Orlando and Muldoon was Charles the Wrestler. In 1887, he appeared on Broadway as "The Fighting Gaul" in Spartacus.
Muldoon was one of a party of gentlemen entertained by Robert Emmet Odlum, brother of women's rights activist Charlotte Odlum Smith, on the morning of May 19, 1885, the day he jumped from the Brooklyn Bridge and was killed. Muldoon assisted in unsuccessful resuscitation efforts and summoned an ambulance, which arrived too late to save Odlum.[6][7]
An 1887 "Allen & Ginter" tobacco card depicting Muldoon
In 1889 Muldoon trained John L. Sullivan for his famous 75-round fight against Jake Kilrain for the world heavyweight bare-knuckle boxing championship. He had done so on a friendly wager and offered to absorb expenses if Sullivan lost. Sullivan won and Muldoon gained national notice for restoring the boxing champion to fighting form. Muldoon's methods for accomplishing Sullivan's rejuvenation drew much public interest.
On May 28, Muldoon and Sullivan would have an exhibition wrestling bout contested under London Prize Ring Rules that ended on a 5-5 draw.[8] The two would later have a three-round bout where Muldoon would win two of three bouts[9][10]
Muldoon was never defeated for his Greco-Roman Championship. He wrestled in his final championship match in 1890, defeating Evan Lewis in Philadelphia. Despite being implored by promoters and challengers to come out of retirement, Muldoon never wrestled another finish match or claimed any active championship. He symbolically passed his World Greco-Roman Heavyweight Championship to protégé Ernest Roeber (whom Lewis later defeated). Muldoon would make his final public appearance as a wrestler in a charity exhibition match against Roeber at Madison Square Garden in 1894.
That same year Muldoon moved his health farm from Belfast, New York, to White Plains. As he tapered off direct involvement in professional athletics, he devoted more time to devising his system on restoring one's health. Muldoon continued to train boxers and wrestlers until boxing was banned in New York at the turn of the century.
In the spring of 1909 Muldoon made a final return to the stage in a theatrical tour organized in benefit of The Lambs. Muldoon dedicated a Civil War monument to the town of Belfast, New York, listing the names of local veterans in 1915, including that of his older brother John.[11]
William Muldoon died at age 81 in Westchester County, New York, and was interred in a grandiose private mausoleum at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York. Sometime after the end of his wrestling career and before the turn of the century, Muldoon had claimed for years that he was born in 1845, and seven years older than his age verified in the Muldoon Family Bible, which documents his real birth year.
In 1996, Muldoon was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
In 2004, he was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum under the "Pioneer Era" category.
Personal
Muldoon claimed to be a lifelong bachelor. However, he was married twice; the first marriage ended in divorce, the second in separation. His housekeeper of 30 years, Leonie Lutringer, left her entire estate to Muldoon in 1922. It has just been discovered (through dna) that William and Leonie had a child that was placed with the sisters of charity of New York and eventually placed on an Orphan Train ending up in Indiana. It was revealed later in his life that he had adopted his longtime secretary Margaret Farrell – she received his entire estate at his death. Muldoon was diagnosed with terminal cancer in 1931, though his doctors did not reveal the nature of his illness to him. Muldoon died two years later. Retired boxing champion Gene Tunney, a disciple of Muldoon, remarked to the New York Times at the time of Muldoon's death, "All I know about training I learned from him... His patience, intellectual courage and wisdom were inspirational."[15] William Muldoon was interred at Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, NY.
Muldoon was a strong advocate of compulsory military service, equestrianism, physical culture and the Boy Scouts of America, citing the latter as the only organization left devoted to leadership-building for young men.
^"The Solid Man" nickname was referenced from a popular song of the time, "Muldoon, the Solid Man" by Edward ("Ned") Harrigan. The moniker may have also been a nod to the "Solid Muldoon", a P.T. Barnum exhibit claimed to be the petrified remains of an ancestral missing link between man and ape, later revealed as a hoax.
^According to Ring Magazine publisher Nat Fleischer in his volume, "From Milo to Londos" (The Ring Athletic Library, Book No. 13, 1936)
^Whistler, who died young, was later eulogized by Muldoon as the toughest man he ever met on the mat. Their 1881 match ignited a professional and personal rivalry that punctuated wrestling's popularity in the early to mid-1880s.
