Allen Coage

Early life

Coage was born in New York City and raised in a disadvantaged neighborhood in Queens, attending Thomas A. Edison High School. After graduating in 1962, Coage began working in a bakery, eventually becoming a foreman.

Judo career

Coage trained in judo under Jerome Mackey after seeing a poster for Mackey's dojo on the New York City Subway. He began his career in 1964 at the relatively late age of 22. After seven months as a white belt, he placed first in the Chicago Invitational tournament. Coage achieved a black belt in two and a half years and after five years was named a sandan. Coage wrestled in a "classical" style, with his favored throws being the Ōuchi gari and the Tai otoshi.

Coage won the Amateur Athletic Union judo championship (heavyweight class) in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1970, and 1975, as well as winning the open division in 1970. He also competed in the Pan American Games, winning gold medals in the heavyweight class in 1967 and 1975.

In 1970, Coage relocated to Japan for two years, where he studied at Nihon University, majoring and minoring in judo. In 1972, Coage suffered a severe knee injury during an Olympic Trials bout with Jimmy Wooley, rendering him unable to compete in the 1972 Summer Olympics.

Upon recovering, Coage began training for the 1976 Summer Olympics. Coage was initially excluded from the United States judo team until a class action lawsuit was filed against the United States Olympic Committee by the United States Judo Association. Coage ultimately won a bronze medal. His victory made him the first African American to win a solo Olympic Games medal in a sport other than boxing or track and field.

Coage retired from competitive judo following the 1976 Summer Olympics due to frustrations around internal politics. He went on to hold a number of other jobs, including briefly working as a bodyguard for singer Aretha Franklin, before deciding to train as a professional wrestler.

New Japan Pro Wrestling (1977–1993)

Coage began training as a professional wrestler under Antonio Inoki in the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo in 1977. He debuted in October 1977, briefly performing under his birth name before adopting the ring name "Buffalo Allen". Coage wrestled intermittently for NJPW over the next 15 years.

World Wide Wrestling Federation (1978, 1979)

Coage made a one-off appearance in the World Wide Wrestling Federation in February 1978, defeating jobber Frank Williams at a live event under his birth name. He returned to the promotion in January 1979 and wrestled for the WWWF for the remainder of the year, appearing on several episodes of WWF Championship Wrestling. Late in 1979, at Madison Square Garden, teaming with JoJo Andrews, Coage challenged for the Japanese Tag Team Championship against Riki Choshu and Seiji Sakaguchi. Coage's team was unsuccessful when Andrews submitted to a Boston crab in a match that lasted just under 10 minutes.

Stampede Wrestling (1982-1988)

In 1982, Bad News Allen found a long-term home in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, centered in Allen's adopted home city of Calgary. Allen remained with Stampede from 1982 until 1988, with some tours of Australia and Florida during that time, and had matches with wrestlers such as the Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart. He often referred to himself in interviews as "the Ultimate Warrior," a name that was later used more famously by wrestler Jim Hellwig.

World Wrestling Federation (1988-1990)

Allen returned to the World Wrestling Federation in early 1988 as Bad News Brown, and it was during this time that he achieved his greatest notoriety. While the roster was mostly filled with ultra-virtuous babyfaces and cowardly and monster heels, Bad News was something entirely different; a tough loner. While other heels were likely to form alliances with one another, Bad News was reclusive. He didn't respect anybody, and was just as likely to attack heels as faces (character traits that would later be employed to great fame by Stone Cold Steve Austin). His dislike for all fellow wrestlers was clear when he abandoned his teams at the Survivor Series of 1988 and 1989. Some memorable moments from his WWF tenure included winning the battle royal at WrestleMania IV by eliminating Bret Hart, who was then a heel, after a sneak attack, a brief feud with then-champion "Macho Man" Randy Savage in early 1989 that led to main-event matches, feuding with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper (starting before the 1990 Royal Rumble and culminating at WrestleMania VI) and with Jake "The Snake" Roberts (where Bad News had a sewer rat against Jake's snake) and attacking WWF President Jack Tunney on The Brother Love Show. Bad News also had a brief run challenging Hulk Hogan for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship. On the March 11, 1989 edition of Saturday Night's Main Event Bad News memorably took a microphone towards the end of his match with Hogan and told him that it was time for the Ghetto Blaster (his finisher). As he was getting ready to execute it however, Hogan got out of the way, leading him to miss the move terribly and suffer an eventual loss. His trademark characteristic as Bad News Brown was never smiling - either he kept an angry face, or he "laughed loud" at the expense of opponents' misfortunes.

Bad News eventually left the WWF after SummerSlam 1990, claiming Vince McMahon failed to live up to his promise to make him the company's first black champion.

As written in the autobiography of the Dynamite Kid, Coage's legitimate toughness was displayed in a confrontation involving André the Giant, who allegedly made a racist comment on a tour bus for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Coage overheard it and made the driver stop the bus, walked off and demanded the Giant get off and fight him one on one. André did not move from his seat and later apologized for the remark.

Later career (1990-1999)

Coage continued to work in independent promotions for several more years, including Japan's shoot wrestling UWFi promotion. Coage retired in 1999 due to knee damage. He continued occasionally working independent shows for friends while living in Calgary with his wife, and had considered starting a promotion himself. Additionally, he taught wrestling with Canadian wrestling coach Leo Jean, and worked as a mall security officer in Airdrie, Alberta.

Personal life

Coage was married three times. With his first wife, Audrey, he had his eldest child, Tonya. Then Coage was in a long-term relationship with Lorriane, in which he had his eldest son, Bryan, and April, and two step children—Martin and Ronda. He had another relationship with Lottie, in which he had two more children, Michael and Nancy. Coage was then married for a second time to Katharine, in which he had Lynnette. During his last marriage until his death, Coage was married to Helen in which he had one son, Allen Jr. (AJ) and raised two step children, Dawn and Frances. The youngest child of Coage is Keira, whom he had with another woman during his third marriage.

Born in the United States, Coage later permanently relocated to Canada, ultimately securing Canadian citizenship.

Death

Coage died of a heart attack on the morning of March 6, 2007, at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary, minutes after being rushed there due to chest pain.

In wrestling

Judo

Professional wrestling