Ex-Omahan gained pro wrestling fame

Bad-guy wrestling persona Karl Von Hess, known in south Omaha as Frank Faketty, stirred the crowd’s wrath when he entered an arena.

A German Iron Cross, easily recognized as a Nazi military symbol, adorned his costume and each of his boots.

Daughter Rita Wilson of Bellevue remembers wanting to cheer for her dad but not being allowed to.

“We’d have to sit there like little mice,” Wilson said. She recalled her mother’s admonition: “They really think your dad is a Nazi.”

“He wasn’t even German,” said Wilson, “He was pretending to be a Nazi, but he was Hungarian born.”

Although Karl Von Hess gave up wrestling in the late 1970s, the name stayed: He had it changed legally.

Karl Von Hess, born Frank George Faketty, died Wednesday at a care facility near his home in Cardiff, N.J., Wilson said. He was 90 and had Alzheimer’s disease, his daughter said.

Faketty grew up in south Omaha, becoming Morton Park’s caretaker and pool lifeguard. The kids called him Tarzan because of the tattoos of wild animals on his back, Wilson said.

He tried to wrestle as a good guy, she said, “but there was no money in that.”

In his heyday, Von Hess wrestled all the big stars of wrestling and held an international title, said his daughter.

He owned and managed a trailer park in Cardiff after he quit wrestling.

Other survivors include daughter Patricia Bader of Omaha and stepson John Von Hess of New Jersey.

Daughter Frances Kalhorn and son Frank Von Hess preceded their father in death.

Funeral services are pending in New Jersey.

Contact the writer:

444-1165, sue.truax@owh.com