Career History
- Dick Kroll was a former amateur wrestler at New York University..
- 1958: Dick Kroll decided to become a professional wrestler and trained for 3 months with George Tragos..
- Dick Kroll wrestled in the Northeast territory under Vince McMahon Sr. and Joseph Toots Mondt..
- 1960: Dick Kroll stops wrestling to become a referee..
- Dick Kroll first bout as a referee was between Marvin Mercer and Tank Morgan..
- ~~~It wasn’t long before Dick Kroll was assigned to referee main events..
- Dick Kroll first main event match was between Bruno Sammartino and The Great Antonio..
- During that time, promoters did not employ referees, as the State Athletic Commission appointed them..
- ~~~When the WWWF broke away from the NWA, Dick Kroll was one of the original referees in place for WWWF matches..
- ~~~Dick Kroll was then appointed as top referee for the WWWFs monthly Madison Square Garden events..
- Vince McMahon Sr. would request that Dick Kroll would maintain his role as lead referee for the MSG cards..
- Dick Kroll remained as MSGs head referee from 1960 to 1985..
- Dick Kroll was the referee for many historical matches, which include:
- Ivan Koloff WWWF Title win over Bruno Sammartino at MSG in 1971;
- Bruno Sammartino vs Pedro Morales at Shea Stadium in 1972;
- The first womens match ever held at MSG between NWA Womens Champion the Fabulous Moolah and Vicki Williams;
- Sammartino winning the WWWF Title from Stan Stasiak in 1973;
- The Infamous Iron Sheik/Bob Backlund WWF Title match at MSG in 1983;
- WrestleMania the WWF Ladies Title match between Lei Lani Kai and Wendi Ritcher;
- Because of his reputation for refereeing high profiled matches, Dick Krolls duties expanded beyond the Northeast region..
- Dick Kroll longest ever match was the NWA World title match between Dory Funk & Jack Brisco, which went to a 90 minute draw..
- Dick Kroll worked for other wrestling promoters over the years which included:
- ~~~Eddie Graham in Florida, Paul Boesch in Houston, Roy Shire in the San Francisco Cow Palace and Verne Gagne in the AWA..
- Dick Kroll once took a major bump during a Pedro Morales/Blackjack Mulligan bout in the Boston Garden..
- ~~~Pedro Morales dropkicked Mulligan, accidentally hitting Dick Kroll causing him to fall backwards over the top rope!
- Dick Kroll considers Bruno Sammartino, Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair as his favorites to work with..
- Dick Kroll highlight of his career was refereeing a Lou Thesz match in Florida..
- Late 1980s: WWF was no longer under the watchful eye of the State Athletic Commission & the referees became WWF employees..
- Dick Krolls career was coming to and end and limited his work load by working matches at the Philadelphia Spectrum..
- Mid 1990s: Dick Kroll retires from refereeing..
- 1999: Dick Kroll comes out of retirement for an ECW card..
- ~~~Paul Heyman notices Dick Kroll in the crowd and asked him if he’d like to work on the card..
- March 20, 2010–Northeast Wrestling: Dick Kroll gave a speech about the history of Poughkeepsie wrestling