Joe Plouse’s introduction to wrestling sounds like a superhero’s origin story.
It put him on a path toward a legendary career at North High School and culminated in his induction into the Akron Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 18 at Guy’s Party Center.
As a third grader, Plouse got into a fight with two sixth graders while he walked home from Jackson Elementary School in Akron’s North Hill neighborhood. The tussle on Clifton Avenue didn’t end well for the older kids.
“I threw them in a trash can,” Plouse told the Beacon Journal.
There’s more — enough to make Spider-Man, Batman and Wolverine jealous.
A car pulled over during the fight. The driver, Jim DeAngelis, had a son in youth wrestling and challenged Plouse to give the sport a shot.
“He said, ‘If you think y