Doug Furnas Passes Away

[Strummer]

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-sto...ave-passed-away

[Bix]

http://www.f4wonline.com/more/more-top-sto...ave-passed-away

 

There are reports circulating that Doug Furnas, one of the regular stars of the 90s All Japan glory period, passed away in his sleep last night. Furnas was 50.

 

The first report was listed by David Haskins, a Tennessee area pro wrestler who said he got the information from Mike Furnas, Doug's brother, who was also a pro wrestler.

 

Furnas was a college football star at the University of Tennessee who became one of the greatest powerlifters of all-time, breaking more than two dozen world records during his career. He then switched to pro wrestling when Kevin Sullivan was booker of the Knoxville territory.

 

He wrestled all over the world, with stints in WCW and WWF, but was best known for his tag team with Phil Lafon aka Dan Kroffatt, in All Japan, WWF and ECW. In the All Japan days, the two were one of the best tag teams of all-time.

 

Furnas had been battling Parkinson's Disease for many years.

RIP. Great worker and always heard good things about him as a person.

[Cox]

Shit. I just got to the part in my SMW rewatch where Mike and Doug are feuding with the Heavenly Bodies. That's going to be kind of hard to sit through. RIP, it's too bad his only real American exposure came after his peak.

[Chess Knight]

In his sleep...God, I really couldn't imagine what that's like. RIP.

[rovert]

Id be interested in jdw's thoughts if he has any.

 

An amazing athlete who stood out during a high watermark period of wrestling. RIP.

[Death From Above]

Loved the team with Kroffat. Sad to hear this.

[khawk20]

I always found it amazing that a guy who was such a highly regarded powerlifter/weightlifter was able to morph into such a different kind of wrestler than others with a similar background before getting into the business. His dropkick was a thing of beauty.

 

RIP.

[El-P]

Holy shit. That's pretty sad. Any specifics on this ?

[jdw]

Id be interested in jdw's thoughts if he has any.

 

It's terribly sad news. Far too young.

 

John

[kjh]

Dave Meltzer has spoken to the coroner and he died of arteriosclerotic heart disease. He had donated his brain to the Sports Legacy Institute, but it was too badly decomposed to analyse. Same goes for his other organs, so we will never know whether they were enlarged or not. A time of death couldn't be established, but it sounds like he had been dead for a few days before being discovered. The only positive note is that it wasn't a drug death. So tragic to be left undiscovered for so long.

[jdw]

He was suffering from Parkinson's and was dead for several days before being discovered? You would have thought he was under daily care.

 

John

[kjh]

Yeah, it sounds strange, but maybe it wasn't so advanced that he needed daily care. Either that or he couldn't afford it.

[Bix]

Wasn't he still married? Did he happen to not have any foster children at the moment?

 

I don't get it.

[Bix]

Greg Oliver has a little bit more info and comments from Doug's widow at Slam.

[sek69]

How are they able to definitively determine a cause of death if his organs were all in a state of decomposition at the level they appear to be?

[Bix]

How are they able to definitively determine a cause of death if his organs were all in a state of decomposition at the level they appear to be?

I guess there are certain markers for heart disease that remain visible?