Coconut head butts. Steel-cage matches (complete with barbed wire). Exotic "lady wrestlers." Da Bull, a Wolf and a couple of Giants.

Oh, and don’t forget Victor the Bear. As in grizzly.

From Kauai to the Big Island, and even to the tiny Kalaupapa peninsula on Molokai, local people ate up these spectacles and countless more as professional wrestling rode a wave of popularity in the 1960s and ’70s. Fans embraced the sport with a passion matched only by what the grapplers brought to the ring night after night.

Pro wrestling already enjoyed a following in the islands when "50th State Big Time Wrestling" debuted on television in the early 1960s and sent its appeal into overdrive. The interview show kept viewers enthralled from week to week, ensuring there would be little problem packing the old Civic Auditorium, Hono­lulu International Center (now Blaisdell Arena) and other venues with fans eager to see the wrestlers they loved — and loved to hate.

The man who put pro wrestling on the airwaves was Edmund Francis, better known as "Gentleman Ed." A renowned wrestler himself, the Chicago native who grew up during the Depression came to Hawaii in 1961 with his wife and four sons, a $10,000 loan and the lofty goal of taking the sport to new heights of popularity.

Francis recounts the adventures of his two-decade stint as Hawaii’s foremost pro wrestling promoter in his new book, "Gentleman Ed Francis Presents 50th State Big Time Wrestling!" (Watermark Publishing, $34.95). Many of the episodes in the memoir, written with Hawaii native Larry Fleece, seem too fantastic to be true — but in the supersized world of pro wrestling, nothing is beyond the realm of possibility.

NOW 86, Francis still has that unmistakable voice that can come only from decades spent in and around a wrestling ring — deep, with a hint of gravel, and primed with memories that reflect a remarkable mind and a knack for storytelling. He is returning to Hawaii this week for a series of events to promote his book.

"I had no idea what was gonna happen," Francis said of his decision to become a promoter in Hawaii after building a solid wrestling career across the mainland. In a phone interview from Overland Park, Kan., where he lives with his daughter, Pixie, Francis said he "just crossed his fingers" that things would work out; after all, he had a family to feed.

The book offers a behind-the-scenes account as Francis built his business, Mid-Pacific Promotions, into a statewide phenomenon.

Francis used the $10,000 loan from a mainland wrestling promoter to buy regional wrestling rights from Hono­lulu promoter Al Kara­sick in 1961. Then he had to go about securing television access for his "50th State Big Time Wrestling" show. It was the kind of exposure he knew was necessary to build a truly successful franchise.

Francis and his business partner, James "Lord Tally Ho" Blears, a fellow wrestler, worked constantly to keep viewers engaged. In his memoir, Francis emphasizes how critical Blears was to the operation, not only for his friendship and experience, but also for his knowledge of the television business.

Blears remained Francis’ right-hand man until the latter sold Mid-Pacific Promotions in the late 1970s.

GETTING WRESTLERS to come to Hawaii was perhaps the easiest part of establishing their business. Together, Francis and Blears boasted an impressive network of wrestler friends who were more than willing to work and play in paradise. The constantly rotating roster of visiting and local grapplers ensured fan interest.

Residents thrilled to hometown hulks Curtis "Da Bull" Iau­kea and Neff Mai­ava, whose signature finishing move was the "coconut head butt." Chief Billy White Wolf, in full feather headdress, was the alter ego of Adnan Bin Abdulkareem Ahmed Al-Kaissie El Farthie, a Baghdad native who enjoyed a successful amateur career in Iraq before making his name in the U.S.

Francis also brought in a number of "Giants." He discovered 6-foot-10-inch Giant Baba in Japan and hosted Frenchman Andre the Giant, whose sheer size (7 feet 4, 500 pounds) made him a hit in the isles before he found superstardom in the World Wrestling Federation.

And then there was the furry giant named Victor. Francis devotes a chapter to the "real, live, 500-pound grizzly" he had tangled with on the mainland and knew the animal would be a huge hit here. Though things didn’t go as planned, Francis got the exposure he wanted. After the wrestler-and-bear battle royale, he writes in his book, "everyone who’d seen it all happen could tell their friends they were there the night Victor the Bear got loose inside the Civic. Who wouldn’t be proud of that?"

Francis delivered many more jaw-dropping moments during his tenure that he recounts in his memoir: setting up wire fencing around the ring to create a "steel cage," and flying in midget wrestlers and a host of "lady wrestlers" despite protests that "seeing ladies fighting with each other, in skimpy costumes, would likely be viewed as exploitative and inappropriate for audiences in Hawaii."

And long before the WWF famously staged the nuptials of "Macho Man" Randy Savage and Miss Elizabeth in 1991, Handsome Johnny Barend wed his local love, Annie Lum, in the Hono­lulu International Center ring before 9,000 fans in 1967, in what was billed as the "world’s largest wedding."

The groom wore his wrestling briefs and a maile lei. (Francis remained close to the couple, and went to visit Lum after Barend’s death in New York last year.)

Francis’ savvy in and out of the ring also meant knowing when to let go. That point came in the late 1970s when he sold his operation to New Zealand wrestler and promoter Steve Rickard. "I had a little talk with myself. I said: The Civic’s gone. HIC rent is high. The box office is down. TV wrestling viewers are down. Wrestlers’ fees are up. Nothing lasts forever. It’s time to go," Francis recalls in his memoir.

His timing was just right. The era of regional wrestling had begun to fade, and the sport’s transformation into a national entity started in earnest with promoter Vince McMahon’s acquisition of the WWF in the early 1980s.

Francis calls McMahon "quite a brilliant guy." As he notes in his memoir, "McMahon knows how to provide the product his audience wants to see. That’s all that matters."

AFTER selling Mid-Pacific Promotions, Francis relocated full time to his ranch in Oregon and enjoyed other adventures as a rancher, sports agent and aviation buff. He now lives in Kansas.

Francis said the best thing about his years in Hawaii was the people.

"Greatest fans in the world," he said.

Their support not only ensured pro wrestling’s success in the islands; the constant sellouts kept his business going and made it possible for his family to grow and thrive. (Daughter Pixie was born in Hawaii.)

"I really feel indebted to the fans in Hawaii."