The larger-than-life story of Finnish immigrant Matt Reed May 1, 2021 3:53pm Text size Copy shortlink:
Before Matt Reed became a traveling preacher, father of 13 and a secret sugar source for bootleggers, he worked as a logger, miner, railroad man, hotel owner and lumber town storekeeper/postmaster/constable in tiny Automba, Minn.
But before all that, he was just a Finnish teenager who was busy doing two things: milking and wrestling.
Born Matti Riitijoki in Finland in 1892, he wrestled in local halls as a farm boy when he wasn t milking cows. He grew to be a big guy; his World War I draft card just called him Stout, while his World War II draft card 25 years later listed him at 5-foot-11, 245 pounds.