WWE Hall of Famer Captain Lou Albano was a larger-than-life character & pop culture icon

WWE has always been a circus of sports entertainment. Wrapped in bright, vivid colors and with electric guitars blaring out the fanfare, this awesome presentation can make you feel like a kid again.

Inside WWE Chairman Vince McMahon's self-created universe, there have been performers of all shapes, sizes, colors, and backgrounds. Usually, the weirder, the better.

For decades, the Worldwide Leader in Sports Entertainment has featured every oddity imaginable. The cast of characters has been colorful, to say the very least.

The promotion has provided us with everything from clowns to cops and from weight lifters to witch doctors. They've even gotten animals in on the act. Amid all the chaos, there have been dogs, snakes, and parrots... oh my!

World Wrestling Entertainment had all of those things. But they only had ONE Captain.

Lou Albano was born in 1933 in Italy but spent his formative years in New York. Showing athletic prowess at a young age, Albano excelled on the gridiron and in mat wrestling and eventually became a member of the University of Tennessee football team.

However, his career on the field was short-lived, and Albano would eventually make his way into professional wrestling. Although he was adequate in the ring, he was excellent as a talker. The legendary Bruno Sammartino suggested Albano should become a manager. It would end up being a move that changed his career and his life.

Gaining fame as Captain Lou Albano, he became one of WWE's most decorated managers and standout characters

Working with heels in the 1970s and early '80s, he was the hated cornerman for many successful stars of time.

Albano would also come to be known for managing Ivan Koloff to a victory over Sammartino, which ended the Italian Strongman's record-long 2,803-day world title reign. It's considered possibly the biggest upset in WWE history and one that caused the arena to go so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

His widespread appeal to the audience eventually turned him into a fan favorite. He became the manager of champions, with his gimmick being that he seconded more WWE tag team titleholders than any other cornerman in history. At the height of the Rock 'n' Wrestling connection, he sided with Wendi Richter in her war with the Fabulous Moolah.

Albano would appear in Cyndi Lauper's video for the song 'Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,' as the vocalist's father. He then starred in more videos with the pop star, who was one of the most recognized personalities in the world at the time. Lou's taste in glitz and glamour foreshadows how much of an entertainment icon he would eventually become.

As WWE grew, so did his profile. The bigger the circus got, the more popular Capt. Lou became. Especially with younger fans. He seemed like a goofy yet charming uncle to many children in the 1980s.

He would end the glory days of his WWE career by managing such popular duos as The US Express (the pairing of Barry Windham and Mike Rotundo) and The British Bulldogs (Davey Boy Smith and The Dynamite Kid) to tag team gold.

Around that same time, the rotund manager started gaining more attention from Hollywood. This seemed pretty fitting, as his unusual appearance always drew a second glance anyway.

Albano looked like your average Pisan like he should have a marinara stain on the belly of his loud Hawaiian shirt. However, he also sported rubber bands on his cheeks. So you were never sure if he just came from a local pizzeria or a punk rock concert.

Of course, many will remember Captain Lou for starring in The Super Mario Brothers Super Show, a syndicated kids program based on the popular video game series. Much like The Captain himself, it was a little odd and outside the box, but children of all ages flocked to the show.

For Albano, his interpretation of the Mario character may have been a little bizarre, but that was just his style. It wouldn't be Capt. Lou, if it wasn't AT LEAST a tad bit strange.

In later years, he would appear as a commentator for Herb Abrams' Universal Wrestling Federation and endorse some wrestling-related 900 numbers. Albano also remained involved with acting, taking on small roles for years after his departure from McMahonland.

He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1996. In later years, Lou battled health issues that eventually led to his passing in 2009 at the age of 76.

Captain Lou Albano should be remembered for many things, but one thing stands above them all. He understood who he was and had the courage to never apologize for it. Albano was a loud, obnoxious mess, and he played the part to perfection.

In essence, he symbolized everything that professional wrestling is. He was so out-of-this-world that you couldn't believe he was here on Earth.

Yet, he never flinched and did everything with a wink and a smile. He let you in on the joke by making himself a joke, and he was never embarrassed by it. As his friend Cyndi Lauper might say, Captain Lou always showed us his 'true colors.'