Rocky Aoki Net Worth

Hiroaki Aoki (?? ??, Aoki Hiroaki?, October 9, 1938 - July 10, 2008), known in the United States by the Anglicized name Rocky Aoki, was an Olympic wrestler, the founder of the Benihana chain of "Japanese Steakhouse" restaurants, entrepreneur, and thrillseeker.
Born in Tokyo, Aoki and some friends started a rock and roll band called Rowdy Sounds, though Aoki eventually abandoned music for athletics. He would later explain, "I play bass. But I tell you why I change to wrestling: No good on tempo." Aoki attended Keio University, where he competed in track and field, karate and wrestling before being expelled for fighting. He qualified for the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome, but did not compete. However, he later toured the United States and was undefeated in the wrestling 112-pound flyweight class.
Aoki was offered wrestling scholarships from several different American colleges. He attended Springfield College in Springfield, Massachusetts and later transferred to CW Post College on Long Island.
He moved to New York City, going on to win the United States flyweight title in 1962, 1963 and 1964. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1995.
In New York, Aoki worked seven days a week in an ice cream truck that he rented in Harlem while studying restaurant management at New York City Community College. After he received his Associates degree in management in 1963, he used the $10,000 he had saved from the ice cream business to convince his father to co-invest in the first Benihana, a four-table teppanyaki restaurant on West 56th Street. "Benihana", taken from the Japanese name for safflower, was suggested by Aoki's father. According to family legend, Aoki's father was walking through the bombed-out ruins of post-war Tokyo when he happened across a single red safflower growing in the rubble.
He was an offshore powerboat racer along with the 1986 APBA world champion Powerboat throttleman Errol Lanier, a former Fort Lauderdale, Florida firema