From the archives of the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library:
Black Bear Sports Wrestling? Is this kind of entertainment still practiced? Maybe in other countries like Russia, but bears in the ring are a thing of the past around these parts! It’s antiquated entertainment, and back in the day, it happened right here in Sault Ste. Marie.
Maybe you were one of the spectators, as bear wrestling events were booked at the Memorial Gardens and other establishments in both Sault Ontario and Sault Michigan.
In the late 40s and early 50s, wrestling matches at the Memorial Gardens were a frequent sort of entertainment. Are you someone who remembers names like Herbie Parks, Rufus Jones, Porkie Guerriero, and Alex Kasaboski? These were “courageous gents” who were up for the challenge of wrestling with black bears such as Gorgeous Gus, often weighing anywhere from 300 to 1000 pounds.
In June of 1983, Gentle Ben, a 400-pound black bear, dropped in at the Sault Star with his owner Dave McKigney. The duo was promoting the upcoming Black Bear Sports Wrestling show, scheduled at the Memorial Gardens. After a bit of tousling on the front lawn with one of the Sault Star employees, complaints from the employees about the smelly bear were expressed and the duo left the property. The Star reported that Ben’s front teeth had been removed, so wrestlers willing to take him on shouldn’t be nervous. Slobber would be the only thing Ben’s opponents had to be concerned with. The evening wrestlers – Black Jack Johnson, Bobo Brazil, handsome Johnny Valiant and the bear’s owner Dave McKigney – would keep the crowds entertained later that evening at the Memorial Gardens.
In April 1994, a bear wrestling act was booked in Sault Ste. Marie. With it came people who were excited to attend and, conversely, those with heated emotions about the rights of the bear.
The event was booked and scheduled to happen on the outskirts of town at a Heyden motel called Pruce’s Motor Inn. A nominal fee would be charged to get in. If planning on wrestling, an extra fee was charged. The bar owner was warned that some people might be opposed to this kind of fun, but the attention the act was generating was seemingly welcomed.
If you were inclined to wrestling and wanted to show off your brawn (but perhaps not your brain), then you could pay to tousle with a rather large bear! Keep in mind that the rule for wrestling the 450 kg (1000 lbs) bear was that a person could not weigh more than 117 kg! The name of the game was to try and pin the unmuzzled bear to the mat.
This challenge created a whole lot of excitement with some fellas! To others, the event bordered on grotesque and cruel. Picture a bar setting, a big furry bear, a macho attitude, a wrestling ring, and add some alcohol to the mix. This appealed to a lot of people, however on April 11th, there was a complaint from the public. Kevin Feagan, the north regional inspector of The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, concluded that bear wrestling shouldn’t be a public event. Charges could be laid if any slapping, biting, or kicking of the big animal was witnessed. Observers could be charged, as well as the owner, with cruelty to animals. The establishment decided to cancel the event, given the public’s opposition and the warnings of the SPCA. It was decided that the black bear should be left alone.
After the cancelling of the proposed wrestling match, several people wrote in voicing their opinions on the matter. One person wrote, “A bear does not belong in a bar-room full of obnoxious drunken patrons waiting in anticipation to show off their macho strength…. If man must wrestle, hold a human wrestling match.”
The booking agent, Jim Plausini of First Impressions Entertainment Agency, was disappointed that someone spoke out against the act. The Sault show was set to be the first of a 20-day tour to several Canadian cities. The bear and his owner moved on to their next city.
Looking back to the 1970s, in October 1977, there appeared in the Sault Star a photo of famous bear trainer David McKigney. He was photographed feeding an ice cream cone to Smokey, a 450-pound wrestling bear. Dave was Smokey’s wrestling partner and master. At the time the photo was taken, Dave had been wrestling bears for 21 years and reported the sport as “good clean fun!”
In a July 1978 edition of the Sault Star, an article was printed with the headline, Bear Mauls Trainer’s Girlfriend. The tragedy happened in Aurora, Ontario. A seven-foot, 462-pound black bear, who was trained to wrestle with humans, mauled its trainer’s girlfriend. The trainer and wrestler, known as 'The Wildman', was Dave McKigney. While McKigney was outside cleaning the bear’s pen, the bear made an attack on McKigney’s girlfriend, 30-year-old Lynn Orsser. The bear mauled Orsser in the trainer’s upstairs bedroom. When an Ontario Humane Society inspector came to investigate the home of the accident, McKigney informed him that the bear had been accustomed to entering the house and was described as just a big baby. Four hours after the mauling, the young woman succumbed to her injuries and died.
The inspector stated that the bear was a magnificent animal, and all wild animals are dangerous when in the wrong environment. He also said that in this case, he wasn’t going to order that the animal be destroyed because it had known its trainer for many years and that McKigney was “one of the best bear handlers in Canada.”
Animal rights have come a long way over the years. Thankfully, people are no longer allowed to act without regard for the well-being or dignity of animals, or jeopardize the safety of others in the process.
Each week, the Sault Ste. Marie Public Library and its Archives provide SooToday readers with a glimpse of the city’s past.
Find out more of what the Public Library has to offer at www.ssmpl.ca and look for more "Remember This?" columns here.