High Flying in Detroit with Leaping Larry Chene

Arguably the most popular wrestler in the Detroit, Michigan area in the early 1960s was Leaping Larry Chene--born Arthur Lawrence Beauchene on June 22, 1924 on Detroit's Eastside. He attended St. Bernard Catholic School where he played team sports. In the early 1940s, he took naval pre-flight training at the University of Iowa and the University of Michigan. Chene wrestled competitively in college before enlisting to fight in World War II. 

After the war, Beauchene started a trucking business which involved long hours and marginal profits. In 1951, Detroit wrestling promoter Bert Ruby needed someone to fill in for one of his injured wrestlers and approached Beauchene knowing he had a wrestling background. Ruby offered him $27.50 for wrestling a thirty-minute bout. He wrestled under a shortened, Americanized version of his real name--Larry Chene. Years later, he was quoted as saying, "This was the easiest money I ever made."

Shortly after, Chene shut down his struggling trucking business and learned the secrets of the squared circle. Chene wrestled in small, local venues five or six times a week for different small promotions while he developed his craft. Then in 1953, he signed a six-week contract to wrestle in Texas. He liked the steady work and the money. Chene had a growing family to provide for, so he stayed for several years developing his high-flying, Leaping Larry Chene persona.

Chene was a spectacular aerial performer whose signature move was the flying head scissors. He was a likeable "good guy" who fans related to when he took a beating at the hands of an assortment of uncouth villains. Unlike his opponents, Chene was personable and bantered with the referees and the crowd. He was always quick with a smile and an autograph when he met the public.

John Squires remembers back in the early 1960's "Dearborn High had a wrestling night in the gym. Larry, the Sheik, Bobo, all were there. Larry got thrown out of the ring and while he was laying in front of us, he borrowed my friend's penny loafer (shoe) and stuck it in the back of his tights. Chene jumped back in the ring and hit the Sheik in the forehead with it and the Sheik started bleeding. Not sure if it was fake or not, but it sure looked good."

Wrestling Promoter Bert Ruby

Chene returned to Detroit in 1960 a seasoned professional wrestler. He signed a contract with old friend Bert Ruby, who was looking for a star to headline his new Motor City Wrestling (MCW) television program which aired Saturday afternoons on WXYZ-TV Channel 7. Chene was featured and quickly became a fan favorite. The television show was essentially an advertisement for Ruby's growing wrestling promotions which were now happening at larger venues like the Olympia arena and Detroit's new Cobo Hall Convention Center. Big money was being made.

During a live Saturday afternoon match on August 26, 1961 to promote an Olympia event, Chene wrestled La Bestia (The Beast)--The Sicilian Sheep Herder. The Beast caught Chene from behind with a bear hug and shook him up and down while squeezing. Chene uncharacteristicly cried out and The Beast dropped him on the mat. The referee stopped the match and the program cut to a commercial break.

The MCW doctor on hand called an ambulance and transported the injured wrestler to Riverside Hospital in Trenton, Michigan where he was diagnosed with a torn stomach muscle requiring surgery and a lengthy period of recuperation. To keep his name in the wrestling public's mind, Chene did the color commentary for MCW until his abodmen healed. Meanwhile, a grudge match with The Beast was heavily promoted for a month before it was scheduled.

 

In those days, the matches were three falls. The Beast won the first fall and Chene won the second. In a rage, The Beast threw Chene out of the ring. The Beast's manager, Martino Angelo, promptly attacked Chene on the concrete floor. When the referee wasn't able to restore order, he handed the split decision to Chene after disqualifying The Beast.

During his career, Chene won more matches than he lost, and he held many championship titles and belts during his thirteen-year tenure delighting fans. Early in the morning on October 2, 1964, Chene was returning home from a match in Davenport, Iowa when his car went off the shoulder of Interstate 80 and flipped over near Ottawa, Illinois. Initial reports indicated Chene's car hit a telephone pole but that was found to be false. Illinois State Police reported finding a speeding ticket for traveling 92 mph issued to Chene five hours before he was found dead in his car. He was almost forty years old.

On Tuesday, October 6, 1964, services were held for Arthur Lawrence Beauchene at St. David's Roman Catholic Church on E. Outer Drive in Detroit. Beauchene lived in Harper Woods with his wife Mary and their six children. His body is interred in Mt. Olivet Cemetery. Edward George Farhat, the original Sheik, paid for the funeral.

Leaping Larry Chene match with post match interview

Bobo Brazil's Wrestling Legacy

Bobo Brazil

Houston Harris was born on July 19, 1924 in Little Rock, Arkansas. He grew up to become Bobo Brazil--the Jackie Robinson of sports-entertainment (professional wrestling). Bobo wasn't the first Black wrestler, but when he signed with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Brazil went mainstream to become the sport's first African American megastar.

The six foot, six inch, 270 pounder was playing baseball in the Negro League for The House of David when he was spotted by professional wrestler Joe Savoldi. In 1951, Savoldi suggested Harris give pro-wrestling a try where he could make some real money. At twenty-seven years old, with a wife and a passel of kids to provide for, Harris traveled to Canada from Benton Harbor, Michigan to learn the secrets of the squared circle. Once he knew the fundamentals, Harris began wrestling in small, Canadian and Midwestern venues as Bobo Brazil. 

Before long, he signed with Jack Britton and Bert Ruby of Detroit's Big Time Wrestling. Edward George Farhat, also known in the ring as The (Original) Sheik, bought the organization in 1964. The Sheik and Bobo fought and bled their way through Michigan, Ohio, and Ontario in the longest running feud in professional wrestling. The Sheik was the most hated player in the game. He and Bobo grappled many times over the years trading the United States Heavyweight Champion belt back and forth. In the process, Bobo became a hero to many Black and White wrestling fans who despised The Sheik. His crowd-pleasing, finishing move was the Coco Butt (head butt).

Bobo Brazil was inducted into the WWF class of 1994 by his personal friend Ernie "The Cat" Ladd. Houston "Bobo Brazil" Harris died January 20, 1998 at Lakeland Medical Center in St. Joseph, Michigan after suffering a series of strokes. He was the father of six children.

***

Born Wayde Douglas Bowles on August 24, 1944 in Amherst, Nova Scotia, Canada, Bowles changed his name to Rocky Johnson when he signed with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) in Atlanta, Georgia. His ring name was a tribute to his two favorite boxing greats--Rocky Marciano and Jack Johnson. At six foot/two, 262 pounds, Rocky Johnson cut an imposing figure, but like all Black professional wrestlers before him, Johnson endured racial slurs and battled racism early in his career.

                           

Rocky Johnson with announcer "Mean" Gene Okerlund

"There is a lot of racism in professional wrestling then and now. Only now, it is more covered up," Johnson said in a cable TV interview. "I kept myself in shape, (but) the stuff going on in the South, I wouldn't go for it. They (the promoters) wanted to whip me on TV like a slave, but I said 'No! I came in as an athlete, and I'll leave as an athlete.' They respected me for that."

On December 6, 1974, Rocky Johnson became the first Black Heavyweight World Champion in the state of Georgia. When he teamed up with Tony Atlas, they were known as the Soul Patrol. They were the first Black, tag team champions in the World Wrestling Federation when they defeated the Wild Samoans on December 10, 1983. 

Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson--The Soul Patrol

Rocky Johnson retired from pro wrestling in 1991 and was inducted in the WWF Hall of Fame in 2008, but before retiring, Rocky Johnson passed the torch to his son Dwayne Johnson when Rocky and his father in law, Peter Maivia, trained Dwayne in 1995 for a career in the family business. After battling a bad cold, Rocky Johnson succumbed to deep vein thrombosis on January15, 2020 at the age of seventy-five.

***

Dwayne Douglas Johnson was the son of Rocky "Soulman" Johnson. As a boy, he grew up with the dream of playing in the National Football League (NFL). Dwayne entered The University of Miami on a football scholarship and played on their National Championship team during his freshman year 1991. Along the way, Dwayne earned a bachelor's degree in Criminology and Physiology.

Dwayne's childhood dream of going pro was dashed when he went undrafted in the 1995 NFL Draft. Undeterred, he tried out for the Calgary Stampede of the Canadian Football League. Only two months into his first season, he was cut due to injuries. It was then that Dwayne asked his father to train him for a career in professional wrestling. His grandfather Peter Maivia was a NWA wrestler and his father was a WWF wrestler. At six foot/five, 260 pounds, he had the physique for success in the ring but did he have the heart?

Rocky tried to discourage his son at first. He knew first-hand about the difficulties of being on the road away from family. Dwayne had a college education, something no other male in the family had, but he was determined to wrestle. Rocky told his son he would train him on one condition, "I'm going to train you 150% because that's what it takes to be a champion." Rocky was hard on Dwayne, but he never gave up or complained.

Proud son Dwayne Johnson looks on as his father Rocky Johnson is inducted into the WWF/WWE Hall of Fame in 2008.

The following year, Dwayne Johnson signed his first WWF contract and slowly developed his charismatic, brash charm and boastful, trash-talking personality. As a tribute to his father, Dwayne took on the ring persona of The Rock. Within two years of entering Vince McMahon's WWF, The Rock won his first world championship belt, the first of seventeen titles he would hold in the next nine years. The Rock is considered by many as one of the greatest and most popular professional wrestlers of all time.

In 2004, The Rock resumed his Dwayne Johnson identity to pursue an acting career and establish his own film production company becoming one of the world's highest paid actors. Johnson's first starring role was in The Scorpion King along with other hits to follow like the Fast & Furious franchise and two Jumanji movies to name only a few.

As of 2021, forty-nine-year-old Dwayne Johnson's net worth is estimated to be 320 million dollars. His movies have grossed 10.5 billion dollars worldwide. Johnson has twice made Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People in the World list in 2016 and 2019.

In 2006, Johnson founded the Dwayne Johnson Rock Foundation, a charity that works with children who have illnesses, disorders, and disabilities to improve their self-esteem and help empower their lives. As for Dwayne's boyhood football dreams, they get played out yearly watching the Super Bowl like the rest of us.