Super Heavyweight Wrestler Haystack CalhounAt a billed 604 lbs, Haystack Calhoun was the most well known super- heavyweight wrestler of his time. Never staying with a promotion very long, he was an attraction that worked all over the United States and as far abroad as Australia. Unlike most of the old school super-heavyweights, Calhoun actually used wrestling moves in his act. Scruffy beard, good luck horse shoe hanging from a huge chain around his neck, bib overalls, always barefoot - Haystack Calhoun was a great attraction. William Dee Calhoun was born on August 3, 1934 on a farm in McKinney, Texas, near Dallas, Texas. Calhoun was a huge kid, already weighing 300 lbs at age 14. Being a huge kid and very strong he became well known in his hometown. As Calhoun later told the story, he was discovered by a wrestling promoter who had heard tales about a big man working on his family's farm. Calhoun began working for promoter Orville Brown in 1955, which would put Calhoun's age at about 21. His ring name was Country Boy Calhoun. Once he began wrestling for a living, there was no looking back and no room for regrets - wrestling was his ticket to big money, and the only way he could make it was a wrestler was to be huge, really huge. Calhoun didn't expect to live long, but he - with some trepidation - was willing to pay that price. Calhoun changed his ring name from "Country Boy" to "Haystacks," after an appearance on "Art Linkletter's House Party" where he proved his strength by tossing hay bales into a high loft. Promoters varied the spelling on advertising, sometimes using "Haystack Calhoun," other times "Haystacks Calhoun." From the beginning, Calhoun exaggerated his country roots. He always wrestled barefoot and wore bib overalls. He wore a good luck horse shoe around his neck. He changed the name of his hometown to the more hillbilly sounding Morgan's Corner, Arkansas. Haystack traveled the country as a special attraction. He would often be booked for battle royals and handicap matches. Over this career he teamed with many hometown favorites, sometimes winning a locally recognized tag-team title. In 1970, Calhoun teamed with Man Mountain Mike, billed at around 600 lbs., to form the heaviest team in pro wrestling history up until that time. In the early 1960's Calhoun had a series of matches around the country with Happy Humphrey, who was billed as over 800 lbs. Humphrey could barely walk, so he wasn't a match for the less heavy and more mobile Calhoun. Most of the matches ended with a Haystack victory when Humphrey couldn't get back in the ring within the 20-count. Haystack was also involved in a well publicized feud with Dick the Bruiser. In a main event match at Madison Square Garden Bruiser had promised to body slam Calhoun, but couldn't get Haystack off the canvas even though Calhoun didn't try to block the slam. "I did waste some money, but I don't know where it all went. I mean, I didn't live that high."... Haystack Calhoun, June 1987. Haystack Calhoun had a good run, longer than he thought he ever would, but in 1981 his health forced to retire to a double-wide back in McKinney, Texas where he left home to be a wrestling star. As a wrestler he had grossed up to $150,000 as far back as the 1960's. The road and free spending took all of his money and he was back home, living with his mother and daughter, and poor again. He lost his left leg to diabetes in 1986. He died on December 7, 1989, at age 53. Haystacks Calhoun almost always wrestled as a babyface. He signed thousands of autographs during his career, both at the arenas and in pubic. The majority of them are on scrapes of papers or autograph books. Signed photos of wrestlers like Haystack Calhoun are not as common as one might think. Fans didn't give them 8 x 10" glossies to sign, and they certainly didn't send them out free of charge like a lot of wrestlers do today. A signed photo of Calhoun might sell in the $50 range. "History for Sale" has a signed FBI fingerprint listed on eBay with minimum bid of $2999. (They're not likely to find a buyer at that price.) From the document: "Sex M/Race W/Ht.(In.) 6'4'/Wt. 601/Date of Birth 8-3-34/Hair Bl/Eyes Br". Stamped on verso: "No Arrest Record/Sep 26 1958/Identification Division/FBI" "Wrestler" written across the page. (Albany, 1958 September 17. Official FBI Fingerprint C signed by "George Williams", Director, Division of Identification, Department of Correction, Albany, New York.
|
