June Byers
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| June Byers | |
|---|---|
| Statistics | |
| Ring name(s) | June Byers |
| Billed height | 5 ft 7 in (170 cm)[1] |
| Billed weight | 150 lb (68 kg)[2] |
| Born | May 25, 1922 Houston, Texas |
| Died | July 20, 1998 (aged 76) Houston, Texas |
| Billed from | Houston, Texas |
| Trained by | Billy Wolfe Mae Young |
| Debut | 1944 |
| Retired | 1964 |
DeAlva Eyvonnie Sibley (May 25, 1922 – July 20, 1998), better known by her ring name of June Byers, was an American women's professional wrestler famous in the 1950s and early 1960s. She held the World Women's Championship for ten years and is a member of the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame.
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[edit] Biography
Born in Houston, Texas, the tomboyish DeAlva Sibley grew up around wrestling. Her uncle Shorty Roberts worked for local wrestling promoter Morris Siegel, and as she got older, she often hung around the wrestlers and asked them to teach her their moves.[3] On one occasion while DeAlva was playing around in the ring, the women's wrestling promoter Billy Wolfe happened to see her and recognized her potential.[3] Already divorced once and facing poverty,[4] she accepted Wolfe's offer to be trained as a professional wrestler.
Taking her family nickname of "June" and her ex-husband's last name of "Byers" for her ring name, June Byers made her pro debut in 1944. She spent the first years of her career traveling the country in Wolfe's promotion, sometimes winning preliminary matches but regularly losing to the more established stars such as Mae Young and champion Mildred Burke. At this early stage in her career she often worked as a heel and utilized the pendulum backbreaker as a signature move.[5] Slowly rising in the ranks, she first won gold in 1952 when she and partner Millie Stafford won the Tag Title over Young and Ella Waldek.[3]
That same year Mildred Burke had a bitter falling-out with husband Wolfe and departed the promotion, leaving the world title vacant. On June 14, 1953, a still relatively unknown Byers won a 13-woman tournament in Baltimore to claim the belt. She quickly became a popular babyface champion, even appearing as a contestant on the popular game shows What's My Line? and I've Got A Secret on August 16, 1953.[6] Still, many questioned the legitimacy of her reign due to the fact that she had not actually defeated the highly-regarded Burke in the ring. After a year of tense negotiation, Wolfe finally coaxed Burke into meeting Byers in a definitive match on August 25, 1954 in Atlanta, Georgia, in what became one of the greatest women's bouts of all time.[3]
The match was billed as a best 2-falls-out-of-3 match and is now generally accepted by wrestling historians to be at least partly a shoot. Byers won the first fall, and then the match was called after an hour during the second fall, in which Burke reaggravated a months-old injury to her knee and could not continue. Despite the inconclusive finish, the Atlanta Athletic Commission eventually awarded the match to Byers.[3] Burke angrily returned to her own promotion, the World Women's Wrestling Association, where she held its title and billed herself as world champion. She maintained later that she had dropped the first fall with the intent to compete stronger in the second, and it is noted that Wolfe used all possible connections to try to get a win for his new star (and daughter-in-law) Byers.[7] Byers, for her part, stressed that "Mildred claims she wasn't defeated, but I pinned her in the first fall. During the second fall, she left the ring and refused to come back. Regardless of what she told people, it was a shoot."[3] Whatever the truth, the match outcome was satisfactory enough for the media to discredit Burke and acknowledge Byers as the legitimate world champion.[7]
As the face of women's wrestling for the next decade, Byers' athleticism and technical skills did much to open new markets for women's wrestling and improve its perception in the eyes of the public as being more than mere tawdry spectacle.[4] In her famous finishing move, the Byers Bridge, she stretched into a bridge over her rolled-up opponent, pinning the opponent's shoulders on the mat. Complementing her repertoire of scientific moves was her toughness in an age of very tough women, and she was known for working incredibly stiff against newcomers: one such wrestler recalled suffering a broken nose and two black eyes from Byers' intentionally punching her in the face.[8] Byers wrestled many outstanding matches with Penny Banner, and the two had great respect for one another: Byers ranked Banner as among her toughest opponents,[4] while Banner named Byers the greatest of all time.[9]
Upon Billy Wolfe's death, Byers moved to St. Louis working for promoter Sam Meneker, who became her third husband. The early '60s are now regarded as a period of decline for women's wrestling, due to the title picture fragmenting and a lack of new talent entering the scene.[10] A fateful incident in 1963 prevented Byers from being around to pass the torch to the next generation. While attempting to drive after being hit in the head with a Coke bottle, Byers suffered quadruple vision and collided with a tree.[11] The leg damage from the auto accident cut her career short at age 41 and forced her to retire as undefeated champion on January 1, 1964.[3]
Byers returned to Texas after retirement from the ring, becoming a real estate agent.[3] She had two children, Billy and Jewel. Her son was fatally electrocuted in an accident, and June was reportedly never the same afterward.[4] She died of pneumonia at her Houston home in 1998. Byers was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006.
[edit] In wrestling
- Finishing and signature moves
- Byers Bridge (bridge and roll-up pin)
- Pendulum Backbreaker
[edit] Championships and accomplishments
- Independent
- World Women's Championship (1 time)
-
- NWA Florida Women's Championship (1 time) [12]
- NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship (Florida version) (2 times) - with Millie Stafford (1) and Mary Jane Mull (1)
-
- NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship (Missouri version) (1 time) - with Millie Stafford
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Professional Wrestling Online Museum - Women in Wrestling
- ^ The Professional Wrestling Online Museum - Women in Wrestling
- ^ a b c d e f g h June Byers at womens-pro-wrestling.com. WWI Productions. Retrieved on 2001-11-23.
- ^ a b c d June Byers at Professional Wrestling Hall Of Fame. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- ^ Amy Action Women's Wrestling. amyaction.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- ^ June Byers at imdb.com. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- ^ a b National Wrestling Alliance, The Untold Story of the Monopoly that Strangled Pro Wrestling, p. 292, Tim Hornbaker, ECW Press, 2007, ISBN 1-55022-741-6
- ^ Glory Wrestling. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- ^ Online World Of Wrestling interview with Penny Banner, 2003. Retrieved 2007-11-11.
- ^ Lillian Ellison at womens-pro-wrestling.com. WWI Productions. Retrieved on 2000-12-08.
- ^ 2006 Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame induction ceremony report. Retrieved on 2007-11-11.
- ^ N.W.A. Florida Women's Title. Puroresu Dojo. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.
