Ben Sharpe

A member of the Leander Boat Club of Hamilton, Ontario, Ben Sharpe was selected to help represent Canada at the 1936 Summer Olympics as a member of the men’s coxed eights rowing team. The squad finished third in its heat and made it to the semi-finals, where they placed second in their heat and did not qualify for the finals, despite having the second-best time overall in the round.

He served with his brother Mike in the Canadian Forces during World War II and in 1946 the duo made their debut in Toronto as a professional wrestling tag team. In 1950 they took their act to the United States and wrestled briefly in Missouri before settling in San Francisco, California, where they won the San Francisco tag team title twenty times during the decade. Together they also captured the Texas, Chicago, and Pacific Coast Tag Team Championships. Ben retired and left the duo in 1960, but not before earning individual titles as Hawaiian (1953) and Pacific Coast (1959) champion. The brothers were inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2010.