Kurt Boese was born in Germany and took up wrestling as a boy. A plumber by trade, he moved to Canada in 1952 to seek new opportunities and settled in Kitchener, Ontario. Two years later he met Bob Steckle at the local YMCA and the two built a lifelong friendship around their wrestling careers. Boese went on to represent Canada in the welterweight, freestyle event at the 1960 Rome Olympics, where he was eliminated in round three of the tournament. He had more success as a lightweight at the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games and the 1963 Pan-American Games, as he won bronze both times. Although his day job was as a plumber, eventually rising to the position of chief inspector in Kitchener, he also coached at the YMCA, at the University of Waterloo, and for Canada at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Canada