Earl McCready

Earl McCready grew up in the farming communities of rural Saskatchewan. He worked as a farmhand and a school teacher before accepting a wrestling scholarship to Oklahoma A & M University. College scouts had spotted him when, as an unknown, he defeated 1924 US Olympian Charles Strack to win the 1926 Canadian championships. Whilst at Oklahoma A & M he won three straight NCAA titles (1928-29-30) and won every match he contested for the university. A winner of four national titles, three Canadian and one US, he also won the freestyle heavyweight gold medal at the 1930 British Empire Games in Hamilton, Ontario.

At the end of 1930 he left the amateur ranks and embarked on what would be a 28 year professional career. He held the British Empire title as a pro and at one stage was rated second in the rankings of The Ring magazine. After retiring from wrestling he ran a massage parlour in the US state of Washington.

He lost his left leg to Osteomyelitis in 1966 and used an artificial leg from then on. McCready is an inductee of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and the US Wrestling Hall of Fame.