Billy Leon McCrary (December 7, 1946 – July 14, 1979) and Benny Loyd McCrary (December 7, 1946 – March 26, 2001), known together as The McCrary Twins or under their

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

as The McGuire Twins, were American

professional wrestlers Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

listed in the ''

Guinness Book of World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a British reference book published annually, listi ...

'' as the "World's Heaviest Twins" ( and , respectively).

Biographies

The twins were born in

Hendersonville, North Carolina Hendersonville is a city in and the county seat of Henderson County, North Carolina, United States, located south of Asheville, North Carolina, Asheville. Like the county, the city is named for 19th-century North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Jus ...

. They contracted

rubella Rubella, also known as German measles or three-day measles, is an infection caused by the rubella virus. This disease is often mild, with half of people not realizing that they are infected. A rash may start around two weeks after exposure and ...

(German measles) when they were 4 years old, which caused problems for their

pituitary gland The pituitary gland or hypophysis is an endocrine gland in vertebrates. In humans, the pituitary gland is located at the base of the human brain, brain, protruding off the bottom of the hypothalamus. The pituitary gland and the hypothalamus contr ...

s and they started gaining weight. Their parents bought a farm to increase their physical activity and they ate only 1,000 calories per day but could not stop gaining weight. They each weighed by age 10 and by age 16. They

dropped out Dropping out refers to leaving high school, college, university or another group for practical reasons, necessities, inability, apathy, or disillusionment with the system from which the individual in question leaves. Canada In Canada, most ind ...

of high school and moved to Texas, where they had jobs

livestock branding Livestock branding is a technique for marking livestock so as to identify the owner. Originally, livestock branding only referred to hot branding large stock with a branding iron, though the term now includes alternative techniques. Other f ...

. They spent three years working at the

Circus Circus Las Vegas Circus Circus Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the northern Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada, Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Phil Ruffin. Circus Circus includes the largest permanent circus in the world. It featur ...

, then performed their minibike routine for a few months in Los Angeles. A wrestling promoter saw them in

El Paso, Texas El Paso (; ; or ) is a city in and the county seat of El Paso County, Texas, United States. The 2020 United States census, 2020 population of the city from the United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau was 678,815, making it the List of ...

, and convinced them to begin a wrestling training program in

Ciudad Juárez Ciudad Juárez ( , ; "Juárez City"), commonly referred to as just Juárez (Lipan language, Lipan: ''Tsé Táhú'ayá''), is the most populous city in the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Mexican state of Chihuahua (state), Chihuahua. It was k ...

, Mexico, lifting weights and running often. In December 1971, at age 25, they made their in-ring debuts in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, losing to

Bull Ramos Manuel Ramos (August 3, 1937 – May 27, 2006) was an American professional wrestler, better known as Apache Bull Ramos. From his debut in 1956 until the 1970s, he primarily worked as a heel and had notable feuds with Bruno Sammartino, Dutch Sava ...

and

Ciclón Negro Ramon Eduardo Rodriguez (April 7, 1932 – February 20, 2013), better known by the ring name Ciclón Negro (Black Cyclone), was a professional wrestler who was originally from Venezuela. He toured Australia, Canada, Japan, Puerto Rico and the Uni ...

. From 1974 to 1978, they participated in several matches in Japan, organized by

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

, defeating other notable wrestling tag teams, including Kantaro Hoshino and

Seiji Sakaguchi is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and judoka, Sakaguchi holds a 7th dan red and white belt in judo. Sakaguchi was a mainstay of New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and also competed for the World Wide Wrestling Federation and the Nati ...

, as well as

Osamu Kido was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He participated in the foundation of New Japan of 1972 and the foundation of Universal Wrestling Federation (Japan), Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) in 19 ...

and

Riki Choshu , better known by his ring name , is a South Korean-Japanese retirement, retired Puroresu, professional wrestler who is best known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as both a wrestler and a Booker (professional wrestling), bo ...

. They used the

McGuire, since it was easier for Japanese ring announcers to pronounce. The twins often used a finishing move called the "Tupelo Splash", which involved one of the twins diving belly-first onto a prone opponent; they would follow this with "The Steamroller", where the twin would roll back and forward over the opponent. Billy McCrary died on July 14, 1979, at the age of 32, following a motorcycle accident in

Niagara Falls, Ontario Niagara Falls is a city in Ontario, Canada, adjacent to, and named after, Niagara Falls. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, the city had a population of 94,415. The city is located on the Niagara Peninsula along the western bank of the ...

, en route to a ''

Ripley's Believe It or Not! ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!'' is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley, which deals with bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims. Originally a newspaper panel, the ''Believe It or Not'' ...

'' museum. After Billy's death, Benny tried to continue wrestling, partnering with

André the Giant André René Roussimoff (; 19 May 1946 – 28 January 1993), better known by his ring name André the Giant, was a French professional wrestler and actor. Dubbed "the Eighth Wonder of the World", Roussimoff was known for his great size, which ...

, but was not successful without his brother. Benny then opened a

pawn shop A pawnbroker is an individual that offers secured loans to people, with items of personal property used as collateral. A pawnbrokering business is called a pawnshop, and while many items can be pawned, pawnshops typically accept jewelry, ...

and worked as an

auctioneer An auction is usually a process of buying and selling goods or services by offering them up for bids, taking bids, and then selling the item to the highest bidder or buying the item from the lowest bidder. Some exceptions to this definition ...

in Hendersonville. He later moved to

Walkertown, North Carolina Walkertown is a town in Forsyth County, North Carolina, United States and a rural area outside of Winston-Salem. It is part of the Piedmont Triad. The population was 5,695 at the 2020 census. Geography is located in eastern Forsyth County and i ...

, and worked for the Christian Golfers Ministry. The

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...

in his knee wore out and he was eventually

bedridden Being bedridden is a form of immobility that can present as the inability to move or even sit upright. It differs from bed-rest, a form of non-invasive treatment that is usually part of recovery or the limitation of activities. Some of the more se ...

. Benny died at age 54 on March 26, 2001, of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

. The brothers are buried side by side in a graveyard near Hendersonville. Their gravestone displays images of two

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

motorcycles and is inscribed "World’s Largest Twins".

Personal lives

The twins were married to sisters Maryse and Danielle Juarry, whom they met in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. Benny was an

evangelical Christian Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of th ...

and enjoyed golf, playing until he was bedridden.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:McGuire Twins, The 1946 births 1979 deaths 2001 deaths American male professional wrestlers American twins Independent promotions teams and stables New Japan Pro-Wrestling teams and stables People from Hendersonville, North Carolina Professional wrestlers from North Carolina Stampede Wrestling alumni Twin performers World record holders

Biographies

Personal lives

See also

References

External links