DeAlva Eyvonnie Sibley (May 25, 1922 – July 20, 1998), better known by her ring name June Byers, was an American women's

professional wrestler 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 ...

famous in the 1950s and early 1960s. She held the

Women's World Championship The Women's World Championship was the first Women's professional wrestling world championship in the world. History Cora Livingston defeated Hazel Parker in 1906. Though the contest was for the Featherweight Championship, from that point she ...

for ten years and is a member of the

Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (PWHF) and Museum was an American professional wrestling hall of fame and museum located in Wichita Falls, Texas; following the postponement of its 19th induction ceremony, planned for May 2020, and an annou ...

. She is overall a three-time women's

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

Early life

Born in

Houston, Texas Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, the

tomboy A tomboy is a girl or young woman who generally expresses masculine traits. Such traits may include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and engaging in activities and behaviors traditionally associated with boys or men. Origins The w ...

ish Sibley grew up around wrestling. Her uncle, Ottoway 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.. WWI Productions. Retrieved on 2001-11-23. 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. Already divorced once and facing poverty, she accepted Wolfe's offer to be trained as a professional wrestler.

Professional wrestling career

Taking her family nickname of "June" and her ex-husband's last name of "Byers" for her ring name, Sibley made her professional 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 Mildred Burke (August 5, 1915 – February 18, 1989) was an American professional wrestler. She is overall a three-time women's world champion under different incarnations and recognitions. Burke's heyday lasted from the mid-1930s to the mid-1 ...

. 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. 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 Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

to claim the belt. She quickly became a popular fan favorite champion, even appearing as a contestant on the popular game shows ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a Panel show, panel game show that originally ran in the United States, between 1950 and 1967, on CBS, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent American revivals. The game uses celebrity panelists ...

'' and '' I've Got A Secret'' on August 16, 1953.June Byers at imdb.com
Retrieved on 2007-11-11. After a year of tense negotiation, Wolfe finally coaxed Burke into meeting Byers in a definitive

two out of three falls match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

on August 20, 1954, in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

. Byers won the first fall, and then the match was called after an hour during the second fall. In the book ''The Queen of the Ring'' author Jeff Leen writes that despite battling injuries, Burke was able to hold Byers to a stalemate after dropping the first fall and thus deprive her of the second fall she needed to truly defeat Burke. Despite the inconclusive finish, the Atlanta Athletic Commission eventually awarded the match to Byers. 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. 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." Whatever the truth, the match outcome was satisfactory enough for the media to discredit Burke and acknowledge Byers as the legitimate world champion. Jeff Leen's account in ''Queen of the Ring'' contradicts Byers's claims about Burke leaving the ring and refusing to return. Furthermore, Leen details how Billy Wolfe had a great deal to do with putting Byers over as the "winner" and he quotes the ring announcer following the match as saying, "Commissioner stops the bout. Mildred Burke is still officially champion of the world". As the face of women's wrestling for the next decade, Byers's 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. 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 getting a broken nose and two black eyes from Byers intentionally punching her in the face.Glory Wrestling.
Retrieved on 2007-11-11. Byers wrestled many matches with Penny Banner, and the two had great respect for one another: Byers ranked Banner as among her toughest opponents, while Banner named Byers the greatest of all time.Online World Of Wrestling interview with Penny Banner, 2003
Retrieved 2007-11-11. In 1956, the Baltimore Athletic Commission stripped Byers of the NWA Championship when she announced her plans to retire as champion. A thirteen-woman battle royal was used to determine the new champion. After

The Fabulous Moolah Mary Lillian Ellison (July 22, 1923 – November 2, 2007) was an American professional wrestling, professional wrestler, promoter and trainer better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah. She began her career working with promoter Billy ...

won the championship, Byers came out of retirement to challenge her for the title, but Byers lost the match. On March 31, 2017, Byers was posthumously inducted into the

WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a List of halls and walks of fame, hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when An ...

as a part of the Legacy wing.

Personal life

alleges that while traveling with Billy Wolfe's troupe of female wrestlers, Byers often slept with Wolfe (despite his marriage to Burke) in order to get better bookings. Upon Wolfe's death, Byers moved to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

to work for wrestling promoter, and later TV ring announcer, Sam Menacker, who became her third husband. In 1963, while attempting to drive after being hit in the head with a Coke bottle, Byers experienced quadruple vision and collided with a tree.2006 Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame induction ceremony report.
Retrieved on 2007-11-11. The leg damage from the auto accident cut her career short at age 41 and forced her to retire on January 1, 1964. In her later life, she had double vision from the incident. Byers returned to Texas after retirement from the ring, becoming a real estate agent. She had two children, Billy and Jewel. Her son was fatally electrocuted in an accident, and Byers was reportedly never the same afterward. She died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

at her Houston home in 1998.

Championships and accomplishments

* Independent **

( 1 time, final) ** Women's World Championship Tournament (1953) * International Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame ** Class of 2023 *

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The promotion was born out of the Minneapolis ...

** AWA World Women's Championship ( 1 time) *

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

NWA World Women's Championship The NWA Women's World Championship is a women's professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The title was first held by Mildred Burke in 195 ...

(1 time) **

NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship The NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship is a women's professional wrestling tag team championship (professional wrestling), championship defended in List of National Wrestling Alliance territories#1948-1993, member promotions of the National ...

( 7 times) – with Ethel Johnson (1), Millie Stafford (2), Mary Jane Mull (2), Mars Bennett (1) and

Barbara Baker Barbara Avalon Baker (born 31 March 1958) is an Australian barrister and former judge, who is the 29th and current governor of Tasmania since 16 June 2021. She served on the Federal Circuit Court of Australia from 2008 to 2021. Early life Bake ...

(1) *

** Women's Wrestling ( Class of 2006) *

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...

( Class of 2017)

References

External links

*
June Byers at the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byers, June 1922 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American actresses American female professional wrestlers AWA World Women's Champions Deaths from pneumonia in Texas Professional wrestlers from Houston Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum WWE Hall of Fame Legacy inductees Stampede Wrestling alumni Infectious disease deaths in Texas 20th-century female professional wrestlers 20th-century American professional wrestlers NWA World Women's Champions NWA World Women's Tag Team Champions 20th-century American sportswomen