Larry Cameron (November 4, 1952 – December 13, 1993) was an American professional

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

and

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

Football career

Larry Cameron was born and raised in

Natchez, Mississippi Natchez ( ) is the only city in and the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 14,520 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located on the Mississippi River across from Vidalia, Louisiana, Natchez was ...

. He played football in high school and then in college at Alcorn A&M for the Alcorn A&M Braves. A linebacker, he was chosen #301 in the 1974 NFL Draft by the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

. After being cut by the Broncos, he played with the

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

and

Ottawa Rough Riders The Ottawa Rough Riders were a Canadian Football League team based in Ottawa, Ontario, founded on September 19, 1876. Formerly one of the oldest and longest-lived professional sports teams in North America, the Rough Riders won the Grey Cup cham ...

of the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; , LCF) is a Professional gridiron football, professional Canadian football league in Canada. It comprises nine teams divided into two divisions, with four teams in the East Division (CFL), East Division and f ...

. In 1975 and 1976 he was an all-star and won the

Grey Cup The Grey Cup () is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners ...

with Ottawa. His football career would be cut short due to injuries.

Wrestling career

After leaving football, Cameron developed an interest in bodybuilding and became Mr. Minnesota and Northern States Bodybuilding champion. After meeting Eddie Sharkey he briefly appeared for

Verne Gagne the Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestling, Minnesota Golden Gophers Laverne Clarence "Verne" Gagne ( ; February 26, 1926 – April 27, 2015) was an American amateur wrestling, amateur and professional wrestling, professional wrestler, Amer ...

and the

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 ...

. Later he trained with

Stu Hart Stewart Edward Hart (May 3, 1915 – October 16, 2003) was a Canadian sport wrestling, amateur and professional wrestling, professional wrestler, wrestling Booker (professional wrestling), booker, professional wrestling promotion, promoter, and ...

in Calgary alongside

Brian Pillman Brian William Pillman (May 22, 1962 – October 5, 1997) was an American professional wrestler and professional football player best known for his appearances in Stampede Wrestling in the 1980s and World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme ...

. Cameron made his Stampede Wrestling debut in 1985 billed as "Lethal" Larry Cameron, a strongman with a bad attitude. He won his first championship in September 1987, when he won Pro Wrestling America's Heavyweight Championship, defeating Ricky Rice. In 1988, he worked a few shows for the

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 ...

and the

. In April 1989, he defeated

Davey Boy Smith David Smith (27 November 1962 – 18 May 2002) was an English professional wrestler best known for his appearances in the United States with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring names Davey Boy Smith and The British Bulldog. Smith ...

to win the Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship. He returned to the AWA in 1990, after Stampede shut down the year prior. He also wrestled for

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 ...

. In 1990 he also worked for

World Championship Wrestling World Championship Wrestling (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of National W ...

where he was managed by Teddy Long and tag-teamed with Butch Reed in a feud with

Ric Flair Richard Morgan Fliehr (born February 25, 1949), known professionally as Ric Flair, is an American retired professional wrestler. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Flair's career spanned 50 years. He is ...

and

Arn Anderson Martin Anthony Lunde (born September 20, 1958), better known by his ring name Arn Anderson, is an American professional wrestling Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Agent, road agent, author, and retired professional wrestler. Although he ...

. After a tryout with the World Wrestling Federation, he toured

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

where he met

Otto Wanz Otto Wanz (; 13 June 1943 – 14 September 2017) was an Austrian professional wrestler and boxer. He made his professional wrestling debut in 1968. He is a one time American Wrestling Association champion and former operator of the Catch ...

. Wanz hired Cameron to appear in his promotion,

Catch Wrestling Association The Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) was a professional wrestling organization based in Austria and Germany that was founded as the Internationalen Berufsringer Verbandes (IBV) in 1973. Since the late 1980s it has been known as the CWA in honour ...

, in September 1991. He won the CWA World Tag Team Championship with his partner Mad Bull Buster in July 1992. The two held the titles for 53 weeks before losing them to Dave Taylor and Mile Zrno. In April 1993, he wrestled one show in the United States for an NWA territory in Minnesota. That October, he and Mad Bull Buster regained the CWA Tag Team titles.

Death

On December 13, 1993, during a match with Tony St. Clair in

Bremen Bremen (Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (, ), is the capital of the States of Germany, German state of the Bremen (state), Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (), a two-city-state consisting of the c ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, Cameron suffered a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

and died, aged 41 years.

Championships and accomplishments

** CWA World Tag Team Championship ( 2 times) with Mad Bull Buster *International Wrestling Association **IWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * Pro Wrestling America ** PWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time) *

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

**PWI ranked him #103 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

in 1991 **PWI ranked him #327 of the Top 500 Singles Wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003 * Stampede Wrestling ** Stampede North American Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ** Stampede Wrestling Hall of Fame (Class of 1995)

References

External links