Posted on by bdamage1
Brian Damage
Grappling with Tragedy is a series of articles that deal with unfortunate, tragic incidents that have occurred throughout the history of professional wrestling. It is unlike the ‘Wrestling with Sin’ series that deals more with the seedier side of wrestling like arrests, murders and suicides. Grappling looks more at particular tragic incidents that have in some instances altered pro wrestling in some way.
Dennis Clary
He was born Vincent Lizdenis in Los Angeles, California and before embarking on a professional wrestling career, was a weightlifting instructor. He was a veteran of World War II and after receiving an honorable discharge began training as a pro wrestler. Lizdenis took the ring name of ‘Dennis Clary’ and wrestled all over the west coast including California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
On January 27, 1955 in Tucson, Arizona…Clary was booked in a match against wrestler Ali Bey. Less than two minutes into the match, Clary collapsed in the ring and Bey quickly covered Clary for the victory. Dennis Clary was then rushed to a nearby hospital, where he ultimately died three days later. The autopsy revealed that Clary died from an undiagnosed brain tumor.
Clary was recently cleared medically by a number of doctors in El Paso, Phoenix and Tucson and was okayed to wrestle. Dennis Clary was just 31 years old at the time of his death.