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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.
Sir Dudley Clements
Steve Beresford was the son of U.K. promoter Ted Beresford. He began his wrestling career in 1968 under the gimmick name of Steve Clements and was a part of a tag team called The Yorkshire Terriers. Clements then traveled to Mexico where he won the World Welterweight title. He later returned to England to continue his singles career. His father started to become concerned that his young son was going to end up in jail due to his rebellious attitude, so he placed a call to his friend in the states…Jerry Jarrett.
Jarrett agreed to book Clements in the Tennessee territory and look out for him. Due to his smaller stature…he was used primarily as a manager and was renamed ‘Sir Dudley Clements.’ He portrayed an English aristocrat complete with a monocle, a derby hat and umbrella (which he would often use as a weapon). Sir Clements managed the likes of the Heavenly Bodies (Al and Don Greene) Al Costello, Lorenzo Parente, Charlie Fulton, David Novak and Don Kent.
Sir Dudley Clements would eventually branch out to other territories like Georgia where he became co manager along with Gary Hart to Abdullah the Butcher among other “foreign” talents. Clements would manage Brute Bernard in Toronto, Detroit and Ohio area. It was with Bernard that Clements would meet his untimely end. On April 20, 1976, while travelling from Toronto to Detroit, Bernard (who was driving) accidentally drove off the road and crashed into a cement divider.
The crash put Brute Bernard in critical condition with a broken arm, several fractured ribs and a concussion. He would survive the crash. The injuries to Sir Dudley Clements were much more severe and sadly died as a result of that accident. Clements was scheduled just three days later to face an up and coming wrestler named Randy Poffo aka the future ‘Macho Man’ Randy Savage. Steven Beresford (Sir Dudley Clements) was just 28 years old at the time of his death.