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.
Fred Prosser
Freddie Prosser was a young, rawboned individual who stood 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed around 260 pounds. His physical stature along with his looks, made him an opposing figure to look at. Despite the intimidation aura Prosser possessed, many of his family, friends and peers said that Posser was one of the nicest men outside of the squared circle. A guy that was willing to help anyone out if needed.
Prosser got his start in professional wrestling at a later age…as we was already 30 by the time he had his debut match in 1968. He wrestled as both a heel and a babyface and went under several aliases such as The Butcher, Freddie Sweetan and Killer Cox. People who wrestled against Prosser said he had an uncanny amount of natural strength. Many times, he didn’t even realize just how strong he was inside a ring.
The majority of Prosser’s career was working as a tag team specialist. He was a part of several teams in Canada and for the National Wrestling Alliance in the United States. Prosser would usually would work in the U.S. during the winter months and then return and wrestle for his native Canada during the summer due to the brutal winters up north. Freddie Prosser worked for such promotions as Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling, Grand Prix Wrestling run by Emile Dupree and several territories in the States.
Prosser faced personal tragedy in early July of 1974. His father committed suicide by placing a shotgun under his chin and using a branch to pull the trigger. The news of his father’s death put Prosser in a deep depression. To snap himself out of his sadness, Prosser invited several of his friends to his cabin a few weeks later. The party was to celebrate Prosser’s 36th birthday. Friends said that Prosser was eating, drinking, joking and shared several laughs with guests.
After the party ended and everyone went home…Prosser retired to his bed to get some sleep. While Prosser was asleep, a fire broke out in his cabin. The fire spread quickly and when it was finally extinguished…Prosser’s body was discovered by the front door. An autopsy revealed that he had died from smoke inhalation. While his cause of death was no mystery…the cause of the fire was. Many speculated that Prosser had lit up a cigar before bed and fell asleep with it still lit. Others reported that Prosser’s charcoal grill located behind his cabin was still hot and caught leaves on fire which spread to the cabin.
Either way, it was a tragic loss of life to a budding star in Canada and beyond. Fred Prosser was 36 years old at the time of his death.