Happy Humphrey
Encyclopedia
This article is about the wrestler. For other persons named William Cobb, see William Cobb (disambiguation)
William J. Cobb (July 16, 1926 - March 14, 1989), best known by his ring and screen names of Happy Humphrey and "Squasher" Humphrey, was one of the heaviest professional wrestlers of all time. His most active period was in the 1950s and 1960s when he billed himself as "the world's largest wrestler". Humphrey averaged 750 lb (340.2 kg) during his career. Several times, he weighed in at over 800 lb (362.9 kg), and on one occasion he weighed over 1000 lb (453.6 kg)
for 28 minutes. For about eight years, Humphrey wrestled a number of matches, some of them televised, often against Haystacks Calhoun who regularly weighed over 600 lb (272.2 kg) himself. Humphrey's most notable match was a sold-out main event at Madison Square Garden
, promoted by Vince McMahon Sr., against Calhoun.
Humphrey's promoters had a 1951 Pontiac
heavily modified to carry the wrestler around: seats were removed and extra shocks were installed to support Humphrey's enormous weight (and also as a gimmick). In addition, he was usually weighed before matches on meat scales at rendering facilities.
In 1960, Humphrey met future multiple NWA World Campion
Harley Race
, who was only 17 at the time. Race, who was just beginning his own career, was hired as Humphrey's driver and he also wrestled Humphrey on multiple occasions. Race earned $5 per day, plus room and board, for driving Humphrey, and $25 for each match he wrestled with Humphrey. According to Race, Humphrey was so large that normal showers could not accommodate him. As a result, Humphrey was obliged to lie naked on the ground while Race would apply liquid soap to his body, scrub him with a mop and then rinse him off with a garden hose. Race also stated that while Humphrey was a huge man who taught Race how to take bumps properly, he was also a very kind person and one of the few wrestlers of his era who took the time to sign an autograph for everyone and to socialize with fans.
due to his great size. People stared at him on the street, and he was often refused service at restaurants. In one incident in Alabama
, he became stuck in a telephone booth
and eight police officers were required to extract him. In another incident (this time in New Orleans), Humphrey attended a movie and became stuck in the theater seat. Welders had to cut the seats around him in order to get him out. Towards the end of his regular career, he recognized his problem and had an operation to remove 100 lb (45.4 kg) of fat from his body; however, he gained the weight back soon afterwards.
due to a heart condition. After retiring, his weight ballooned to over 900 lb (408.2 kg). At this weight he would tire after about 10 steps, and have to sit down (in two chairs). Humphrey attempted to control his eating habits (which sometimes included eating up to 15 whole chickens in one sitting), but after consulting with doctors, he decided to volunteer for obesity research and checked himself into the Medical College of Georgia
's Clinical Investigation Unit in Augusta
. Upon entering the clinic, he weighed 802 lb (363.8 kg).
For two years, Humphrey followed a strict doctor-controlled diet regimen. He was not allowed to exercise (in order to avoid fluid loss via sweat
) and was confined to the air-conditioned clinic itself. The regimen included strictly-measured amounts of food and water, with about 1,000 calories total per day and a rotation in 56-day cycles. The first cycle consisted of high-protein
foods, including eggs
, skim milk, ground beef
, margarine
with toast, tomato soup, ketchup, green peas, and applesauce. The next cycle was high-carbohydrate, including toast, corn
, lima beans, shortbread, peach
es, applesauce, pineapple, puffed rice
, skim milk, grape juice, orange juice, and small amounts of sugar
. The third cycle was a high-fat diet: salt-free mayonnaise
and butter, tomatoes, eggs, whipped cream, and cream cheese.
According to the two-year study headed up by Unit Director Dr. Wayne Greenberg, Humphrey's weight loss on each of the three diets was approximately the same; however the nature of the actual body matter lost during each differed significantly. The vast majority of the weight lost on the high-protein diet was body fat and Humphrey's hunger was satisfied for longer periods between meals as well. On the high-fat regimen, about two-thirds of the weight lost was body fat with the rest being water, with an undesirable side effect of high blood cholesterol
. On the carbohydrate
-based diet, half of the weight lost consisted of body fat and the other half was water and muscle tissue. Greenberg noted at the end of the study that dieters who only use a scale as a means of determining weight loss can't tell how much of what they are losing is actually body fat as opposed to water and muscle tissue.
In 1975, Humphrey appeared in the film Moonrunners
as "Tiny the Syndicate Man". The massively popular TV show The Dukes of Hazzard
was based on this film.
In later years, Humphrey regained much of his excess weight, and died of a heart attack on March 14, 1989. He weighed over 600 lb (272.2 kg).
William Cobb (disambiguation)
William Cobb was a designer and engineer of rollercoasters.William Cobb may also refer to:* William J. Cobb, best known as Happy Humphrey, the heaviest professional wrestler of all time* William T. Cobb, Governor of Maine, 1905–1909...
William J. Cobb (July 16, 1926 - March 14, 1989), best known by his ring and screen names of Happy Humphrey and "Squasher" Humphrey, was one of the heaviest professional wrestlers of all time. His most active period was in the 1950s and 1960s when he billed himself as "the world's largest wrestler". Humphrey averaged 750 lb (340.2 kg) during his career. Several times, he weighed in at over 800 lb (362.9 kg), and on one occasion he weighed over 1000 lb (453.6 kg)
Wrestling career
Humphrey, who at the time was working on a farm where he was known for his uncommon strength, began his wrestling career in 1953 by wrestling a bearBear
Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...
for 28 minutes. For about eight years, Humphrey wrestled a number of matches, some of them televised, often against Haystacks Calhoun who regularly weighed over 600 lb (272.2 kg) himself. Humphrey's most notable match was a sold-out main event at Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
, promoted by Vince McMahon Sr., against Calhoun.
Humphrey's promoters had a 1951 Pontiac
Pontiac
Pontiac was an automobile brand that was established in 1926 as a companion make for General Motors' Oakland. Quickly overtaking its parent in popularity, it supplanted the Oakland brand entirely by 1933 and, for most of its life, became a companion make for Chevrolet. Pontiac was sold in the...
heavily modified to carry the wrestler around: seats were removed and extra shocks were installed to support Humphrey's enormous weight (and also as a gimmick). In addition, he was usually weighed before matches on meat scales at rendering facilities.
In 1960, Humphrey met future multiple NWA World Campion
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
The National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the National Wrestling Alliance. Its lineage has been traced from the first World Heavyweight Championship, which traces its lineage to Georg Hackenschmidt's 1905 title and...
Harley Race
Harley Race
Harley Leland Race is a retired American professional wrestler and current promoter and trainer. During his career as a wrestler, he held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship 7 times...
, who was only 17 at the time. Race, who was just beginning his own career, was hired as Humphrey's driver and he also wrestled Humphrey on multiple occasions. Race earned $5 per day, plus room and board, for driving Humphrey, and $25 for each match he wrestled with Humphrey. According to Race, Humphrey was so large that normal showers could not accommodate him. As a result, Humphrey was obliged to lie naked on the ground while Race would apply liquid soap to his body, scrub him with a mop and then rinse him off with a garden hose. Race also stated that while Humphrey was a huge man who taught Race how to take bumps properly, he was also a very kind person and one of the few wrestlers of his era who took the time to sign an autograph for everyone and to socialize with fans.
Outside wrestling
Humphrey had difficulty fitting in with regular societySociety
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
due to his great size. People stared at him on the street, and he was often refused service at restaurants. In one incident in Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
, he became stuck in a telephone booth
Telephone booth
A telephone booth, telephone kiosk, telephone call box or telephone box is a small structure furnished with a payphone and designed for a telephone user's convenience. In the USA, Canada and Australia, "telephone booth" is used, while in the UK and the rest of the Commonwealth it is a "telephone...
and eight police officers were required to extract him. In another incident (this time in New Orleans), Humphrey attended a movie and became stuck in the theater seat. Welders had to cut the seats around him in order to get him out. Towards the end of his regular career, he recognized his problem and had an operation to remove 100 lb (45.4 kg) of fat from his body; however, he gained the weight back soon afterwards.
Doctor-regulated lifestyle
In 1962, Humphrey was forced into early retirementRetirement
Retirement is the point where a person stops employment completely. A person may also semi-retire by reducing work hours.Many people choose to retire when they are eligible for private or public pension benefits, although some are forced to retire when physical conditions don't allow the person to...
due to a heart condition. After retiring, his weight ballooned to over 900 lb (408.2 kg). At this weight he would tire after about 10 steps, and have to sit down (in two chairs). Humphrey attempted to control his eating habits (which sometimes included eating up to 15 whole chickens in one sitting), but after consulting with doctors, he decided to volunteer for obesity research and checked himself into the Medical College of Georgia
Medical College of Georgia
Georgia Health Sciences University formerly known as, and now home of the, Medical College of Georgia , is a public academic health center, with its main campus located in the Medical District of Augusta, Georgia. It is the smallest of four research universities in the University System of Georgia...
's Clinical Investigation Unit in Augusta
Augusta, Georgia
Augusta is a consolidated city in the U.S. state of Georgia, located along the Savannah River. As of the 2010 census, the Augusta–Richmond County population was 195,844 not counting the unconsolidated cities of Hephzibah and Blythe.Augusta is the principal city of the Augusta-Richmond County...
. Upon entering the clinic, he weighed 802 lb (363.8 kg).
For two years, Humphrey followed a strict doctor-controlled diet regimen. He was not allowed to exercise (in order to avoid fluid loss via sweat
SWEAT
SWEAT is an OLN/TSN show hosted by Julie Zwillich that aired in 2003-2004.Each of the 13 half-hour episodes of SWEAT features a different outdoor sport: kayaking, mountain biking, ice hockey, beach volleyball, soccer, windsurfing, rowing, Ultimate, triathlon, wakeboarding, snowboarding, telemark...
) and was confined to the air-conditioned clinic itself. The regimen included strictly-measured amounts of food and water, with about 1,000 calories total per day and a rotation in 56-day cycles. The first cycle consisted of high-protein
Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into a globular or fibrous form, facilitating a biological function. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of...
foods, including eggs
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
, skim milk, ground beef
Ground beef
Beef mince, ground beef, hamburger meat , hamburg or minced meat is a minced meat food, made of beef finely chopped by a mincer. It is used in many recipes including hamburgers and cottage pie...
, margarine
Margarine
Margarine , as a generic term, can indicate any of a wide range of butter substitutes, typically composed of vegetable oils. In many parts of the world, the market share of margarine and spreads has overtaken that of butter...
with toast, tomato soup, ketchup, green peas, and applesauce. The next cycle was high-carbohydrate, including toast, corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, lima beans, shortbread, peach
Peach
The peach tree is a deciduous tree growing to tall and 6 in. in diameter, belonging to the subfamily Prunoideae of the family Rosaceae. It bears an edible juicy fruit called a peach...
es, applesauce, pineapple, puffed rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, skim milk, grape juice, orange juice, and small amounts of sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
. The third cycle was a high-fat diet: salt-free mayonnaise
Mayonnaise
Mayonnaise, , often abbreviated as mayo, is a sauce. It is a stable emulsion of oil, egg yolk and either vinegar or lemon juice, with many options for embellishment with other herbs and spices. Lecithin in the egg yolk is the emulsifier. Mayonnaise varies in color but is often white, cream, or pale...
and butter, tomatoes, eggs, whipped cream, and cream cheese.
Massive weight loss/obesity study
In the spring of 1965, Humphrey left the clinic where he had lived the previous two years. He weighed a comparatively healthy 232 lb (105.2 kg), a total loss of 570 lb (258.5 kg) since he was admitted. Humphrey won a place in the Guinness Book of World Records as "champion slimmer" for this weight loss.According to the two-year study headed up by Unit Director Dr. Wayne Greenberg, Humphrey's weight loss on each of the three diets was approximately the same; however the nature of the actual body matter lost during each differed significantly. The vast majority of the weight lost on the high-protein diet was body fat and Humphrey's hunger was satisfied for longer periods between meals as well. On the high-fat regimen, about two-thirds of the weight lost was body fat with the rest being water, with an undesirable side effect of high blood cholesterol
Cholesterol
Cholesterol is a complex isoprenoid. Specifically, it is a waxy steroid of fat that is produced in the liver or intestines. It is used to produce hormones and cell membranes and is transported in the blood plasma of all mammals. It is an essential structural component of mammalian cell membranes...
. On the carbohydrate
Carbohydrate
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula ; that is, consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen:oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 . However, there are exceptions to this. One common example would be deoxyribose, a component of DNA, which has the empirical...
-based diet, half of the weight lost consisted of body fat and the other half was water and muscle tissue. Greenberg noted at the end of the study that dieters who only use a scale as a means of determining weight loss can't tell how much of what they are losing is actually body fat as opposed to water and muscle tissue.
Life after the study
After leaving the clinic, Humphrey got a job at an Augusta, Georgia shoe repair shop and never returned to the ring. He stated that he missed the sport and mixing it up with other wrestlers but was looking forward to a new life as a normal-sized individual.In 1975, Humphrey appeared in the film Moonrunners
Moonrunners
Moonrunners is a 1975 film starring James Mitchum, and the precursor to The Dukes of Hazzard television series. Mitchum had co-starred with his famous father, Robert Mitchum, in the similar drive-in favorite Thunder Road eighteen years earlier, which also focused upon moonshine-running bootleggers...
as "Tiny the Syndicate Man". The massively popular TV show The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard
The Dukes of Hazzard is an American television series that aired on the CBS television network from 1979 to 1985.The series was inspired by the 1975 film Moonrunners, which was also created by Gy Waldron and had many identical or similar character names and concepts.- Overview :The Dukes of Hazzard...
was based on this film.
In later years, Humphrey regained much of his excess weight, and died of a heart attack on March 14, 1989. He weighed over 600 lb (272.2 kg).