Rodney Bobick, alias The Bowlus Bear (born September 23, 1951 and died June 5, 1977), was a heavyweight

Heavyweight

Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...

 professional boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

 from Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

.

Personal life

The younger brother of heavyweight contender Duane Bobick

Duane Bobick

Duane Bobick was a boxer from the United States, who became world amateur heavyweight champion in 1971, and also won the gold medal at the 1971 Pan American Games...

, Rodney hailed from tiny Bowlus

Bowlus, Minnesota

Bowlus is a city in Morrison County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 290 at the 2010 census.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all of it land....

, Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

. Rodney never achieved the success or recognition that Duane did, and he died in a single-car crash when he was only 25 years old.

Professional career

Rodney Bobick made his professional debut in March 1972, knocking out Mike Shannon

Mike Shannon

Thomas Michael Shannon is an American-born former Major League Baseball player and current radio sportscaster.Shannon is a radio broadcaster for the St. Louis Cardinals. He was raised in St. Louis, Missouri and played with the Cardinals during some of the team's most successful years...

 in two rounds. Bobick won his first ten professional fights and 32 of his first 35 fights. By the mid-'70s Bobick found himself fighting against such notable competition as Scott LeDoux

Scott LeDoux

Alan Scott LeDoux, "The Fighting Frenchman," was a politician, professional heavyweight boxer, professional wrestler and referee.-Boxing:...

, Larry Holmes

Larry Holmes

Larry Holmes is a former professional boxer. He grew up in Easton, Pennsylvania, which gave birth to his boxing nickname, The Easton Assassin....

, and Mike Schutte. At the time of his death in June 1977 Bobick had compiled a professional record of 37 wins (18 by knockout

Knockout

A knockout is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, Karate and others sports involving striking...

) and 7 losses. He had fought all over the US and in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

.