Shirley Crabtree
Encyclopedia
Shirley Crabtree, Jr, better known as Big Daddy (14 November 1930 – 2 December 1997) was a British
professional wrestler
famous for his record-breaking 64 inch chest. Known for wearing his various Big Daddy leotard
s, Crabtree's original one was emblazoned with just a large "D" and was fashioned by his wife Eunice from their chintz
sofa.
Shirley Crabtree's brother Brian was a wrestling referee and his nephew Eorl Crabtree
is an England international rugby league footballer.
player for league club Bradford Northern
who never made an appearance for the first teams due to his fiery temper often forcing him off the pitch early, would have stints as a coal miner and with the British Army
's Coldstream Guards
before following in his father, Shirley Crabtree, Sr.'s footsteps and becoming a professional wrestler in 1952.
Crabtree, Jr. became a big hit in the late 1950s and early 1960s with heel
gimmicks, calling himself The Blonde Adonis, Mr. Universe and The Battling Guardsman. Crabtree won two titles in the British Wrestling Federation before he quit out of frustration and retired for roughly 15 years.
With the rising popularity of the spectacle on television (World of Sport
on ITV
), Shirley's brother, Max, one of the most powerful wrestling promoters in British history, brought Shirley back to wrestling with Joint Promotions under the persona he would best be remembered for.
Based originally on the character of the same name played by actor Burl Ives
in the 1958 screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams
' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
, Big Daddy was first given life by Crabtree in the later 1970s, initially playing the bad guy. On 24 April 1976, he teamed up with Giant Haystacks, vs Steve Veidor and Tibor Szakacs (the good guys), for a tag team bout, but latterly played the good guy
. A firm fan favorite, Big Daddy came to the ring in his signature Union Flag
jacket and top hat to a theme tune in the form of "We Shall Not Be Moved" by The Seekers
, in 1980 Shirley Crabtree recorded his own version on EMI Records backed by rock guitarist Legendary Lonnie.
Big Daddy feuded
with Mick McManus, Steve Veidor
and Giant Haystacks among others and would also be noted as the first man to remove the mask from Kendo Nagasaki
during a televised match.
As Big Daddy, Crabtree would often team with many rising stars within the country including Sammy Lee
, Dynamite Kid
, Davey Boy Smith
, and Steven Regal
. Crabtree was also instrumental in starting the pro wrestling career of former Judo great Christopher Adams in 1978.
Though Big Daddy's weight and age precluded many more novel wrestling moves; making him a frequent user of many generic wrestling throws, body slams, etc. he would be met by cheers
whenever he wrestled. Big Daddy's more famous attacks would involve his large abdomen to great effect often using "Belly-Butts" (thrusting his pelvis forward to slam his belly into an oncoming opponent) before finishing off opponents with his "belly-splash" in which he jumped vertically down onto the body of a fallen opponent. These more memorable moves in Daddy's arsenal were often met with chants of "Easy, Easy" and "Who's the Daddy" from the crowd.
In 1982 ITV planned to build a children's TV programme around Big Daddy as a replacement for the popular Tiswas
. A pilot for "Big Daddy's Saturday Show" was shot and a series announced but Crabtree pulled out at the last moment, leaving the hastily-renamed "The Saturday Show
" presented by Isla St Clair
and Tommy Boyd
.
In August 1987, Big Daddy bowed out of the professional wrestling spotlight after a turn of events during the final moments of the match against Mal "King Kong" Kirk
. After Big Daddy had delivered his belly-splash, rather than selling the impact of the finishing move, Kirk turned an un healthy colour and was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival. Despite the fact that the inquest into Kirk's death found that he had a serious heart condition and cleared Crabtree of any responsibility, Crabtree was devastated and nevertheless blamed himself for Kirk's death.
He continued to make sporadic appearances into the early 90s, but removed the belly-splash and other moves from his repertoire and generally only appeared in tag-team matches where his sole involvement would be standing firm while opponents attempted to body-charge him and simply bounced off. Crabtree eventually retired from wrestling altogether to spend the remainder of his days in his hometown of Halifax.
Then Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher
was said to be a fan of Big Daddy.
Crabtree died of a stroke
in December 1997 in Halifax General Hospital. He was survived by his second wife of 31 years, Eunice and six children.
British people
The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...
professional wrestler
Professional wrestling
Professional wrestling is a mode of spectacle, combining athletics and theatrical performance.Roland Barthes, "The World of Wrestling", Mythologies, 1957 It takes the form of events, held by touring companies, which mimic a title match combat sport...
famous for his record-breaking 64 inch chest. Known for wearing his various Big Daddy leotard
Leotard
A leotard is a skin-tight one-piece garment that covers the torso but leaves the legs free. It was made famous by the French acrobatic performer Jules Léotard ....
s, Crabtree's original one was emblazoned with just a large "D" and was fashioned by his wife Eunice from their chintz
Chintz
Chintz is glazed calico cloth printed with flowers and other patterns in different colours. Unglazed calico is called "cretonne". The word Calico is derived from the name of the Indian city Calicut to which it had a manufacturing association.-History:Chintz was originally a woodblock printed,...
sofa.
Shirley Crabtree's brother Brian was a wrestling referee and his nephew Eorl Crabtree
Eorl Crabtree
Eorl Crabtree is an English professional rugby league footballer for the Huddersfield Giants of Super League. An England international representative prop forward, he has played his entire career to date at Huddersfield.-Biography:...
is an England international rugby league footballer.
Career
Crabtree, a former Rugby LeagueRugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
player for league club Bradford Northern
Bradford Bulls
Bradford Bulls is a professional rugby league club based in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. They play in the European Super League and are currently joint 10th in the league....
who never made an appearance for the first teams due to his fiery temper often forcing him off the pitch early, would have stints as a coal miner and with the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
's Coldstream Guards
Coldstream Guards
Her Majesty's Coldstream Regiment of Foot Guards, also known officially as the Coldstream Guards , is a regiment of the British Army, part of the Guards Division or Household Division....
before following in his father, Shirley Crabtree, Sr.'s footsteps and becoming a professional wrestler in 1952.
Crabtree, Jr. became a big hit in the late 1950s and early 1960s with heel
Heel (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a heel is a villain character. In non-wrestling jargon, heels are the "bad guys" in professional wrestling; the term heel coming from the term take to you heels, which means to run away which heel champions tend to do to avoid losing their titles.storylines...
gimmicks, calling himself The Blonde Adonis, Mr. Universe and The Battling Guardsman. Crabtree won two titles in the British Wrestling Federation before he quit out of frustration and retired for roughly 15 years.
With the rising popularity of the spectacle on television (World of Sport
World of Sport (UK TV series)
World of Sport was a British television sport anthology programme which ran on ITV between 2 January 1965 to 28 September 1985 in response to competition from BBC's Grandstand...
on ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
), Shirley's brother, Max, one of the most powerful wrestling promoters in British history, brought Shirley back to wrestling with Joint Promotions under the persona he would best be remembered for.
Based originally on the character of the same name played by actor Burl Ives
Burl Ives
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice .....
in the 1958 screen adaptation of Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...
, Big Daddy was first given life by Crabtree in the later 1970s, initially playing the bad guy. On 24 April 1976, he teamed up with Giant Haystacks, vs Steve Veidor and Tibor Szakacs (the good guys), for a tag team bout, but latterly played the good guy
Face (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a babyface or face or in simple words, a fan favorite is a character who is portrayed as a heroic relative to the heel wrestlers, who are analogous to villains...
. A firm fan favorite, Big Daddy came to the ring in his signature Union Flag
Union Flag
The Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
jacket and top hat to a theme tune in the form of "We Shall Not Be Moved" by The Seekers
The Seekers
The Seekers are an Australian folk-influenced pop music group which were originally formed in 1962. They were the first Australian popular music group to achieve major chart and sales success in the United Kingdom and the United States...
, in 1980 Shirley Crabtree recorded his own version on EMI Records backed by rock guitarist Legendary Lonnie.
Big Daddy feuded
Feud (professional wrestling)
A professional wrestling feud is a staged rivalry between multiple wrestlers or alliances of wrestlers. They are integrated into ongoing storylines, particularly in events which are televised...
with Mick McManus, Steve Veidor
Steve Veidor
Steve Veidor, born 10 January 193? as Steve Bell, in Ellesmere Port, Wirral, in Cheshire, England, is a former heavyweight professional wrestler of the 1960s and 1970s, usually billed as The Handsome Heart Throb....
and Giant Haystacks among others and would also be noted as the first man to remove the mask from Kendo Nagasaki
Peter Thornley
Peter Thornley is a British professional wrestler known as Kendo Nagasaki. He was one of the biggest draws of all time in British Wrestling, especially in the mid-1970s and the turn of the 1980s/1990s....
during a televised match.
As Big Daddy, Crabtree would often team with many rising stars within the country including Sammy Lee
Satoru Sayama
is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known as the original Tiger Mask. He's wrestled under his real name as well as the names Sammy Lee, and masked Super Tiger, Tiger King, Tiger Mask and The Mask of Tiger...
, Dynamite Kid
Dynamite Kid
Thomas Wilton Billington , best known by the ring name Dynamite Kid, is a retired British professional wrestler who competed in the World Wrestling Federation, Stampede Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid- to late-1980s...
, Davey Boy Smith
Davey Boy Smith
Davey Boy Smith was a British professional wrestler, better known as "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, who was born in Golborne in North West England, United Kingdom. Smith is known for his appearances with Stampede Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling...
, and Steven Regal
Darren Matthews
Darren Kenneth Matthews , is an English professional wrestler, author and color commentator currently signed to WWE and competing on the SmackDown brand under the ring name William Regal. He is also known for his time in World Championship Wrestling under the ring name Steven Regal...
. Crabtree was also instrumental in starting the pro wrestling career of former Judo great Christopher Adams in 1978.
Though Big Daddy's weight and age precluded many more novel wrestling moves; making him a frequent user of many generic wrestling throws, body slams, etc. he would be met by cheers
Pop (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a pop refers to the reaction of the crowd, often integrated into the show. It is measured by the amount of cheers or derision a wrestler gets during his entrance, interviews, and in-ring performance . There are many kinds of pops...
whenever he wrestled. Big Daddy's more famous attacks would involve his large abdomen to great effect often using "Belly-Butts" (thrusting his pelvis forward to slam his belly into an oncoming opponent) before finishing off opponents with his "belly-splash" in which he jumped vertically down onto the body of a fallen opponent. These more memorable moves in Daddy's arsenal were often met with chants of "Easy, Easy" and "Who's the Daddy" from the crowd.
In 1982 ITV planned to build a children's TV programme around Big Daddy as a replacement for the popular Tiswas
Tiswas
Tiswas was a Saturday morning children's British television series which ran from 5 January 1974 to 3 April 1982 and was produced for the ITV network by ATV Network Limited....
. A pilot for "Big Daddy's Saturday Show" was shot and a series announced but Crabtree pulled out at the last moment, leaving the hastily-renamed "The Saturday Show
The Saturday Show (ITV TV series)
The Saturday Show was Birmingham-based Central Television's flagship Saturday morning kids TV show which replaced their previous success Tiswas. It ran on ITV for two series between 1982 and 1984. It was originally planned that popular wrestler Big Daddy would star and that it would be called "Big...
" presented by Isla St Clair
Isla St Clair
Isla St Clair , is a Scottish singer, actress and former game show co-host.-Early career:Isla St Clair was born in Grangemouth, central Scotland, in 1952. Her family came from North East Scotland and it was here that she spent her early years...
and Tommy Boyd
Tommy Boyd
Timothy Leslie Boyd , better known as Tommy Boyd, is a British radio and television presenter who now lives in Chichester, West Sussex.-Early career:...
.
In August 1987, Big Daddy bowed out of the professional wrestling spotlight after a turn of events during the final moments of the match against Mal "King Kong" Kirk
Malcolm Kirk
Malcolm Kirk was an English professional wrestler who went by the ring name King Kong Kirk.His height was 1.86m and his weight ranged between 140 and 160 kg ....
. After Big Daddy had delivered his belly-splash, rather than selling the impact of the finishing move, Kirk turned an un healthy colour and was rushed to a nearby hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival. Despite the fact that the inquest into Kirk's death found that he had a serious heart condition and cleared Crabtree of any responsibility, Crabtree was devastated and nevertheless blamed himself for Kirk's death.
He continued to make sporadic appearances into the early 90s, but removed the belly-splash and other moves from his repertoire and generally only appeared in tag-team matches where his sole involvement would be standing firm while opponents attempted to body-charge him and simply bounced off. Crabtree eventually retired from wrestling altogether to spend the remainder of his days in his hometown of Halifax.
Then Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
was said to be a fan of Big Daddy.
Crabtree died of a stroke
Stroke
A stroke, previously known medically as a cerebrovascular accident , is the rapidly developing loss of brain function due to disturbance in the blood supply to the brain. This can be due to ischemia caused by blockage , or a hemorrhage...
in December 1997 in Halifax General Hospital. He was survived by his second wife of 31 years, Eunice and six children.
In popular culture
- Big Daddy had his own comic strip in BusterBuster (comic)Buster was a long-running British comic which carried a mixture of humour and adventure strips, although the former increasingly replaced the latter...
during the early 80s drawn by Mike Lacey. - The European version of the multi-format game Legends of Wrestling IILegends of Wrestling IILegends of Wrestling II is the sequel to the professional wrestling video game Legends of Wrestling. It was published by Acclaim Entertainment and released on November 26, 2002 for both the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube. It was then released later for the Xbox on December 5, 2002...
featured Big Daddy as an exclusive extra Legendary Wrestler. - Crabtree's 64 inch chest earned him a place in the Guinness Book of Records.
- When wrestling in England years after Crabtree's death, Colt Cabana occasionally wore a singlet similarly styled after Big Daddy's and imitating many of his trademark mannerisms, calling himself "Colt Daddy".
- A play by Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon, Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks premieres at the Brighton Festival Fringe in East Sussex, England between 26–28 May 2011.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Big Daddy Splashdown (Standing or a running splash)
- Signature moves
- Belly-Butt (Body block)
- Scoop slam
Championships and accomplishments
- British Wrestling Federation
- British Heavyweight ChampionshipBritish Heavyweight ChampionshipThe British Heavyweight Championship is a top British wrestling championship found throughout the country's circuit.Many versions of the British Heavyweight Championship exist in the independent circuit of the United Kingdom at any given time but the scene is usually dominated by one companies...
(1 time) - European Heavyweight ChampionshipEuropean Heavyweight ChampionshipThe European Heavyweight Championship is a top title competed for throughout the European Union's professional wrestling circuit.The title would be defended in many promotions in Europe, and other versions of this one title also appeared in certain promotions...
(2 times)