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Biography:
Herb Parks was an outstanding amateur and professional wrestler who drowned in Lake Nipissing while duck hunting at the age of 46. A North Bay native, he showed early athletic ability and was an excellent football player, gymnast and swimmer in high school, but wrestling was his sport. He learned how to handle himelf in logging camps and his career as an amateur took him many places. He won the British Columbia Light Heavy title in 1930 and the Pacific Northwest crown in 1932. He turned pro in September of 1932, having never lost a match in amateur ranks. As a pro he toured Hawaii and the US west coast for two years and spent the next five on a circuit which covered Canada, the USA and Mexico. He toured Europe, grappling in Africa, India, Belgium, France and Germany and put on a command performance for the Royal family in Wembley Stadium in 1939 -defeating the Heavyweight Champion of India. He held the United States Pacific Coast title from 1940 to 1946 and the State of Texas and the Southwest crown from 1942 to 1946. He wrestled here in North Bay on many occasions at the King Street arena under the guidance of Larry Kasaboski. For nine years from 1944 Herb was general manager and athletic director for a boy’s ranch at Amarillo, Texas where he worked with as many as 240 young men.
Inductee No.
13
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| Last Revised:
11/12/2011 |
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