Dave McKigney

The Bearman

Dave McKigney (right) and Terrible Ted. Autographed by "Gene DuBois", a ring name of McKigney's.
Birth name	Dave McKigney
Born	June 9, 1932 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Died	July 4, 1988 (aged 56) Lewisporte, Newfoundland
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	The Bearman The Canadian Wildman Jean Dubois Gene Dubois Pierre Dubois Dave Dubois The Beast
Billed height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Billed weight	229 lb (104 kg)
Trained by	Red Garner
Debut	early 1950's

Dave McKigney (June 9, 1932 – July 4, 1988) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, The Bearman. He is best known for wrestling bears and training Terrible Ted. His well known appearances in Canada with Stampede Wrestling and Maple Leaf Wrestling and also with the World Wide Wrestling Federation in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Born in Toronto. At age 17, he began wrestling at amateur wrestling level in the Toronto area. McKigney began training in the early 1950's as he was trained by Red Garner in Southern Ontario.

Started wrestling in Toronto for Maple Leaf Wrestling as the "Flying Frenchman' Jacques Dubois. He would start training Terrible Ted, an American black bear, stood 7"0 and weighed 600 lbs. Ted was declawed and detoothed, and travelled with a carnival in his early years, When the carnival went bankrupt in the early 1950s, McKigney adopted and trained him. On Boxing Day in 1958, before 8,250 fans, "Terrible" Ted defeated his mentor McKigney at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto. He wrestled three more matches for Maple Leaf Wrestling to start 1959, then headed to Stampede Wrestling in Calgary, working Stampede Wrestling's territory across Alberta and Saskatchewan. He also had a couple of matches for Tri-State Sports in Idaho.

With Terrible Ted, McKigney eventually grew out his hair long and had a scruffy beard and wrestled under the Bearman and Wildman gimmicks.

McKigney was a big name in Canada mainly at Maple Leaf Wrestling in Toronto as the Canadian Wildman. He went to Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling in Calgary in 1959 and used his name as Gene Dubois, Pierre Dubois and Dave Dubois. Lots of times he teamed with The Wolfman.

On July 13, 1966, McKigney offered $3,000 to anyone who could pin Ted. The challenge was accepted and met by John Szigeti (a 36-year-old welder who wanted the money for truck repairs), who pinned Ted "for maybe 15 seconds" before McKigney pried him free. McKigney and promoter Howard Darvin refused to pay the prize, so Szigeti sued them in May 1968.