Roy Heffernan
| Roy Heffernan | |
|---|---|
Heffernan (on the right) with Berry (center) and Costello (on the left) as the Fabulous Kangaroos
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| Birth name | Lawrence Roy Heffernan |
| Born | 12 July 1925 Lithgow, New South Wales, Australia |
| Died | 24 September 1992 (aged 67) Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Roy Heffernan |
| Billed height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) |
| Billed weight | 212 lb (96 kg) - 240 lb (110 kg) |
| Billed from | Australia |
| Trained by | Laurence Heffernan (father) |
| Debut | 1944 |
| Retired | 1970s |
Laurence Roy Heffernan (12 July 1925 – 24 September 1992) was an Australian professional wrestler. Roy Heffernan toured all over the world, but is most famous for being one half of the original version of the tag team the Fabulous Kangaroos (with Al Costello). The Kangaroos used an "Ultra Australian" gimmick complete with Boomerangs, bush hats and "Waltzing Matilda" as their entrance music. The first incarnation of the Kangaroos is the most famous of all the Kangaroo versions and is often credited with popularizing tag team wrestling in the late 1950s and 1960s. Costello and Heffernan are also regarded as one of the top tag teams to ever compete in professional wrestling.
When the Kangaroos broke up, Heffernan left America to return to his home of Australia. In Australia, Heffernan was involved with Australia's version of World Championship Wrestling under booker Jim Barnett where he worked as a face (good guy), the polar opposite of his time spent as a Fabulous Kangaroo. Both Heffernan and Costello died before the team was honored by being the first tag team inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2003. The induction of the Fabulous Kangaroos started a tradition of inducting a new team every year.
Roy Heffernan was a native Australian, born in Lithgow NSW, and was an avid weightlifter and bodybuilder in his teens. He was trained by his father, who was also a bodybuilder, and won the Mr. Australia title before making his wrestling debut at the age of twenty. Heffernan did not have an easy time moving up the ranks in Australian pro wrestling, as the belief at the time was that a wrestler really had to go overseas to North America and learn to be a pro before the bookers would even consider moving them up the rankings of the promotion. After working on the lower cards in Australia, Heffernan left his home country in 1953 to come to America in the hopes of attaining more success there.
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