Daniel Stewart McLeod (14 June 1861 – 20 June 1958) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

catch wrestler of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, who held the

American Heavyweight Championship The American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was the first heavyweight professional wrestling championship in the United States. The title existed from 1881 through approximately 1922. Title history See also *Professional wrestling in the ...

twice. He worked as a

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

Nanaimo Nanaimo ( ) is a city on the east coast of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. As of the Canada 2021 Census, 2021 census, it had a population of 99,863, and it is known as "The Harbour City." The city was previously known as the "H ...

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and wrestled his first match in 1889, winning the Pacific Coast heavyweight championship that same year. On 26 October 1897, McLeod defeated

Martin Burns Martin Burns (February 15, 1861 – January 8, 1937), nicknamed Farmer Burns, was an American catch wrestler, wrestling coach, and teacher. Born in Cedar County, Iowa, he started wrestling as a teenager and made money traveling around the Midw ...

to win the

, which he would retain for four years. The most notable incident during his reign as champion came far away from the media spotlight when on 18 June 1899, McLeod met and defeated a young

Frank Gotch Frank Alvin Gotch (April 27, 1877 – December 17, 1917) was an American professional wrestler. Gotch was the first American professional wrestler to win the world heavyweight free-style championship, and he is credited for popularizing professi ...

in a hard-fought impromptu match on a cinder track. It was Gotch's very first professional match and he later recounted that McLeod had hustled all involved by pretending to be a simple furniture dealer from a neighboring town, but was sufficiently impressed by Gotch's talent to leave him a

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revealing his true identity. Gotch would go on to defeat McLeod on multiple occasions after much training under Martin "Farmer" Burns. McLeod occasionally used the "catch name" alias George Little. McLeod's reign as champion came to an end on 7 November 1901, when he was defeated by Tom Jenkins. Amid a series of rematches between the two men, McLeod recaptured the title on Christmas Day 1902 but lost it to Jenkins the following April at Broadway Arsenal. After retirement, McLeod worked as a wrestling instructor at the

Los Angeles Athletic Club Los Angeles Athletic Club (LAAC) is a privately owned athletic club and social club in Los Angeles, California, United States. Established in 1880, the club is today best known for its John R. Wooden Award presented to the outstanding men's and ...

Championships and accomplishments

Catch wrestling Catch wrestling (originally catch-as-catch-can) is a classical hybrid grappling style and combat sport. It was developed by J. G. Chambers in Britain . It was popularised by wrestlers of travelling funfairs who developed their own submission h ...

World Catch-as-Catch-Can Championship The World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship was the first recognized professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created in 1905 to identify the best catch as catch can wrestler in the world. The subsequent legacy of the championshi ...

(1 time) ** American Catch-as-Catch-can Championship (1 time) *

Professional Wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

(2 times)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McLeod, Dan 1861 births 1958 deaths 19th-century professional wrestlers 20th-century professional wrestlers British catch wrestlers People associated with physical culture Scottish male professional wrestlers Scottish expatriate sportspeople in the United States Scottish expatriates in Canada Scottish miners