DeAlva Eyvonnie Sibley (May 25, 1922 – July 20, 1998), better known by her ring name June Byers, was an American women's

professional wrestler 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 or ...

famous in the 1950s and early 1960s. She held the

Women's World Championship The Women's World Championship was the first women's professional wrestling world title. History Cora Livingston defeated Hazel Parker in 1906. Though the contest was originally for the Featherweight Championship, from that point she was billed ...

for ten years and is a member of the

Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame The Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame (PWHF) and Museum is an American professional wrestling hall of fame and museum located in Wichita Falls, Texas currently closed to water leaks. The museum was founded by Tony Vellano in 1999, and was previo ...

. She is overall a three-time women's

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Early life

Born in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

, the

tomboy A tomboy is a term for a girl or a young woman with masculine qualities. It can include wearing androgynous or unfeminine clothing and actively engage in physical sports or other activities and behaviors usually associated with boys or men. W ...

ish Sibley grew up around wrestling. Her uncle, Ottoway Roberts, worked for local wrestling promoter Morris Siegel, and as she got older, she often hung around the wrestlers and asked them to teach her their moves.. WWI Productions. Retrieved on 2001-11-23. On one occasion while DeAlva was playing around in the ring, the women's wrestling promoter

Billy Wolfe William Harrison Wolfe (July 4, 1896 – March 7, 1963) was a professional wrestling promoter who was active from the 1930s to the 1950s. Wolfe was the husband and manager of Mildred Burke and ran a traveling troupe of women wrestlers alongside h ...

happened to see her and recognized her potential. Already divorced once and facing poverty, she accepted Wolfe's offer to be trained as a professional wrestler.

Professional wrestling career

Taking her family nickname of "June" and her ex-husband's last name of "Byers" for her ring name, Sibley made her professional debut in 1944. She spent the first years of her career traveling the country in Wolfe's promotion, sometimes winning preliminary matches but regularly losing to the more established stars such as

Mae Young Johnnie Mae Young (March 12, 1923 – January 14, 2014) was an American professional wrestler. She wrestled throughout the United States and Canada and won multiple titles in the National Wrestling Alliance. Young is considered one of the pione ...

and champion

Mildred Burke Mildred Burke (August 5, 1915 – February 18, 1989) was an American professional wrestler. She is overall a three-time women's world champion under different incarnations and recognitions. Burke's heyday lasted from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950 ...

. Slowly rising in the ranks, she first won gold in 1952 when she and partner Millie Stafford won the Tag Title over Young and

Ella Waldek Elsie Schevchenka (December 2, 1929 – April 17, 2013), better known as Ella Waldek (Mecouch), was an American professional wrestler. She was one of the subjects of the 2005 documentary film '' Lipstick & Dynamite: The First Ladies of Wrestling' ...

. That same year Mildred Burke had a bitter falling-out with husband Wolfe and departed the promotion, leaving the world title vacant. On June 14, 1953, a still relatively unknown Byers won a 13-woman tournament in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

to claim the belt. She quickly became a popular fan favorite champion, even appearing as a contestant on the popular game shows ''

What's My Line? ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

'' and ''

I've Got A Secret ''I've Got a Secret'' is an American panel game show produced by Mark Goodson and Bill Todman for CBS television. Created by comedy writers Allan Sherman and Howard Merrill, it was a derivative of Goodson-Todman's own panel show, ''What's My Line ...

'' on August 16, 1953.June Byers at imdb.com
Retrieved on 2007-11-11. After a year of tense negotiation, Wolfe finally coaxed Burke into meeting Byers in a definitive

two out of three falls match Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or "gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a ...

on August 20, 1954 in

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. Byers won the first fall, and then the match was called after an hour during the second fall. In the book ''The Queen of the Ring'' author Jeff Leen writes that despite battling injuries, Burke was able to hold Byers to a stalemate after dropping the first fall and thus deprive her of the second fall she needed to truly defeat Burke. Despite the inconclusive finish, the Atlanta Athletic Commission eventually awarded the match to Byers. Burke angrily returned to her own promotion, the World Women's Wrestling Association, where she held its title and billed herself as world champion. She maintained later that she had dropped the first fall with the intent to compete stronger in the second, and it is noted that Wolfe used all possible connections to try to get a win for his new star (and daughter-in-law) Byers. Byers, for her part, stressed that "Mildred claims she wasn't defeated, but I pinned her in the first fall. During the second fall, she left the ring and refused to come back. Regardless of what she told people, it was a shoot." Whatever the truth, the match outcome was satisfactory enough for the media to discredit Burke and acknowledge Byers as the legitimate world champion. Jeff Leen's account in ''Queen of the Ring'' contradicts Byer's claims about Burke leaving the ring and refusing to return. Furthermore, Leen details how Billy Wolfe had a great deal to do with putting Byers over as the "winner" and he quotes the ring announcer following the match as saying, "Commissioner stops the bout. Mildred Burke is still officially champion of the world". As the face of women's wrestling for the next decade, Byers's athleticism and technical skills did much to open new markets for women's wrestling and improve its perception in the eyes of the public as being more than mere tawdry spectacle. Complementing her repertoire of scientific moves was her toughness in an age of very tough women, and she was known for working incredibly stiff against newcomers: one such wrestler recalled getting a broken nose and two black eyes from Byers intentionally punching her in the face.Glory Wrestling.
Retrieved on 2007-11-11. Byers wrestled many matches with

Penny Banner Mary Ann Kostecki (August 11, 1934 – May 12, 2008), better known by her ring name Penny Banner, was an American professional wrestler. Best known for her time spent in the American Wrestling Association (AWA), she was also the Commissioner of ...

, and the two had great respect for one another: Byers ranked Banner as among her toughest opponents, while Banner named Byers the greatest of all time.Online World Of Wrestling interview with Penny Banner, 2003
Retrieved 2007-11-11. In 1956, the Baltimore Athletic Commission stripped Byers of the NWA Championship when she announced her plans to retire as champion. A thirteen-woman battle royal was used to determine the new champion. After

The Fabulous Moolah Mary Lillian Ellison (July 22, 1923 – November 2, 2007) was an American professional wrestler better known by her ring name The Fabulous Moolah. She began her career working with promoter Billy Wolfe and his wife, wrestler and trainer Mildr ...

won the championship, Byers came out of retirement to challenge her for the title, but Byers lost the match. On March 31, 2017, Byers was posthumously inducted into the

WWE Hall of Fame The WWE Hall of Fame is a hall of fame which honors professional wrestlers and professional wrestling personalities maintained by WWE. Originally known as the "WWF Hall of Fame", it was created in 1993 when André the Giant was posthumously ind ...

as a part of the Legacy wing.

Personal life

alleges that while traveling with Billy Wolfe's troupe of female wrestlers, Byers often slept with Wolfe (despite his marriage to Burke) in order to get better bookings. Upon Wolfe's death, Byers moved to

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

to work for wrestling promoter, and later TV ring announcer, Sam Menacker, who became her third husband. In 1963, while attempting to drive after being hit in the head with a Coke bottle, Byers experienced quadruple vision and collided with a tree.2006 Pro Wrestling Hall Of Fame induction ceremony report.
Retrieved on 2007-11-11. The leg damage from the auto accident cut her career short at age 41 and forced her to retire on January 1, 1964. In her later life, she had double vision from the incident. Byers returned to Texas after retirement from the ring, becoming a

real estate Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, (more general ...

agent. She had two children, Billy and Jewel. Her son was fatally electrocuted in an accident, and Byers was reportedly never the same afterward. She died of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

at her Houston home in 1998.

Championships and accomplishments

* Independent :*

( 1 time, final) :* Women's World Championship Tournament (1953) *

American Wrestling Association The American Wrestling Association (AWA) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota that ran from 1960 until 1991. It was owned and founded by Verne Gagne and Wally Karbo. The territory was originally part o ...

AWA World Women's Championship The AWA World Women's Championship was the women's professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a dramatic enactment of wrestling as a spectator sport. As is the norm for this sport, women's professional wrestling is organized by wrestli ...

( 1 time) *

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as ...

NWA Florida Women's Championship The NWA Florida Women's Championship was a women's professional wrestling title in Championship Wrestling from Florida, which lasted originally from 1951 to at least 1971. Title history Footnotes References See also *Championship Wrestli ...

( 1 time) :* NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship ''(Florida version)'' (2 times) - with Millie Stafford (1) and Mary Jane Mull (1) *

St. Louis Wrestling Club The St. Louis Wrestling Club was a professional wrestling promotion based in St. Louis, Missouri. It was owned and operated by Sam Muchnick. The promotion was a flagship member of the National Wrestling Alliance, and promoted primarily in the St. ...

:* NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship ''(Missouri version)'' (1 time) - with Millie Stafford *

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and former professional wrestling governing body operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA ...

NWA World Women's Championship The NWA World Women's Championship is a women's professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). The title was first won by Mildred Burke in 1937 def ...

(1 time) :*

NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship The NWA World Women's Tag Team Championship is a women's professional wrestling tag team championship defended in member promotions of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA). History From the early 1950s through 1983, it was the first women's w ...

( 7 times) - with Ethel Johnson (1), Millie Stafford (2), Mary Jane Mull (2), Mars Bennett (1) and Barbara Baker (1) *

** Women's Wrestling ( Class of 2006) *

WWE World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

(

Class of 2017 ''Class of 2017'' is a 2017 Hindi web series created and produced by Vikas Gupta (producer), Vikas Gupta for Ekta Kapoor's video on demand platform ALTBalaji. The web series revolves around the lives of a few teenagers who get intertwined with ...

)

References

External links

*
June Byers at the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Byers, June 1922 births 1998 deaths 20th-century American actresses American female professional wrestlers AWA World Women's Champions Deaths from pneumonia in Texas People from Houston Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum WWE Hall of Fame Legacy inductees Stampede Wrestling alumni Infectious disease deaths in Texas 20th-century professional wrestlers NWA World Women's Champions