Legendary catch wrestler Martin “Farmer” Burns is remembered as one of the greatest grapplers of his era. He competed in thousands of documented matches winning almost all of them, and captured world titles at Middleweight, Light Heavyweight and Heavyweight despite never weighing more than 170 pounds. He served as mentor and coach to wrestling icon Frank Gotch, and is popularly known for his superhuman neck, that allowed him do a 6 feet hangsman’s drop without sustaining injury.
Still, there are several lesser known facts about the fascinating life of the Dean of American Wrestling. Today we’ll go through 10 things that you may not have known about Farmer Burns.
Number 1. Wrestled a bear:
Apparently purebred grapplers have been wrestling bears for a long time… According to the Humboldt Independent, in 1895 Farmer Burns accepted an offer of three hundred dollars a week to tour the country and meet all comers. During this tour, in Burlington Washington, Burns took on a bet to wrestle a young husky black bear. The Iowa wrestler won by pin and collected the bet.
Number 2. Champion Stick-Puller
Stick-pulling is a sport in which the contestants sit facing each other, their feet placed together on a board and their hands grasping a stick. At the signal they start pulling. The one who is able to pull the other over the board is the winner. This was a popular sport during the 19 century, specially in the Midwest. Farmer Burns was a decorated Stick-Pulling Champion. One of his most impressive victories came on December 1912: According to an article by the Bridgeport Times, Burns was 51 years old when he defeated the then reigning champion Pete Ryestorf for a bet of $2500. Ryestorf was 30 years old and weighed 302 pounds.
Number 3. Family of Wrestlers
Farmer Burns came from a family of wrestlers on his father’s side and strongmen on his mother’s. I’ll read to you an extract from Martin’s mother’s obituary, dated November 10, 1914:
“Mrs. Mary Burns, 85 years old, member of a family of famous Irish athletes, and mother of Farmer Burns, formerly heavyweight catch as catch can wrestler champion of the world died Sunday at her home in Chicago. Deep pride was taken by Mrs. Burns in the athletic prowess of her famous son. She regarded his success as a legitimate inheritance from generations of the Blake family in Ireland, from which she had descended. Ambition of the mighty Farmer and her other children and grandchildren was fired by tales told by Mrs. Burns concerning deeds of the famous strongmen of the Blake line. She witnessed many of the Farmer’s most hard fought battles on the mat. Many were the public tributes paid to her by the blunt spoken champion of the world. The grandfather and father of Farmer Burns both were good wrestlers. The grandfather, known as BIG Martin Burns, gained considerable reputation in Ireland and England a century ago.”
Farmer Burns and his wife Amelia were dedicated parents. Burns used to carry letters from his four children in his pocket. His daughters followed him to the mats like shadows and started trying holds on each other since babyhood. At ages 14 and 12 the two had been training like Spartans for years and were capable grapplers. His sons Raymond and Charles used to compete against each other in preliminary exhibitions at some of their father’s events. “Wrestling makes men peaceable”, said Farmer Burns, and is the only game at which two brothers can play without a quarrel”. Burns also encouraged his kids musical inclinations and they all became professional musicians. Burns himself was an avid jews-harp player, and his favorite tunes where old Irish jigs.
Number 4. Nickname
Burns found his passion for wrestling at age 7. He used to compete against older kids for penny bets. According to an article in the “Chicago Tribune” he won his first purse of 15 cents at age 8, by defeating an 11 year old named James Magrin. Outside the mat, he learned to overcome adversity early on. His father died when he was just eleven years old, and to help support his mother, brother and five sisters, he left school to work in the farm during the day and wrestle in the evenings. He engaged in farm work for seven years, always developing himself physically and wrestling at every opportunity. In one occasion Burns traveled to Chicago in charge of two carloads of hogs. According to an article from the “Des Moines Register”, after delivering the hogs he strolled around the city, and saw a poster proclaiming that Jack Carkeek and Evan Lewis, “The Original Strangler”, were meeting all comers and offering $25 to anyone staying 15 minutes.
Burns took on the offer and “stayed” with each of them in separate bouts. A comedian on the same stage that night referred to the overalled Burns as a “farmer” and Farmer Burns he was from that time on.”
Besides this encounter, Burns and Lewis had two famous matches in different occasions that resulted in one win for each, but that is a subject for another time.
Number 5. Rough and Tumble
Burns’ focus was on grappling, but he never shied away from a good old Rough and Tumble fight, very similar to modern Mixed Martial Arts but with less limitations. One of this fights took place when Burns was still a teenager. In an interview for the Quad City Times, Jim O’Neill briefly narrates what could possible be Farmer Burns first documented fight:
Quote “When the railroad was being put through Dixon there was a fellow on the work gang who had trained as a boxer and had the reputation of being able to beat anyone. But a neighbor of Martin’s said he had a fellow who could thrash the railroad man and he got a hold of Martin who was then just a kid. They hired a hall and the neighbor bet $75 on Martin. He and the railroad man went at each other. The first round they were pretty evenly matched. But after the second round, the railroad man had had enough. He wouldn’t even come out of his corner” O’neill recalled.”
I made a video narrating one of Farmer Burns fights at age 49, against boxing World Champion Billy Papke, I you haven’t watched it the link is in the description.
Number 6. Baseball Team
Farmer Burns used to say: “Baseball is the greatest game in the world”. Emil “Casey” Homrighausen, an old sparring partner of Burns, remembers him in a 1957 interview. Quote: “He was crazy about baseball and would round up a bunch and play right in the main street.”
The Farmer found a way to combine both sports. He had his own baseball team and would tour the country, wrestling after the games. I’ll read to you an extract from the Daily Times of Davenport, Iowa, dated July 27, 1911.
Quote “DeWitt Breaks Winning Streak of Farmer Burn’s Team. – DeWitt was the scene of revelry yesterday when the well known character, Farmer Burns and his traveling baseball nine came to town for a “mix” with the local nine. Joy reigns supreme for the locals “cleaned up” their opponents by the close score of 5 to 4. Five hundred fans gathered around the diamond to witness what proved to be one of the liveliest sessions of the national pastime seen here for many a moon. After the game Farmer Burns and his son gave an exhibition of wrestling, the sport at which Burns won his fame. The wrestling “stunt” pleased every one and after Burns and his son completed their exhibition, Oscar Wasen and Farmer Burns competed”.
Number 7. Influence
Farmer Burns was known for his clean lifestyle, discipline and hard work ethics: things he credited for his success. According to several publications he completely abstained from alcohol and smoking. Jim O’Neill described Burns as: Quote “a high principled, good natured man. He loved kids and would always take time to train them”.
He used his success to inspire and influence the youth to lead healthy lifestyles. He would often give free lectures on physical education and technique, and he would always emphasize the importance of fair play.
I’ll read to you an extract from the “Des Moines Register” dated September 28th, 1904. Quote “A prominent lady of the town of Humboldt recently said: “I think he has more influence for good than any other person on the boys of Humboldt. Farmer Burns has really done great good in Humboldt, and the people, the fathers and mothers of the rising generation in our town, owe more than they know to this part master of the Catch-As-Catch-Can championship of the United States.”
Number 8. Friendship with James Jeffries
James J. Jeffries was a World Boxing champion who dominated the Heavyweight division for almost a decade. He enjoyed learning the mat game and was good friends with Farmer Burns who used to spar Rough and Thumble with the heavyweight. Burns was even at some point in charge of his conditioning training and served as one of his corner-men. There was an incident where Jeffries was at his home enjoying a game of cards with the old Farmer and some of his friends, when Stanley Ketchel, regarded as one of the greatest World Middleweight Champions in Boxing history showed up. Jeffries, who had some beef with Ketchel asked him to leave, but the Middleweight champion ignored Jeffries request. According to an article by The Tennessean, dated July 4 1910, Quote: “Ketchel smiled, but did not move away. Jeffries continued playing for a few minutes, and then turning to Farmer Burns, jerked his head in the direction of Ketchel and said: “Put that fellow out.” Burns got up, took Ketchel by the shoulder and turned him towards the cottage. Walking with the middleweight champion as far as the porch, Burns gave him a mild push toward the steps and Ketchel quietly walked out at the gate and took his car to town.”
Number 9. Derby Hat
I always wondered why Farmer Burns often posed with a hat on his chest in photos like this. I later learned in some articles from the Chicago Tribune this was part of a stunt to demonstrate how far he could expand his chest. Quote: “He could expand his chest and then contract it far enough to slip a 1900 model derby hat under the tape measure”.
This skill along with the expansion of the muscles on his neck also had functional purposes, Quote: “It made it almost impossible for an opponent to gain a hold around Burn’s body. When his adversary decided he had a hold, the Farmer simply expanded the muscles of the chest and burst loose with explosive force. He would tense the muscles of his neck until his chin vanished and presented a firm, straight line from his nose to his waist.
Number 10. Never slowed down
Farmer Burns continued scoring impressive victories well into his 50’s. Even after retiring he kept the grind going, never taking time off or allowing himself to get out of shape. At 60 years old he was still sparring top grapplers on a regular basis. According to the Chicago Tribune, Burns was well past 60 years old when he offered to face the then middleweight champion Johnny Meyers for a side bet of $5000. He also put up a $1000 forfeit to guarantee his appearance. Ed White, Meyer’s manager, refused to accept the match, giving Burn’s age as his reason.
Farmer Burns never really slowed down… He was still going strong on his 70’s, when finally a back injury sidelined him from the mats. This and the passing of his wife probably contributed to the rapid deterioration of his health. The king of the grapplers’s passed away January 8, 1937, at the age of 75. His memory will live forever.
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