Born July 1st, 1876, Ben Roller, better known as “Dr. Roller” was an American physician, surgeon, professional football player and Catch Wrestler.

According to an article in the Tampa Tribune, “He was born on a farm near Newman, Douglas County, Illinois. His father was born in Heidelberg, Germany, and his mother was of Scotch-Irish descent, and, though a trifle more than six feet in height, Dr. Roller was the smallest of six brothers. He spent the first fifteen years of his life on farms, building up his physique by hard work, but he always had a natural liking for all kinds of sport, particularly wrestling.”

According to an article in the Atchison Daily Globe, “When he was fifteen years old he had attained his full height, weighed 203 pounds and was the champion wrestler of his County. At seventeen he became known through unmercifully beating a prizefighter who had a challenge out for years to anyone in Douglas County.”

It’s important to mention Dr. Roller not only grappled but had several fights, and was a proponent of Catch Wrestling as a superior martial art in rough and tumble scenarios. He famously challenged heavyweight boxing world champion Jess Willard, the man who dethroned Jack Johnson, to a bare-knuckle No Holds Barred fight, but the contest never took place.

In 1893 Roller entered the junior preparatory year of DePauw University and five years later graduated with high honors. To defray his expenses while at college he pulled nails at fifteen cents an hour, washed dishes and performed other similar duties.

According to the Atchison Daily, “While in College he played almost every position on the football team and was one year captain and coach of both the football and track teams. He was one of the best football players in the central states. In the fall of 1898, he entered the medical school of the University of Pennsylvania, supporting himself by playing professional football. He played in 1900 for the “Duquesne Country and Athletic Club”, (considered one of the best, if not the best, professional football teams in the country from 1898 until 1900), In 1901 and 1902 he played for the Philadelphia Ball Club and also the Franklin City team, that won the championship in Madison Square Garden in 1902.

Dr. Roller certainly excelled at football, but his passion for wrestling was ever present.

According to the Atchison Daily “In 1906 he was discovered by Joe Carroll, who has made him a wonderful wrestler. Carroll is one of the cleverest wrestlers in the world and has so thoroughly drilled the big doctor that he has been able to defeat such men as Carkeek, Klank, McLaglen and the great Farmer Burns and to stand off for one hour: Champion Gotch.”

To illustrate who was Joe Carroll, Dr. Roller’s Coach, I will read to you this 1902 fragment from the Bridgeport Herald:

“A wrestling match of international importance will take place Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden, in which Tom Jenkins, the champion catch as catch can mat artist of America, will meet the champion of England and Ireland: Joe Carroll. The contest will be to a finish and no hold is barred. Carroll is said to pride himself on his stranglehold and once he gets it on a man it is all over.”

Dr. Roller, once described by Farmer Burns as quote “The best man I ever met barring Gotch”, managed to reach the pinnacle of his sport, and unlike most world-class athletes he did it while actively engaged in his primary occupation. According to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, quote: “A day in the life of Dr. Roller is an exceptionally busy one. Take as an example one he spent the other day. In a private hospital, he performed a critical operation. Then he went to the Tombs Court to testify as an alienist in a murder case. After leaving court he returned to his office to meet his usual patients, and in the evening he was taking part in a wrestling tournament in Manhattan.”

Dr. Roller’s retirement was announced July 5, 1919, in the New York Herald, “After a long career as a professional wrestler in the heavyweight class, Dr. Benjamin F. Roller last night announced his retirement from the mat. He declared that his growing medical practice made it imperative for him to forsake the mat”.