Famous People Of Niagara Region - Angelo "King Kong" Mosca

February 13, 1937

Angelo "King Kong" Mosca

(Photo; listchallenges.com)

Born in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA.

A former Canadian Football League player and professional wrestler. Mosca has lived in and around Hamilton for many years, and currently lives in St. Catharines, Ont.

 Mosca attended the University of Notre Dame and was drafted by the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles in 1959 in the 30th round. He had already decided to play in the CFL, in 1958 for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats. He was traded to the Ottawa Rough Riders for Hardiman Cureton on August 15, 1960, and played for the Rough Riders in 1960 and 1961 before joining the Montreal Alouettes in 1962. He played his remaining years, 1963 to 1972 in Hamilton. He was a 5-time all star. Angelo played in 9 Grey Cup games, more than any other player in CFL history, tied with his teammate John Barrow. Mosca's teams won 5 Grey Cup games, one with the Ottawa Rough Riders and four with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

He began wrestling in the off-season, and became a full-time wrestler after his retirement from football. He wrestled all across North America, always at or near the top of the card, and almost always as a heel, even in Toronto until the late 1970s, then he became a face, and in the early 1980s, the lead face. He often used a sleeper as his finisher in later years.

He is also known by the wrestling nicknames King Kong Mosca and The Mighty Hercules. Mosca has a son, Angelo Jr., who also wrestled. He was elected to the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1987. He was elected to the Hamilton Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2013. His number 68 football jersey was retired by the Hamilton Tiger Cats football club on August 27, 2015 at a ceremony at Tim Horton Field in Hamilton. 

Famous People Of Niagara Region - Tony 'Cannonball' Parisi

1941 - August 19, 2000

Tony 'Cannonball' Parisi

 (Photo; www.nflibrary.ca)

Born in Cosenza, Italy.

Born Antonio Pugliese, he was an Italian/Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Tony Parisi. He moved to Thunder Bay, Ontario when he was nine years old, but moved to Niagara Falls, Ontario shortly after. He joined the YMCA in Niagara Falls and began amateur wrestling at the age of 16.

Pugliese made his professional wrestling debut in Detroit, Michigan in 1961. He soon began competing in Canada, where he was a popular babyface, fan favorite. In one of his first matches, he faced Gino Brito, who later became his long-time tag team partner. Pugliese and Brito moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1962 to wrestle in a promotion operated by Nick Gulas, where they won the promotion's tag team title within two weeks of their arrival. Throughout his career, Pugliese formed many tag teams in various promotions with other wrestlers of Italian descent, including Dominic DeNucci, Tony Marino, and David Sammartino, who competed as Bruno Sammartino, Jr.

Although Pugliese often wrestled in Ontario throughout his career, he also competed as far away as Australia and Japan. In 1973, he participated in the first annual Champion Carnival tournament promoted by All Japan Pro Wrestling. He lost in the first round to Hiro Matsuda.

Pugliese also wrestled as a villain at times. He competed as "Tenor" Parisi; in this gimmick, he wore a white tuxedo and sang opera to anger the crowd. Outside the ring Pugliese enjoyed listening to opera music and once referred to his LP albums as his "prize possessions".

Primarily a tag team wrestler, and he won tag team titles in several organizations, including the World Wide Wrestling Federation. He held the WWWF World Tag Team Championship from 1975 to 1976. As a singles wrestler, he also won the WWF International Heavyweight Championship.

He was related to Joseph Dorgan, who has wrestled under his relative's name as Johnny Parisi and is better known as Johnny Swinger.

Pugliese promoted wrestling shows in Niagara Falls after retiring from the sport. He also ran an annual wrestling show at the CHIN Picnic in Toronto.

In 1997, Pugliese returned to the ring to compete at the second Ilio DiPaolo tribute show promoted by World Championship Wrestling show. He reunited with partner Gino Brito in a tag team match, and the pair defeated Greg Valentine and Terry Funk by disqualification.

Pugliese is credited as the inspiration behind George "The Animal" Steele's gimmick of eating turnbuckle padding in the ring. A wrestler, who Steele believes was Pugliese, jokingly suggested the idea to Steele, who became well known for his fondness for turnbuckles.

After retiring from wrestling, Pugliese continued to work in the industry and also operated the Niagara Family Inn and Big Anthony's Restaurant in Niagara Falls with his family. The restaurant is like a wrestling museum, complete with hundreds of pictures, memorabilia and other vignettes of Parisi's career.

Pugliese died from a heart attack on August 19, 2000 in his hometown of Niagara Falls, Ontario, at the coffee shop that he went to every morning. He was 58. He was inducted into the Niagara Falls Virtual Sports Wall Of Fame on January 13, 2008.

Famous People Of Niagara Region - Chris Bye

May 2, 1960

Chris Bye

(Photo; thegarageblog.com - C. Bye: 3rd from right)
Born in St. Catharines, Ont.

 Chris has been active in racing for years, starting out with FV1200. He has competed in almost every type of race car including Formula Ford, Formula 2000, Players GM and Porsches. Chris drove the factory supported Brumos Racing Porsche powered Daytona Prototype at the 2003 Rolex 24 Hours at Daytona with teammates David Donohue, Hurley Haywood, Scoot Goodyear, Scott Sharp, Randy Pobst, Mike Borkowski and JC France.

Chris is also the author of Crash Test : My Brother's Accident and the Race of Our Lives. A true-life story of his brother Rick's nearly fatal highway accident in North Carolina and epic struggle to recover from severe brain damage.

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Famous People Of Niagara Region - Bruce Graham Canada's Singing DJ

September 11, 1947

Bruce Graham

 Born in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

Bruce grew up in St. Catherines and went to Lakeport High School. In 1984 he became Canada's Singing DJ, celebrating over 30 years and over 7,000 functions played. A real professional singer who has sang National Anthems three times for the Toronto Blue Jays, the Toronto Raptors twice and was Elvis at Collingwood Elvis festival in 2002. Bruce sang on stage with Louis Anderson in Las Vegas in 2008.

Bruce played with his own band called The Night Hawks. He later formed the 4 Squires band & went on the road across Canada. He also formed The Bruce Graham Show and toured Canada for years. He has sang in Cuba, Columbia, Jamaica, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic many times over the years. Bruce currently resides in Mississauga.

Famous People Of Niagara Region - Marcel Dionne

August 3rd, 1951

Marcel Dionne

(Photo; en.wikipedia.org)

Born in Drummondville, Quebec, Canada.

In 1969 Dionne departed Quebec to play in the Ontario Hockey Association spending three seasons with the St. Catharines Black Hawks. He became the league's preeminent star, winning scoring titles in 1970 and 1971 and adding a record 122 points in 43 playoff games.

Dionne's scoring feats were marred by one of the most infamous events in Canadian junior hockey during the 1971 Richardson Cup finals against the Quebec Remparts. Following a riot in Quebec City after the penalty-filled fourth game of the series in which Dionne's Black Hawks' team bus was attacked by the mob, the fifth game was played at a neutral site, and the remainder of the series was not played due to fears of further violence.

Dionne finished his junior career by shattering the OHA's career scoring record, which was not broken until Dale McCourt did so in the 1977 season. He was subsequently drafted in the first round (second overall behind Rempart rival Guy Lafleur) by the Detroit Red Wings in the 1971 NHL Entry Draft. Dionne played his first four seasons with the Red Wings, before being traded to the LA Kings. During his first season for Detroit in 1972, he set an NHL record for scoring by a rookie with 77 points.

(Photo; kings.nhl.com)

During his time with the Los Angeles Kings, he played eleven and one-half seasons and formed the famed "Triple Crown Line", centering Charlie Simmer and Dave Taylor. His best season was 1979–80 when he had 137 points. That season, he was tied for the league lead in points with Wayne Gretzky. Dionne was awarded the Art Ross Trophy for scoring two more goals than Gretzky. Dionne also won the Ted Lindsay Award (formally called the Lester B. Pearson Award) in 1979 and 1980, and the Lady Byng Trophy in 1975 and 1977.

Despite Dionne's production during the regular season, he was frustrated with the Kings' lack of playoff success; they made the postseason from 1976–82 but only advanced to the second round three times for a total of 43 playoff games. During the 1986–87 season he was traded to the New York Rangers playing his remaining two and a half seasons there, where the Rangers lost in the first round of the playoffs and missed the next two. He retired in 1989. One consolation was that he would finally have Guy Lafleur as his teammate to mark the beginning of the 1988–89 NHL season.

Despite not playing in the 1972 Summit Series, he did play for Team Canada in the 1976 Canada Cup and the 1981 Canada Cup. For the 1976 Canada Cup, his linesmates were Bobby Hull and Phil Esposito. He was also on a line with Lanny McDonald and Darryl Sittler and they were on the ice when the tournament winning goal was scored. While on the 1981 team, he was on a line with Wayne Gretzky and Guy Lafleur. Dionne also won a bronze medal in the 1978, 1983 and 1986 World Ice Hockey Championships. In the 1978 edition, he was named the top forward.

Dionne was the third of six men to reach the 700-goal plateau, and currently ranks fourth among all-time goal scorers, with 731. He is ranked fifth in points, with 1771. He is ninth in career assists with 1,040.

(Photo; www.californiasportshalloffame.org)

Marcel was inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame in 2012 and the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1992.

The former Centre Civique arena in Drummondville was renamed Centre Marcel Dionne in his honour after his retirement.

Dionne's younger brother Gilbert also played in the NHL and won a Stanley Cup with the Montreal Canadiens in 1993. Gilbert is Marcel's junior by nineteen years.

Dionne currently resides in Niagara Falls and owns Marcel Dionne Enterprises.

(Photo; marceldionne.com)

Famous People Of Niagara Region - Rick Bye

Rick Bye

(Photo; www.canada.com)

Born in St Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

A 30-year veteran of professional motorsports, Bye has experience in all levels of the racing business as a driver, team owner, series administrator and instructor. His past victories include races and championships at several North American tracks and race series including the highly competitive NASCAR Busch Grand National Series, the Daytona Rolex 24, D.I.R.T. Modified Stock Car Championship, Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship, and Rothman's Turbo Cup. Bye is twice Canadian Endurance Racing Champion in Porsches. From 1990 to 1994, he was among the top 15 Porsche racers worldwide in the Porsche Cup Championship and was instrumental in establishing the Porsche Advanced Driving School. He is one of the most sought after high performance driving instructors in North America.