Brazil was a pioneer in the previously segregated circuits of professional wrestling.
This February, Sports Illustrated is celebrating Black History Month by spotlighting a different iconic athlete every day. Today, SI looks back on the legacy of Bobo Brazil.
Bobo Brazil, real name Houston Harris, help desegregate professional wrestling throughout his four-decade career.
“He was sort of an idol because there were no black wrestlers around back then,″ the Rev. Donald Adkins told The Herald-Palladium after Brazil died in 1998. “Everybody loved him, especially the kids.”
Among his admirers was wrestler “Soulman” Rocky Johnson, father of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Brazil eventually became a mentor and friend to the elder Johnson, who helped further integrate the once all-white wrestling circuit.
Brazil dazzled fans with his size, strength and showmanship. His patented move, the “coco butt,” in which Brazil smashes his head into his opponents’, has lived on in lore. Derivatives of it are prevalent throughout professional wrestling today.
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Brazil was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 1994, four years before his death at the age of 73.
