10 Things You Didn't Know About George "The Animal" Steele
R.I.P. William Myers...
Friday morning, wrestling fans were saddened by the news that William Myers - who competed as George "The Animal" Steele - had passed away after a period of ill health. He was 79 years old.
Steele was one of the most beloved figures of WWE's national expansion in the 1980s. Perhaps his best-remembered program, which was highlighted with a match at WrestleMania II, was a feud with "Macho Man" Randy Savage. Back then, Savage was an evil heel who showed a disturbing possessive jealously toward his valet, Miss Elizabeth. Fans sympathized with Elizabeth, and so did Steele - "The Animal" tried to court Elizabeth, and the beloved valet responded to his kindness with the same. That infuriated Savage, and fans hoped that Elizabeth would be swayed by the inner beauty of Steele and abandon her charge. Ultimately, Steele failed to win Savage's Intercontinental Title or convince Elizabeth to leave, but he won a spot in the hearts of viewers everywhere.
As great as that feud was, though, Steele had a long and illustrious career which shouldn't be reduced to a single program. He spent more than twenty years in the ring and became a star the likes of which few can even dream of being.
He was a heel, a babyface, an actor, a teacher, a coach, and more...
10. He Was A Teacher/Coach
Long before William Myers ever stepped foot in a wrestling ring, he was a teacher. He worked - and coached football and wrestling - at his old alma mater, Madison Heights, Michigan's Madison High School. Though Myers's dyslexia made schoolwork difficult for him, he managed to graduate, then get a B.S. from Michigan State University and a master's from Central Michigan University.
It wasn't until Steele compared his modest paycheck to the expenses of his growing family that he realized he needed a side job that would help him make more money. A friend of his, Dave, put him in touch with local wrestling promoter Bert Ruby, and the rest was history.
Myers continued to teach long after he became a successful wrestler. Though the sport was more regional in those days and he wrestled away from where he worked, Myers would occasionally be confronted by a student who would show him a wrestling magazine with Steele in it and ask him if they were one and the same. His standard response was "You really think I'm that ugly?"