Wahoo McDaniel ✝

Edward Hugh McDaniel (June 19, 1938 – April 18, 2002) was an American Choctaw-Chickasaw professional American football player and professional wrestler better known by his ring name Wahoo McDaniel. He is notable for having held the NWA United States Heavyweight Championship five times. McDaniel was a major star in the American Wrestling Association and prominent National Wrestling Alliance affiliated promotions such as Championship Wrestling from Florida, Georgia Championship Wrestling, NWA Big Time Wrestling and, most notably, Jim Crockett Promotions. McDaniel is often compared to his contemporary, Chief Jay Strongbow, due to both portraying similar Native American gimmicks. Unlike Strongbow (who was Italian-American), McDaniel was legitimately Native American. McDaniel was born in the small town of Bernice, Louisiana in 1938. His father worked in oil and he moved to several towns before settling down in Midland, Texas, while McDaniel was in middle school. He attended Midland High School, where he was a track state champion in the shot put and second in the state in the discus. One of his baseball coaches, particularly for his Pony League team, was George H. W. Bush. The name "Wahoo" actually came from his father Hugh, who was known as "Big Wahoo". Though he was a problematic teenager, he was accepted to the University of Oklahoma by Bud Wilkinson. He became a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and was also a part of Wilkinson's Sooners football program, where he holds the record for the longest punt at 91 yards.