Édouard Beaupré

Édouard Beaupré, born on 9 January 1881 in Willow Bunch in what is now Saskatchewan, was a Canadian strongman, professional wrestler and circus performer known as The Willow Bunch Giant. The eldest of twenty children, he grew with extraordinary speed, passing 1.98 metres by the age of twelve, and abandoned ranch work to tour, displaying his strength by bending iron bars and lifting horses onto his shoulders. On 25 March 1901 in Montreal he wrestled the French Canadian strongman Louis Cyr in a very short match that Cyr won. His reported height of 2.52 metres made him one of the tallest men in recorded history. He signed with Barnum and Bailey in July 1904 and died two days later at the age of 23 from complications of tuberculosis.