Quarter of a century since passing of Giant Haystacks, whose roots were in Mayo
By Tom Gillespie
TODAY (November 29) marks the 27th anniversary of the death at the age of 51 of world renowned wrestler Giant Haystacks, whose roots were in Kiltimagh.
Forty-eight stone 13 pounds, Giant Haystacks' real name was Martin Austin Ruane. His parents, Martin and Julie, came from Kiltimagh.
He was born in Camberwell, London, on October 10, 1947, weighing in at 14 lb. 6 oz. He died in Greater Manchester at the age of 51. The cause of death was lymphoma.
At 14 years old, Ruane was close to his eventual height of 6 foot 11 inches, making him a natural for anything involving size and strength.
He wrestled all over the world and was wrestling in America with Hulk Hogan when he was diagnosed with cancer.
He was one of the best-known wrestlers on the British wrestling scene in the 1970s and '80s. He also worked in both Canada and the US under the name ‘Loch Ness Monster’ or simply ‘Loch Ness’. He also fought in Rhodesia and India.
Ruane was known for his massive physical size, billed as standing six-foot-11-inches tall.
In the 1970s he formed a heel - those that portray the villains - team with Big Daddy, whose real name was Shirley Crabtree. Shirley was born in November 1930 in Halifax, and died in December 1997, aged 67.
Later Haystacks had a long-running, high drawing feud with Big Daddy as the team broke up.
During his career, he held the European Heavyweight Championship and British Heavyweight Championship titles in the UK, and won the Stampede International Tag Team Championship twice in Canada with the Dynamite Kid and Bret Hart.
When he was three years old, Ruane and his family moved from London to Broughton, in Salford, Lancashire, which remained his home. He worked as a labourer in a timber factory, drove heavy machinery and was a nightclub bouncer before a friend suggested he take up professional wrestling as a career.
Ruane began wrestling in 1967, initially for the independent WFGB as Luke McMasters (later incorrectly reported as being his legal name).
In the early 1970s, Ruane worked for Wrestling Enterprises (of Birkenhead), where he was billed as Haystacks Calhoun, after the American wrestling star William Calhoun, who had wrestled under that name in NWA: All-Star Wrestling and the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Ruane's name was subsequently modified to Giant Haystacks.
In 1975, he moved to Joint Promotions, where he formed a heel tag team with Big Daddy.
Haystacks' TV debut came in July that year, when he and Big Daddy teamed up against the brothers Roy and Tony St. Clair, losing by disqualification.
They also had a major feud with masked fellow heel Kendo Nagasaki.
Haystacks and Daddy broke up their tag team in 1977 and feuded with each other, with Haystacks remaining as the heel, resulting in high ratings on ITV any time they battled one another and establishing Haystacks as a household name during the 1970s and '80s.
The feud would continue on and off until Daddy's retirement in 1993.
Throughout Haystacks' homeland success he also wrestled all over the world. Ruane wrestled in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, for Stu Hart’s Stampede Wrestling promotion as the Loch Ness Monster, managed by J.R. Foley from Wigan, England.
He also regularly worked for the CWA in German and Austria, winning several trophy tournaments there.
In January 1996, Ruane debuted in the US for World Champion Wrestling, under the ring name Loch Ness. He served as a member of The Dungeon of Doom and feuded with Hulk Hogan. However, the feud was short-lived, ending abruptly when Ruane was diagnosed with cancer and returned to Britain.
Ruane appeared in the films Quest for Fire (1981) and Give My Regards to Broad Street (1984). The latter was written by Paul McCartney, who was a fan of Ruane.
The European version of the multi-format game Legends of Wrestling II featured Giant Haystacks as an exclusive extra Legendary Wrestler.
A play by Brian Mitchell and Joseph Nixon, Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks, was performed at the Brighton Festival Fringe in May 2011.
It is believed that the British Queen was a fan of Ruane.
In the wrestling ring Ruane was one that everybody loved to hate, but in real life Martin was a soft-spoken man who was kind and gentle, intelligent and a devout Catholic, who refused to fight on Sunday, and a man who was devoted to his wife, Rita, and children.
Martin Ruane invested, unsuccessfully, in the motor trade and ran, more successfully, a debt collection agency.
While the original heroes of British wrestling were known for their big personalities and bigger bellies, the next generation of stars have physiques more akin to Love Island contestants. Wrestling has become a billion-dollar industry in the US. Those with SKY Sports can enjoy US wrestling with lots of big named fighters.
However, I much preferred the British version of the 1970s and the Saturday afternoon black-and-white TV bouts.
I once met Giant Haystacks when was in Castlebar. He was walking on Market Square and attracted a huge following of fans as they sought to shake his huge hand and get an autograph. With his long hair and black beard, he wore his distinctive wrestling gear and was proud of his Kiltimagh roots.