Franco-American and Québécois Athletes

• Louis Cyr - A Strong Man
  
  
  • Born Noe Cyr on October 11th 1863 in St. Cyprien, near Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Coming from a robust French Canadian family, developing extraordinary strength, when even at a early age. The family moved to Lowell, Massachusettes when Noe was 15 and his mother changed his name to Louis. Cyr started his strong man career at the age of 17, after some publicity came about due to an incident when the young Louis was reported to have lifted a farmers heavily laden wagon out of the mire in which it had become stuck. He was matched in a contest against David Michaud of Quebec, who was recognized as Canada's strongest man of the time, the results being that Cyr beat him, the tests being the lifting of heavy stones, Cyr winning the match by hoisting a granite boulder weighing 480 lbs./ 217.7 kg. In Boston in 1895, he lifted a platform holding 18 heavy men on his back! From 1894 to 1899, Louis toured with the Ringling Brothers and the Barnum and Bailey circuses, displaying his strength to amazed spectators. Louis Cyr was formally designated the Strongest man in the world in 1896 when he confronted Swedish champion August Johnson in a competition that lasted more than three hours.
  • In more recent years, Ben Weider wrote and published a similar tome, well worth reading, and highly entertaining, entitled The Strongest Man in History detailing much of Cyr's life and adventures. Perhaps because of his tendency to overeat, Louis died of Bright's Disease in 1912, at the age of 49.
    • Louis Cyr: The Strongest Man In History? - Life as a Human
    • Wikipedia

• Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie - Baseball
  
  
  • Napoleon "Nap" Lajoie (September 5, 1874 – February 7, 1959), also nicknamed "Larry," was an American professional athlete of French Canadian descent. In his career as a second baseman in Major League Baseball, he was considered one of the greatest players of the fledgling American League in the early 20th century and the most serious of Ty Cobb's challengers.
    
    Born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, Lajoie started his career in the National League with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1896. In 1901, he jumped to the crosstown Philadelphia Athletics, owned by Connie Mack. Lajoie's batting average that year was .422, still a league record. Lajoie also became the first major leaguer to be intentionally walked with the bases loaded that year.
    • Baseball Hall of Fame - Biography
    • Wikipedia - More info

• David Michaud - A Strong Man
  
  
  • David Michaud, born at Kamouraska in 1856, was the son of Pierre Michaud and Josephte Michaud. Initially farmer like his father, military life attracted him so, in 1878, he enroled in the army and was garrisoned in the Citadelle of Québec. Very tall, he had an Herculean strength. In 1883, David gave himself up to the professional and stage athletics. On March 17, 1885, he faced the famous Louis Cyr in Québec at the time of the American championship. Cyr was 23 years old and Michaud 29. Cyr won the competition having lift up 390 pounds more on the total. Nevertheless, David made an impressive performance lifting up 228 pounds with his right arm only and lifting up 3200 pounds on the benchpress.
  • Traveling through all the province, David Michaud was above all famous for his feats of strength : he crushed stones with his fist and he made break a large piece of stone on his chest. From 1890 to 1905, no trace was ever found of the strong man.
  • In August 1905, the daily newspaper Le Soleil informed its readers that "Bébé Michaud" (so named "Michaud Baby") had just died at Vancouver. This death, remained obscure, had brought down David at the age of 49.

• John B. Gagnon - A Strong Man
  
  
  • John B Gagnon (1883-1939) was born in Caribou, Maine. He was 5' 10'' tall, and weighed 230 pounds. He could tear a horseshoe apart with his bare hands; bend a railroad spike into a U; or pick up 794 pounds with one finger. His second cousin, Phil Ganyon (anglicized name), told me that he lifted a total of 16,650 pounds in 10 lifts in only 25 minutes.

    • Wikipedia

• Hector Décarie - A Strong Man
  
  
  • In 1906, challenged and tied Cyr in his final competition.

• Hugo Girard - A Strong Man
  
  
  • Girard was born in 1971 in Ste-Anne-de-Portneuf, a small village in northern Quebec (Canada). At the young age of five years old, Hugo began his training. His father gave him a set of 2.5 lbs weights to develop his strength and is physique! Considered to be one of the Strongest men in the world, Hugo is a police officer for the city of Gatineau in Quebec. He shares his life with is longtime companion named Nadine Tremblay who is a continuous source of motivation. He holds many records and is currently the Strongest Man in North America.

• Louis Sockalexis - Baseball
  
  
  • Louis Sockalexis of the Penobscott Nation whose natural ability made him stand head and shoulders over future hall of fame baseball players was also of French Canadian Descent. Much has been made of his Native American heritage but French Canadians can claim him too.

    A brief story of one of Maine's greatest athletes is told in the lyric called simply Louis Socakalexis. It is from the CD Baseball Songs Sports Heroes whose songs have been featured in an HBO film, a major sports book, and added to the National Baseball Hall of Fame

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