'Brother' Frank Jares

Wrestler and weightlifter 'Brother' Frank Jares was born on October 6, 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jares moved with his family to California as a teenager. His parents were killed in an automobile accident when Frank was fourteen and, after dropping out of high school, he started driving a truck for a living. Jares began wrestling and lifting weights at the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Frank went on to become the Pacific Coast amateur wrestling champion. Moreover, in 1932 Jares was nearly placed on the U.S. Olympic weightlifting team as a lightweight-heavyweight. Frank also worked out at Santa Monica's legendary Muscle Beach throughout the 1930's and 1940's. In the wake of leaving weightlifting in 1941 Jares pursued a career in professional wrestling as a colorful villain known variously as Brother Frank, the Morman Mauler from Provo, Utah; and the Thing, who was an especially flamboyant villain with bright orange hair and matching beard. Following his retirement from wrestling in 1959 Frank worked as a butcher at a packinghouse in the San Fernando Valley. Jares moved to Valencia, California in the mid-1980's and was a regular at the Santa Clarita Valley Senior Center. Frank died at age 77 from complications related to pneumonia on July 24, 1990. At the time of his death Jares was survived by his wife Dorothy (they were married for 53 years); sons Joe Jares and Frank Jares Jr., sisters Sophie and Helen, six granddaughters, and one great-grandson.