George Steele obit

George Steele, ‘the Animal’ Wrestler and Mild-Mannered Teacher, Dies at 79

He was on the list.

George Steele, a gruff, green-tongued fighter who, as the Animal, was one of wrestling’s wildest and most-hated villains, has died, World Wrestling Entertainment, the professional wrestling organization, said on Friday. He was 79.

The organization announced his death without specifying the cause, time or location. Eric Simms, a wrestling agent, said in a social media post Thursday that he had spoken to Mr. Steele’s wife, who said Mr. Steele had been in a hospice.

Mr. Steele, whose real name was William James Myers, was born in Madison Heights, Mich., on April 16, 1937, according to “W.W.E. Legends,” a book by Brian Solomon. He gained fame in the 1970s and ’80s as the Animal, a hairy, grunting brute of few words. But he had little in common with that persona outside the ring.

“George Steele was only an animal in the ring,” Vince McMahon, the W.W.E. chairman, said in a Twitter message. “He was one of the truly nice men in the world.”

Mr. Steele, who had dyslexia, earned a master’s degree from Central Michigan University and went on to teach high school in the Detroit area, where he moonlighted in sports-entertainment promotions, according to the W.W.E., formerly known as the World Wrestling Federation. He was inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame in 1995.

Mr. Steele started appearing in the W.W.F. in 1967, when he began a bitter rivalry with the champion Bruno Sammartino. He was known for unpredictable behavior and a habit of stuffing his mouth with the inner padding of the turnbuckles at the corners of the ring.

He was a protégé of several Hall of Fame wrestlers, including Harry Fujiwara, also known as Mr. Fuji, who died last summer, and flirted many times with winning the organization’s championship.

Photo

George Steele, known in the wrestling world as the Animal during the 1970s and ’80s, had a habit of stuffing his mouth with padding torn from the turnbuckles. Credit Marc Serota for The New York Times

In 1985, Mr. Steele went from being among the most reviled figures in wrestling to one of its most loved, when, after being abandoned during a six-man match by his partners, he wound up under the guidance of the then-popular Capt. Lou Albano.

Throughout much of his career, he continued to teach high school and coach football in Madison Heights, where he would return for Monday practices after weekend wrestling appearances at Madison Square Garden.

He retired from wrestling in the late 1980s after learning that he had Crohn’s disease. He devoted much of his time after that to motivational speaking, spiritual testimony and promoting awareness of the disease. He later moved to Cocoa Beach, Fla.

In 1996, Mr. Steele was inducted into the Michigan High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame, which noted online that Mr. Steele had coached wrestling, football and track for 28 years. There was no immediate information on his survivors.