Whipper Billy Watson Whipper Billy Watson William John Potts, (June 25, 1915 – February 4, 1990) was a Canadian professional wrestler best known by his ring name "Whipper" Billy Watson, and was a two-time world heavyweight wrestling champion. Watson was born in 1915 in East York, Ontario (now part of Toronto) to an English born father, John Potts and a Canadian born mother, Alice Mary Wilken. Watson began wrestling in Toronto under his real name. He was a member of the Scarborough Athletic Club in the mid-1930s and was wrestling on what were billed as amateur wrestling shows in Toronto. For four years
William Watson (decathlete) of Cleveland ... Last week it appeared that the 1940 Olympic hero would be another midwestern U. S. Negro, 190-lb. William Delouis Watson, University of Michigan senior. In last week's meet at White City, rangy Bill Watson scored 13 of the 54 U. S. points: first in the shot put (with a record-breaking heave of 52 ft. 8 in.), first in the broad jump (24 ft. 6 in.) and third in the discus. Son of a Saginaw, Mich. dressmaker, Bill Watson—who is earning his way through college by waiting on table and acting as secretary to Prize Fighter Joe Louis