Bigger Bill Kayser

From The Great Outdoor Fight

"Bigger" Bill Kayser (b. 1901, d. 1978) is widely reknowned as one of the strongest fighters to ever appear in the Great Outdoor Fight. As a pre-Fight ritual, Kayser would display his great strength and resiliency by breaking railroad ties over his own head. He trained by getting into a corral with an enraged bull and pummeling the beast senseless with his bare hands. As a result, Kayser often referred to his hands as The Tenderizers. Even after he stopped participating in the Fights, he continued to do this for exercise on a regular basis.

Though best known as a member of the Twenty-Three Skidoos, "Big" Bill Kayser was involved in a controversy in the 1927 Fight. He had been fighting future 1931 Champion Dylan Berkheimer when he punched Berkheimer fifteen feet, right into the path of one of the motorbikes with sidecars the Gurneymen were using to clear defeated fighters off the Acres at that time. After the fight, Kayser protested that he didn't mean to use the motorbike as a means of taking out Berkheimer. Berkheimer himself stood up for Kayser, saying "I wasn't getting up after that punch any way you looked at it. As far as I'm concerned, he took me fair and square the moment he landed it."

In previous fights, Kayser was simply "Big Bill". According to Kayser, he acquired the nickname from Young Jude Surrency following the The Evil Eye incident. Impressed by the kill, Kayser walked up to Surrency, told him his name, and offered Jude his services as a fighter. Surrency replied that he already had a Big Bill on board in Big Bill Bradowitz, so from now on, he's Bigger Bill Kayser.

Kayser is often considered the main source for reports of the Eye.

The conversation before the showdown between Kayser and Surrency, according to the two fighters, went as follows:
Kayser: I'm pretty strong, Chief.
Surrency: That so?

Surrency then cold-cocked Kayser with a right to the jaw to win The 1933 Great Outdoor Fight. Following this, Kayser said there was no point in competing anymore. "Finishing second to the Chief is good enough for me, fighting him is as close to Heaven as a man can get" he remarked in later years. Kayser often accompanied Surrency to the fights and sat next to him amongst the other Twenty-Three Skidoos, all of whom attended the fights up until their deaths with the exception of the still-living Kid Cleveland, who contines to attend The Fight each year.

Mr. Kayser died in 1978 when a bull finally won. Kayser is survived by his son, Jude Surrency Kayser.

[edit] Record

• 1925 - Eliminated in Day 3, 58th left standing.
• 1926 - Eliminated in Day 3, 10th left standing.
• 1927 - Eliminated in Day 3, 6th left standing.
• 1928 - Eliminated in Day 3, 9th left standing.
• 1929 - Eliminated in Day 3, 4th left standing.
• 1930 - Eliminated in Day 3, 9th left standing.
• 1931 - Eliminated in Day 3, 5th left standing.
• 1932 - Eliminated in Day 3, 13th left standing.
• 1933 - Eliminated in Day 3, 2nd left standing.

[edit] Quotes

"I didn't use no motorbike to take down Berkheimer. I hit him. He flew. The bike got in Berkheimer's way. That's all." - protesting the innocence of his intent after the Gurneymen motorbike incident in 1927.

"Look, I know what I saw. Chief looked at [Chaney] and he dropped dead. What more do I need to say?" - Arguing with Wilton Rowley on the Bob Raffles show in 1975.

"Ricky? Yeah, yeah, Ricky's a great guy. Great guy. Yeah, we hang out sometimes even when the Fight isn't going on. Not that it's anything to you." - Told to Wilton Rowley, 1974.

"Wilton Rowley can kiss my ass. I know what I saw." - Comment, 1975.