Fred Beell
Pound for pound, Marshfield's Fred Beell might have been the greatest
wrestler of all time. That's how George Barton of the Minneapolis
Tribune described the 5-6, 165 pound Beell.
Beell won three world
championships at three weights, including heavyweight. He was the only
wrestler to ever defeat Frank Gotch, the legendary wrestler of the
early 1900s. Beell was described as "quick as a cat on the mat" and
"gifted with amazing endurance."
After retiring from the ring in 1919, Beell returned to Marshfield and
entered police work. He rose to the position of chief before he was
killed in a 1933 shootout during a robbery of the Marshfield Brewery.