Billy "Bake-Lite" Larson
Billy Larson left a Bakersfield plastics plant for the ring in 1973. On the Pacific Coast he stood up to management on TV, beat "Big" Stan Rafferty in a factory outside Fresno, and met Jackie Burns in the Heatwave Showdown.
Billy Larson worked at the Western Plastics Foundry in Bakersfield until the plant shut down, then wrestled from 1973 to 1978 in bib overalls with his hands taped. He picked up the name Bake-Lite when he came into the business. On the Pacific Coast he stood up to management on television, beat "Big" Stan Rafferty in a factory outside Fresno, and met Jackie Burns in the Heatwave Showdown.
AT A GLANCE
- Nickname: Bake-Lite
- Billed from: Bakersfield, California
- Height: 6'0"
- Weight: 237 lbs
- Active: 1973 to 1978
- Territories: Pacific Coast, Sierra Nevada, Southwest
- Finisher: The Pressure Cure, a camel clutch
- Championships: None
EARLY LIFE
Larson worked at the Western Plastics Foundry in Bakersfield, California, and came home from his shifts smelling of resin and motor oil. When the plant shut down, he went into wrestling.
CAREER
Pacific Coast (1973 to 1976)
He debuted in Bakersfield in 1973 and was on television on Wrestling Junction that year. His first program put him up against management. It ended in the strike-line match, and Larson tore up a non-compete clause on camera.
In 1975 he wrestled "Big" Stan Rafferty in an abandoned factory outside Fresno, with forklifts and sparks around them and no crowd. Larson won after slamming Rafferty onto a conveyor belt.
In 1976 he met Jackie Burns in the Heatwave Showdown. His last word on it was, "He's flame. I'm form. Let's see which holds longer under heat."
Sierra Nevada and the Southwest (1977 to 1978)
In 1977 he moved to Sierra Nevada and turned on the crowds that had cheered him. He was on GWA High Noon that year and often wrestled the first match of the night. He spent 1978 in the Southwest on Western Wrestling Hour, where his opponents included Wendell Briggs. He retired at the end of that year.
IN THE RING
He walked to the ring in faded grey-brown denim bib overalls with no shirt, a red BAKE-LITE patch on the bib, and white tape on his hands and wrists. Feathered brown hair, a heavy mustache, black boots laced high.
He was a compact brawler who took a lot of punishment before he came back. He threw punches, forearm smashes and headbutts, used the body slam and the vertical suplex, and wore opponents down with the side headlock, the hammerlock and the bearhug. He finished with the Pressure Cure, a camel clutch.
IN HIS OWN WORDS
"They said I was disposable. Now I'm the last man standin'!"
"You can't melt a man who's already set!"
LEGACY
Fans who worked in the oil fields, machine shops and plants made him one of their own. After he retired he trained newcomers in the Rocky Mountain territory.
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