Lionel Baillargeon

Lionel se présentait comme un costaud, mesurant 6 pieds 3 pouces et pesant 215 livres. Lui aussi avait de fortes mains, en plus d’une grosse charpente osseuse. Il excellait dans les levers olympiques par son style qui le distinguait des autres. On le remarquait aussi en gymnastique et dans plusieurs tours de force, dont un épaulé-jeté de 530 livres.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ouoXnbRLOo

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http://slam.canoe.ca/SlamWrestlingBios/baillargeons.html

The death of Paul Baillargeon last week at the age of 77 was barely mentioned in the Canadian English media. It's a shame that his legacy -- and the legacy of his amazing family -- should be forgotten.

The Baillargeon brothers deserve a special place in the Canadian Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame for a couple of reasons. For one, six brothers all went into wrestling. But more importantly, unlike most in our Hall, the Baillargeons were famous before they got into wrestling.

The Baillargeons all are from Saint-Magloire-de-Bellechasse, Quebec. Back in the late 1940s, they traveled the continent from town to town with their road show, doing incredible feats of strength. Like Charles pulling a bus with his teeth, or Paul lifting a horse.

The six Baillargeon brothers were, in order of age, Jean, Charles, Adrien, Lionel, Paul, and Antonio (Tony). After the passing of Paul last week at 77, Charles is the only brother still living.

During their heyday, the Baillargeons were quite the story. Newspapers would write about the family, how their mother Maria would go through 100 pounds of flour a week, or how one brother or another pulled the door off a car to save an accident victim.

The family grew up in Saint-Magloire-de-Bellechasse, and all of the boys gained their strength by working on various farms around town, and as lumberjacks in the U.S.