Hailing from the muddy banks of the Uganda, James Harris got his start in the United States by actually being born into an upper-class family in Connecticut. After attending Harvard Law, Harris decided that he would rather earn a degree from the school of hard-knocks, so he moved to Florida to pick fruit, then to Michigan to be a part of the booming automobile industry.
It was in Michigan that Harris met his future trainer Houston “Bobo Brazil” Harris. The two lovers departed the harsh atmosphere of Michigan for the more open-minded state of Arkansas, where the two could train and pick fruit together unimpeded.
Harris made his rounds in the various hobo wrestling circuits that Arkansas had to offer, wrestling under the names of “Sugar Bear”, “Ugly Bear”, and “Big” Jim Harris. Harris got his big break, however, when Vince MacMahon invited him to join the WWF in 1984, where he would become popular as the Ugandan head-hunter “Kamala”, but he continued to wrestle as “Sugar Bear”, “Ugly Bear”, and he often reprised his role as “Miss Elizabeth”.
Harris had several runs in the WWF, but he gained notoriety in 1986 during a photo shoot for the magazine Sports Review. In an attempt to construct a feud between Harris and Hulk Hogan, MacMahon wanted the magazine to feature Hogan’s head on Harris’ head-hunting spear.
Due to an error in communication, this is exactly what happened. Hogan’s head managed to be reattached to his body, but with his brain having gone 3-hours without oxygen, his mental capacities were greatly reduced. Harris was picked up by police outside the photo shoot and he was eventually sentenced to death by an Arkansas jury for inappropriately touching a white man. There have been many appeals by Harris and his lawyers for the case to be re-opened, as Harris has claimed that “Hogan was retarded long before I got here”.
Despite this evidence, to this day Harris awaits his punishment on death row.
Harris never won a title during his stay in the WWF, but he does have the recognition of having been sat on twice by André the Giant – a truly heroic action.
Congratulations.
