Author: Chief Don Eagle was a man of immense talent: a headliner, a presence, a star who filled the ring with his being. To witness him in action, from pre-match ringside autographs to his parting smile and waves to the cheering throngs, was all a part of his extraordinary magnetism.
His life was the substance of which dreams and nightmares are composed, with wrestling screwjob finishes and a demise that leaves more questions than answers – questions that may have new answers thanks to a reader who lived in the very house where the wrestling legend died.
This is the story of the man in the regal feathered headdress …and the dark mysteries that followed him even after death.
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Chief Don Eagle Climbs to the Top
Born in Caughnawaga, Quebec, Canada, to parents of Mohawk ethnicity, Carl D. Bell entered the galaxy of grunt and groan as Chief Don Eagle at the age of twenty.
He had already distinguished himself as a Cleveland Golden Gloves Novice Heavyweight Champion.
At his father’s suggestion, Joseph War Eagle, himself an established grappler, launched his career in Indianapolis, scoring a pin in 16 minutes over Red Dawson.
On the plus side, the over the rainbow-bluebirds and Mrs. Wagner’s Pie-portion of the ledger showed a rapid rise to the co-feature and headline billing on mat cards.
Perhaps, in the first three seasons inside the ropes, some promoters and bookers sought to exploit the Native American angle in their lineups of nightly performers. However, that aspect of the wrestler never became his singular drawing power.
His position as a top-of-the-bill star came from his athleticism, speed, knowledge of holds, and mat work that, even with today’s audiences, could never merit the tag of “boring.
Drop kicks, flying mares, off-the-rope tackles, rolling short arm scissors, resounding body slams, bridges, ankle picks, piledrivers, and an arm strength full-bridge “Indian Death Lock” were his stock in trade.
He sold, could be stiff or loose, as his opponent dictated, and was never the Youngbloods, or Big Heart, punching bag to “war dance,” chuckle evoking, stereotypical noble savage.
Don Eagle’s first two years in the game showed notable victories over Ali Baba, Rufus Jones, Joe Dusek, Ivan Kalmikoff, Fred Bozic, Ray Steele, Yukon Eric, and Dick Raines.
Unfortunately, the Raines win via DQ cost him 17 months of inactivity due to severe shoulder and back damage that would have ended it all for a less driven competitor.
He returned rusty in 1948 but, in a preview of what was to come, still had his arm raised in victory in 18 of the 32 singles head-to-heads in which he appeared.
Adding five draws and two tag triumphs, Eagle managed a 20-9-5 log, the lowest winning percentage of his 18-year career.
Seven of the nine downers came at the hands of Orville Brown and Buddy Rogers, a pair of NWA champions.
The following campaign added Billy Goelz, Ivan Rasputin, Red Bastien, Rudy Kay, Lord Blears, Ronnie Etchison, and Yvon Robert’s scalps to his trophy shelf.
He was still, for all practical purposes, a mid-western commodity, although he did do a one-shot deal in Boston and three premier performances in Pittsburgh, where he made quick work of Gorgeous George.
He was only 24 years old and was placing enough fannies in the folding chairs that demand for his services grew monthly. The fact that his first carding with Lou Thesz in Montreal ended with Don Eagle being disqualified with the gladiators holding one fall apiece put Mr. Mohawk’s kisser on the cover of newsstand magazines.
He was the hottest of properties as 1950 rolled around.
Enter Fred Kohler, the Chicago director of operations, to go along with Al Haft, who had been the beneficiary of Eagle’s S.R.O. house packing in Ohio. The top of the heap seemed on the near horizon.
Cyclone Anaya coughed up the Illinois Heavyweight title; the formidable Fred Von Schact went down, and, with Jack Dempsey as the referee, Gorgeous George once more bit the dust in International Amphitheatre action in the “City of the Big Shoulders.”
Don Eagle: AWA Champion
Meanwhile, in the Haft Camp of the AWA, Don Evans, the Great Togo, and Frank Talaber lost to the heir apparent for the World Championship.
Finally, on May 23rd, 1950, the expected passing of the strap occurred in Cleveland, when Don Eagle bested reigning king Frank Saxton in a best of three falls battle.
He was 25. It seemed like there would be no stopping him for the foreseeable future.
Eagle’s next major defense of his AWA kingship was not slated until June 23rd in Cincinnati against Sandor Kovacs.
And then, in keeping with centuries of broken treaties and smallpox-infected reservation blanket gifts, Kohler and his fellow conspirators sprung the most infamous double-cross match to date in professional wrestling. It robbed Don Eagle of his title and weakened the AWA so that the NWA could claim unification with a belt worn for the next five years by Lou Thesz.
Don Eagle: Victim of Early Wrestling Screwjob
Don Eagle’s May 26th, 1950 match with Gorgeous George, not ranked in the top ten as a contender, was just a televised four-bout program appearance in the regular weekly time slot. It wasn’t a dark match. There was little advance publicity. World titles were never given as freebies on the tube.
The newly crowned mat king did not wear his belt to the ring, nor did the introductions make mention of a title bout. One of the two regular program referees, Earl Mullihan, would make the calls.
The snakes were ready to strike.
No contemporary comparison with the McMahon-Hart duplicity comes close to the Chicago assassination.
Don Eagle was cut down without cause or warning. He was a young Native American. He was expendable.
The deed was captured on film with Russ Davis calling the match. The champion dominated George, whose lone offense was a combination of eye gauges and kidney shots of the loosest variety before begging for mercy and submitting to the vaunted death lock to end fall one.
Don Eagle was once more in control when he propelled himself to the floor via a glancing flying shoulder block, only to be counted out with a speedy ten by Mullihan to even the falls at one per contestant.
Not long into the deciding fall, executioner Kohler’s trap was sprung.
Three quick short rolls using the middle rope for leverage, with a tight grip of the strand, into a backyard cradle, let Mullihan give a quick count with one of the champion’s shoulders clearly off the mat. The Marvelous Mohawk had been gut shot. All hell broke loose.
Watch Don Eagle vs. Gorgeous George in Chicago, May 26th, 1950:
Realizing the travesty, the former boxer slugged “Evil Earl” and also managed to snare his collar with a free hand as Mullihan fled the ring, ripping his sweaty shirt down its side.
Another shot landed on the back of his shoulder blades as he struggled up the aisle to the locker room, and spectators began pelting the ring with debris.
A riot ensued.
Gorgeous George, clearly shaken, fought his way from the ring with police assistance.
The ring ropes were torn down, chairs flew, and Russ Davis’ closing words to his crew were, “Let’s get out of here.”
In a legitimate lawyer’s present hearing, the Illinois Athletic Commission suspended Don Eagle for 60 days and fined him $400.00. It was not a work.
Al Haft and his associates continued to recognize Don Eagle as AWA World’s Champion. He held this honor for two years and wore his belt when working outside the territory.
This writer witnessed his magic on seven occasions in Newark, Teaneck, Asbury Park, the “old Garden” in New York, and Patterson. He defeated Gene Stanley and the Golden Terror, drew with Pat O’Connor, Roland Meeker, and Antonino Rocca, one of 11 out of 11 even meetings during their careers.
In tag team work, he teamed with Rocca to best O’Connor and Hombre Montana and combined with Chief Big Heart to outlast the Tolos Brothers.
The Sad Decline and Demise of Don Eagle
There were more severe injuries as Chief Don Eagle met the best from coast to coast. They took their toll so that, in the final three years in the ring, he appeared only 34 times.
And yet, despite these painful interruptions, his numbers over 18 years tell the tale of a ring rarity. A .845 winning percentage in singles matches, a .702 rating in tag competition, 917 victories, and only 75 setbacks before being forced to surrender to broken bones and torn muscles at age 38.
Not much is documented about the next three years in the life of Don Eagle. His final bold newspaper print recorded his death on March 17, 1966, allegedly by his own hand. He was 41.
Wrestling Revue reported Eagle’s death, stating that it appeared he died from a self-inflicted wound.
Other newspaper reports at the time indicated that he had been forlorn over construction project setbacks: namely, a Logan County (Ohio) Indian village, an expansion program in the Zane Shawnee Caverns, and a $12 million Indian Center near Montreal.
Those close to Eagle do not believe that his death was by his own hands, Billy Two Rivers being one of those people.
Skeptics of his death noted that it could have been a murder, connected to the death of his wife, Jean Eagle.
A devoted follower of his career can only speculate what went through his mind back on the Reservation in Caughnawaga, Quebec, over the last three years of his life.
Perhaps, just like the sleek racing dog that spends his prime attempting to catch the rabbit, only to discover it was only a mechanized stuffed toy, he was utterly disillusioned with his ring years.
Or, then again, dismay came from knowledge of this chase and his inability to be a part of it anymore.
Perhaps, foul play was at hand. Theories still remain.
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New Evidence from the House Where Don Eagle Died
Caroline Webster, who lived in Chief Don Eagle’s former home from 1968 to 1973 with her family, just two years after the wrestling legend’s controversial death, contacted Pro Wrestling Stories in September 2025 to share her recollections from that time period. Her account includes secondhand information from a neighbor as well as personal experiences during the years following Chief Don Eagle’s death. The following details are based on Caroline’s memories and statements to Pro Wrestling Stories.
What Caroline shared provides the most compelling eyewitness account to date supporting the theory that Don Eagle was murdered rather than having died by suicide.
Caroline reveals that their neighbor, Monsieur Bourque, witnessed crucial events on March 17, 1966, the day Chief Don Eagle died. According to Caroline, “Our neighbour Monsieur Bourque told us the day of the death of Don Eagle a man came to visit Don and there was a lot of yelling before the shot went off.”
This eyewitness testimony directly contradicts the official suicide ruling and supports what Don Eagle’s family and close friends like Billy Two Rivers always believed: that foul play was involved.
Caroline’s account also sheds new light on the death of Don Eagle’s widow, Jean Eagle, which occurred while Caroline’s family was living in the house. The details she provides are disturbing:
“One day, Chief Joseph War Eagle (the father of Chief Don Eagle) came to our house because the widow of Don, Jean, was missing. He asked my brother to go with him to look for her. Chief War Eagle drove my brother to a wooded area and asked my brother to go in that wooded area to find her. Her car was burnt out with her in the driver’s seat. Later that day, two detectives came to our home to question my brother.”
This account confirms that Joseph War Eagle, Don Eagle’s father, was the one who discovered Jean’s burned body in July 1968. The fact that detectives questioned Caroline’s brother suggests there was an active investigation, though Caroline notes, “To this day, I do not know how that story ended.”
Caroline’s family had deep connections to the War Eagle family that went beyond just living in Don’s former home. She reveals that “Chief Joseph War Eagle saved my mother’s life, he was our landlord and came by our house and found my mother hemorrhaging on the floor and had her transported to the hospital. She miscarried twin boys.”
The family found comfort with Joseph War Eagle and his wife Marion: “I used to find solace visiting at Chief Joeseph War Eagles’ home with his wife Marion. They were very kind to me and he had a great library of encyclopedias which I would pour over.”
Caroline also provides an intriguing detail about the wrestling world: “I dated Marion’s son, Roger Vachon. He was raised by his grandmother, and it was kept secret that Marion was his mother because she had him out of wedlock.”
Spiritual Presence and Family Anger
Perhaps most remarkably, Caroline described to Pro Wrestling Stories how Chief Don Eagle’s spirit may have remained connected to the house.
“My mother had a medium come to our home because of the presence of the spirit of Don Eagle. Don’s spirit spoke to us through a the alphabet we had written on our kitchen table.”
According to Caroline, the spirit communicated specific anger about how his memory was being treated. “He said he was angry because his father [Chief Joseph War Eagle] was renting out his indigenous apparel to tourists who would dress up in them to have their picture taken. I saw some of those pictures.”
This detail suggests that even after death, Don Eagle was concerned about the exploitation and commercialization of his Native American heritage, something that had been carefully avoided during his wrestling career when he refused to be reduced to stereotypical portrayals.
Caroline’s account also provides a human element often missing from historical records. She mentions that “My younger sisters played with two of his children, Hunter and Star,” giving names to Don Eagle’s children who continued living in the area after their father’s death.
Ongoing Questions Regarding Chief Don Eagle’s Death
Caroline Webster’s testimony provides the strongest evidence yet that Chief Don Eagle’s death was not suicide. Her neighbor’s eyewitness account of a visitor, an argument, and then shots directly contradicts the official narrative. Combined with the suspicious circumstances surrounding Jean Eagle’s death two years later, these revelations support decades of suspicions held by those who knew Don Eagle personally.
The case officially remains unsolved, with authorities still seeking information about both deaths. Caroline’s courage in sharing these long-held family memories with Pro Wrestling Stories adds crucial pieces to a puzzle that has remained incomplete for nearly 60 years. It suggests that the truth about Chief Don Eagle’s final moments may be far darker than originally believed.
As Caroline concludes, “I do believe this account of his death. His spirit was very present in that house while we lived there.”
With both deaths remaining officially unsolved cases, readers can examine Caroline’s account alongside the existing historical record to form their own conclusions about what may have occurred during Chief Don Eagle’s final days. The questions surrounding both Don and Jean Eagle’s deaths continue to be discussed among wrestling circles and those local and familiar with the family’s story.
We dive into further details on the life and passing of Chief Don Eagle in our article, Gorgeous George and the Don Eagle ‘Chicago Short Count’ Screwjob.
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