Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Junkyard Dog came into the world as Sylvester Ritter on December 13, 1952. He made his wrestling debut in 1977, measuring 6 feet and 3 inches, weighing in at about 300 pounds. He wouldn't rise to popularity until he started wrestling with Mid-South wrestling under the promotion of Bill Watts, before moving on to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) — now the WWE — in 1984 (via WWE).
There's at least one version of the story that says it was Watts who gave Ritter his famous ring name (per Ritter's page at Pro Wrestling Fandom), and that name would stick for the entirety of his career. But according to The Morning Call, Ritter had already earned that name some time before his wrestling career, while actually working at a junkyard. "The way that I worked as hard as I did, and the way that I stood my ground for what I believed in, well, my boss said to me, just like the song, 'You are meaner than a junkyard dog,"' said Ritter.
Junkyard Dog died tragically at the age of 45 in 1998 on his way home from his daughter's graduation. In 2004, the WWE inducted him to their Hall of Fame.
