Sky Hi Lee Robert E . Leedy ( born 1921 ) was a Canadian professional wrestler , better known as Ski Hi Lee . He was active for some twenty years . His name is sometimes written as Ski - Hi Lee , Sky Hi Lee , Sky - Hi Lee or Sky High Lee . The pronunciation is ' Sky High ' rather than ' Skee High ' . Lee was usually billed from Texas and wrestled as a cowboy . He had a 54 inch chest , 87 inch arm reach and was said to be 6 ' 8 " tall . Professional wrestling career . Leedy began wrestling in the mid - 1940s , always working as a bad guy , or Heel , because his towering presence made him easy to fear . He has been described as a " country bumpkin version of Jaws from James Bond " . The name Ski Hi Lee is a play on the name of wrestler Sky Low Low , a midget wrestler who used a Native American gimmick . Lee was almost always promoted as a " special attraction " in the territories he worked . Lee was not a very technical wrestler , resorting more to brawling and cheating than to finesse . Nevertheless he was clearly not without talent , for in 1951 he defeated Al Mills for the NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship , a feat he ' d repeat in 1952 . Some of Lee ' s most memorable matches were against other big men such as Killer Kowalski , whom he wrestled in many promotions all over the United States and Canada . In the 1960s Lee went to the UK because of income tax issues , where he wrestled part - time , the physical strain on his body having become too much to allow this huge man to maintain a full career in the sport . His health eventually forced him to retire and to become hospitalized . His death soon followed . Personal life . While still working as a wrestler , Leedy also owned and operated a Dude Ranch ( Rocking H in Acton , Ontario ) and a restaurant just outside of his native Toronto . After retiring from the ring , Leedy had a role in theatre in Paris , apparently as a caveman . He was married to a country singer named Billie Allen Skuce and sometimes appeared on stage with her as a comic foil . They had three children : Robert , Richard and Sandra ( who later changed her name to Sandy ) . Robert Jr . joined the Marines and Richard the Army . Robert Sr . divorced Billy , who later married John M . Carroll , who adopted all three Leedy children . ( Carroll had three boys from his own previous marriage ) . The divorce was reputed to be ugly . Lee was described as " a heavy - drinking rabble - rouser " , who demonstrated his toughness by allowing his back to be used on stage as a dartboard . He would also on occasion order a shot at the bar and then proceed to eat the glass in front of the patrons . It was insinuated that he cared little for the well - being of his wife or children . Others have described him as gentle and harmless . Leedy is well remembered amongst older South Africans , because he is mentioned in a locally - famous satirical song from the sixties entitled " Ag Pleez Deddy " ( " Oh Please Daddy " , also known as " The Ballad of the Southern Suburbs " , by Jeremy Taylor , 1961 ) , in which reference is made to a scheduled bout between Lee and a well - known South African wrestler , Willie Liebenberg . Whether this bout really took place and , if so , who won , is moot . Lee certainly appeared in the ring in South Africa on many occasions and he also fought in Australia . The exact date of Lee ' s death is not documented in the open public domain , nor is the specific cause . It has been suggested that he suffered from a form of gigantism known as acromegaly and that this shortened his life . In the late 1960s and early 1970s he worked in a pub in Pimlico . Students at the nearby Westminster Hospital were regularly told to go to the pub when he was working to observe him , as he provided a textbook case of acromegaly in terms of height and characteristic facial appearance .