Roger Peltz

Roger Peltz was a high school All-American basketball player in Royal Oaks, Michigan. For his first two seasons at Tennessee, he was an obscure reserve. In 1970 Head Coach Ray Mears suggested that Peltz ride a unicycle around the basketball court to spice up pregame warm ups. When the 1970 basketball season opened, Peltz took part in the warm up drills riding his unicycle, to the delight of the crowd. After being bombarded with oranges at the Kentucky game, Peltz confined his riding to home games. The next year, he expanded his act, juggling three basketballs while riding the unicycle and made “guest appearances” at the Louisiana State University and Alabama games. Shortly after he graduated, Peltz got a final request from Mears: to wrestle a bear at the halftime of the Volunteer Classic. He and John Paschal, a Knoxville health club operator, teamed up against a muzzled (and toothless) 450-pound trained bear, with the final act being the “flipping” of Peltz by the bear and Pascal then containing the bear.