Before he became an actor, Chuck Connors was a baseball player for many years. He played most of his career with the Montreal Royals of the International League and had a few look-sees in the Big leagues.
Played major league baseball (for the Chicago Cubs) in 1951. Connors also played professional basketball with the Boston Celtics. Four sons; Mike, Jeff, Steve, Kevin. Chuck Person, an NBA Player, is named after him. According to a article on TV westerns in Time Magazine (March 30, 1959), Connors stood 6'5" tall, weighed 215 pounds, and had chest-waist-hips measurements of 45-34-41 Almost suffered the same fate in each of his two TV westerns. On a 10-2-61 episode of "The Rifleman" called "The Vaqueros," Chuck was stripped to the waist, tied to a tree, and left to die under a scorching sun by a group of Mexican bandits. On an 11-14-65 episode of "Branded" called "Fill No Glass for Me," he was stripped to the waist, tied to a tree, and left to die under a scorching sun by a group of Indian warriors. (In both cases he survived.) Very likely the only guest commentator on Monday Night Baseball to use the F-word. Received a star on Hollywood's "Walk of Fame" in 1985. Was elected to the Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1991. In a 1997 biography titled "The Man Behind the Rifle," author David Fury says that "Chuck" Connors acquired his nickname while an athlete playing first base. He had a habit of calling to the pitcher: "Chuck it to me, baby, chuck it to me!" Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1991. Lucas McCain, Connors' character on The Rifleman, was ranked #32 in TV Guide's list of the "50 Greatest TV Dads of All Time" [20 June 2004 issue]. He was the first NBA player to shatter a backboard, he did it while playing for the Boston Celtics in 1946. Accepted the role of Mr. Slausen in Tourist Trap (1979) because he wanted to "become the Boris Karloff of the 80's". On October 10, 1950, he was traded by the Brooklyn Dodgers - with whom he had appeared with in one game in 1949 - with Dee Fondy to the Chicago Cubs for Hank Edwards and cash. He spent part of the 1951 season with the Cubs. Before the 1940 baseball season, he was signed by the Brooklyn Dodgers as an amateur free agent. Was an altar boy and parishioner at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. He was a staunch supporter of the Republican Party as well as a frequent guest at the White House during the administration of his close friend President Richard Nixon.