Vince Evans, who wrote Masked Decisions: The Triangular Life of Dick ‘The Destroyer’ ‘Doctor X’ Beyer; From American Athlete to International Icon with Dick Beyer, has died.
His wife, Patrice, shared the news on July 9, 2023:
It is with deep sadness that I share with you that my beloved husband passed from this life yesterday at home. He was a devoted husband, father, stepfather, grandfather, son, brother, uncle and friend. His life revolved around his family and friends and he treasured every moment spent with them.
He loved sharing special moments in his life. His Buffalo Bills, Notre Dame football, golf and travel were all things that brought him great joy. Our life together was filled with wonderful memories, fun and laughter.
I know he would want me to share with you how much he enjoyed your posts. I thank you all on his behalf for your friendship over the years. He will be missed by all who knew him.
With love,
Patrice
In 2011, Evans shared with SlamWrestling.net how he got to know Beyer, initially in Buffalo, New York.
He was on assignment for a story on Beyer aimed at the over-55 community.
“I met him at a restaurant and for the next three hours, he told me of his story that I found absolutely incredible. I wrote the story up as best I could. It was only a limited number of words. We had it in the magazine and he read it and he liked it. He told me at one time, ‘When I’m ready to do my book, I’m going to call you,'” recalled Evans, who admitted he didn’t put much thought into it at the time.
Beyer and Evans met up again at a Greater Buffalo Sports Hall of Fame event — Beyer had been inducted previously and Evans had been an officer and board member through the years. They started talking again about a book.
“It took a number of years to get it moving and going, actually three years as far as getting it written,” Evans said.
Growing up in Plymouth, Pennsylvania, Evans said he was a little bit of a wrestling fan in the 1950s, but had watched little after that. Even his education, at King’s College, in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he got a B.A. in Sociology/English in 1971, and then the University of Buffalo, where he completed a Master of Social Work (M.S.W.), didn’t foretell that he would be a writer. Instead, Evans spent years in the health care field, working in hospices and palliative care. That work had the family moving across the United States, from California to Florida.
In 2017, when he joined Cornerstone Hospice and Palliative Care as Regional Partnership Development Manager, based in Florida, the announcement detailed Evans’ employment history: “Evans has a 30 plus-year career in the healthcare industry which nurtured his passion for providing high quality and compassionate health care to seniors. His expertise led him to work at hospice and home health agencies across the nation before coming to Central Florida.”
Creatively, Evans had been a part of a folk group in the 1960s called The Impropers, based in Wilkes-Barre. In 1993, he auditioned and was chosen to be a part of a choir that performed during the opening ceremonies of the World University Games at Rich Stadium in Buffalo, singing alongside Kenny Rogers and Clint Holmes. (Buffalo was the first U.S. city to host the World University Games.)
Vince Evans holds a Destroyer mask taut for Dick Beyer to sign it at the 2015 Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas. Photo by Brad McFarlin
Masked Decisions ended up being self-published; Beyer’s alma mater, Syracuse University, where he also coached, was going to publish the book but it would take a few years. “After some soul-searching and some talk about this option, that’s how we went,” said Evans in 2011.
Through the ensuing years, Evans and Beyer were tag team partners in promoting the book, including joint appearances at the Cauliflower Alley Club reunion in Las Vegas.
“I will forever appreciate the opportunity he gave me to write his story,” posted Evans to Facebook in 2022, along with a photo of Beyer with the book.
Further details on Evans’ death on July 8, 2023, are not known at this time.
TOP PHOTO: Vince Evans and The Destroyer in Japan. Facebook photo
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Vince was a good friend and a contact on Facebook for a number of years. He was one of the guitarists in our Folk Group, The Impropers. I was a tenor and sang alongside Vince in a number of venues. He’ll be sadly missed and always remembered.