Dode "Bearcat" Bercot in 1923
Monroe Historical Society photo #1450

Sitting in his corner of the boxing ring in 1923, the same year he took the Pacific Northwest Lightweight Championship and the year before the Monroe Union High School athletic team name was changed from the Panthers to the Bearcats in his honor. The local southpaw logger won over 100 main event bouts-42 by knockout. A boxing injury left him blind in one eye but he continued boxing for several more years before retiring in 1933 to become the first game protector on Whidbey Island, a position he held for 30 years.