Hoss was some Big strong man, Dan Blocker
Hoss was truly the "gentle giant of the Ponderosa".Dan Blocker came into the world on December 10, 1928 the only son of Shack and Mary Blocker. Weighing 14 pounds at birth, he is the largest baby ever born in Bowie County, Texas. At 13 he was a rugged 200-pounder and his scrapping talents
so delighted local townsmen they arranged regular weekly fights between "the big "un", as Blocker was nicknamed, and all comers. He eventually grew to stand 6 feet 3 inches tall, and usually weighed in at close to 300 pounds. "My daddy used to say... that I was too big to ride and too little to hitch a wagon -- no good for a damn thing," Blocker would later recall.