George A. Hamid, Jr., retired Producer of the world famous HAMID CIRCUS, most often found himself in the role of the “Understander” – circus jargon for the key acrobat who stands under a human pyramid as its center of strength and the man who is literally the human foundation upon which the rest of the cast looks for support and direction.

Born in 1918 to legendary showman, George A. Hamid, Sr. and his wife, Elizabeth, Hamid, Jr. was associated with all types of show business during his illustrious career, but especially the circus.

“Show business personalities sometimes perpetuate the legend that they were born in a truck,” Hamid, Jr. said. “In my case, I can remember working with my father on a number of things pertaining to the circus, including being around lions, tigers, bears and elephants.”

“Being around elephants qualifies my statement that although I wasn’t born in a trunk, I had the occasion to watch a few trunks being born.”

Upon the passing of Hamid, Sr. in 1971, George, Jr. took over the reins of not only the HAMID CIRCUS but became President of the New Jersey State Fair and the Greensboro Agricultural Fair and was one of the founding fathers of the Miami Dolphins football team. His holdings also included the world famous Steel Pier in Atlantic City, many motion picture theaters, various insurance companies, racetracks, and, in his spare time, even managed a boxer who fought Muhammad Ali for the Heavy Weight Championship of the World.

Even after passing control of the circus to his son in 1997, this Princeton educated showman maintained an active role as a key advisor and consultant to the U.S. based Circus Producers Association for many years.

Now, fully retired, George, Jr. can look back on a career full of accomplishments, content in the knowledge that he helped in preserving the American Circus as vital part of our national heritage.