Wrestling Heritage

By Graeme Cameron

A British History of Australian Wrestling
By Graeme Cameron

Part 10:
INTO THE HERITAGE ERA

As the Heritage Era began in Australia, pro wrestling was booming as never before. Cards in the main cities now featured two wrestling matches, a heavyweight, sometimes international main event, and a support match between lighter men or lesser-known locals (sometimes both). There were now two venues each in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, and a number of small suburban stadiums in Sydney, led by the 5,500 seat Leichhardt Stadium, supplemented Sydney Stadium. In New South Wales, outside Sydney wrestling could be seen in Broken Hill, Wollongong and Newcastle regularly. There was a healthy circuit in North Queensland and in Western Australia, as well as Perth, Fremantle and Bunbury and Kalgoorie also presented wrestling. There was anything up to ten cards or more being presented around the country on any given week.

It was the era of “The Four Kings”, Billy Meeske, Tom Lurich, George Pencheff and Fred Atkins, joined late in the decade by Olympian Eddie Scarf and American Chief Little Wolf.  The majority of main events usually featured at least one and sometimes two of that group.  The decade saw the debuts of Pencheff (1929), Tommy Nilan (1931), Alan “Bonnie” Muir (1933), and Frank Hurley (1939). New local faces making an impression were Nilan, Muir, Joe Dawson, Jack “Rocky” Britton and “Tiger” Jack Higgins. 

In addition, in 1930, long-time rivals and American former world champions Ed “Strangler” Lewis and Joe Stecher clashed again at Sydney Stadium, with Lewis returning in 1937 to face another American, Olympic gold medalist, John Spellman, who had turned pro. Four other wrestlers who had or would be  recognised as world champion in America toured, Dean Detton, Gus Sonnenberg, Ray Steele and Vincent Lopez. Wrestlers appearing known to Heritage readers were, Sam Burmister, George Boganski, Leo Demetral, Canada’s Earl McCready, and George Modrich, alongside too many other international wrestlers to list.

 Only three well-known British wrestlers toured in this decade, Sam Clapham (1932) and Douglas Clark and Mitchell Gill (both 1936-37) but a host of British immigrants and sons of British immigrants more than made up for this. We begin with three wrestlers whose careers spanned the Twenties and Thirties.

BILLY DUTTON (1925-35)

When Billy Dutton arrived from Wigan in 1924, he already had an established reputation, not only as a wrestler but also as a writer and journalist. He was a member of a legendary Lancashire wrestling family, so many of whom were wrestlers that they had their own club, ‘The Dutton Club”, in which family members only competed against each other.  As a writer and journalist, he had written a book, The Wrestler’s Dream and a series, The Mystery Lock for Health and Strength magazine in the UK prior to coming to Australia. He also had a diploma in Swedish Massage. He settled in the Illawarra region, adjacent to the southern border of Sydney, on a farm just outside the village of Woonona and worked in a coal mine in neighbouring Austinmer, both now suburbs of the city of Wollongong.

Dutton’s career was largely confined to the Illawarra region, but he did occasionally venture to other areas. The first match record is in March 1925 on home turf in Woonona, when he was unsuccessful in his challenge to Australian Heavyweight champion, Billy Meeske. The next record is in August 1927, when Dutton defeats New Zealand’s Theo Gudding on points at The Globe Theatre in Wollongong in a match billed as being for the New South Wales Cruiserweight title.

In July 1928, he defeated Western Australia’s Don McDonald, also at The Globe Theatre, then ventured west of Sydney to the town of Lithgow in July to defeat Greek Frank Katious at the Union Theatre after Katious was unable to continue. A month later Dutton drew 1-1 with George Boganski at the same venue.  In November 1929, he seconded American former world champion John Pesek for his bout against Peter Limutkin at The Globe Theatre and a month later opposed American Alex Lundyn at Wollongong Stadium, the result of which is unknown. In 1931, he was one of a group of light heavyweights featured at Sydney Stadium, when finances didn’t allow management to import wrestlers. The only record for this period is match in May at Sydney Stadium, a 2-1 win over Joe Keatos.

In 1932, Dutton returned to the UK and remained for two years appearing across the UK and Europe. Only one match record survives. In December 1934, Dutton defeated “Young” Tom Rose at Blackfriars in bout billed as being for the British Cruiserweight title. Other opponents Dutton is known to have faced are Billy Riley and Joe Fletcher. In 1935, Dutton returned to Australia. In April, he lost to “Bad” Bill Bray 0-2 at Brisbane Stadium, suffering badly injured ribs in the match. There are no match records for Billy Dutton after this date. 

Billy Dutton became something of a local celebrity in the Illawarra region. Apart from his wrestling career, he opened a gym in Woonona in partnership with another local man, often acted as a guest judge at local fairs, and worked as a journalist, reporting on wrestling and local events in the Illawarra region for The South Coast Times and Illawarra Argus. A few of his articles can be found online.

Opponents: Billy Meeske, Theo Gudding, Don McDonald, Frank Katious, George Boganski, Alex Lundyn, Joe Keatos. In the UK: “Young” Tom Rose, Billy Riley, Joe Fletcher.

TERRY MORRISON (BOXING 1926-32) (WRESTLING 1933-36)

When Terry Morrison left his home in Perth, Scotland to immigrate to Australia, he chose to settle in a place with a very familiar name. Perth, Western Australia. Following what seems to have become something of a tradition for British immigrant wrestlers in that city, he joined the Perth Fire Brigade. A heavyweight boxer-wrestler, he arrived in 1925 and began pursuing a career as a professional boxer with, it has to be said, less than spectacular results. Between 1926 and 1932, there are records for 13 bouts with Morrison having a 3-10 record. As it happened, one of those three wins was for the Western Australia Heavyweight title, but he lost it in his first defence. He was very tough and was never knocked out but took some terrible beatings. His style was often criticised as lacking skill and looking more like wrestling than boxing, so it was no surprise when he joined the ranks of pro wrestling.

Although he participated in a few charity exhibitions prior to this, Terry Morrison’s pro wrestling career didn’t actually begin until 1933 and was brief, lasting only a few years (1933-36). The first record of him as a wrestler is in February 1933, when, as “The Masked Wrestler”, he was soundly beaten 2-0 by Martin Bucht (Padvo Peltonin) at “The Ring”, a Fremantle stadium. There are no further records until August, a loss to local star Johnny Lewis at Bunbury Stadium. He returned to the same venue the next month without the mask and defeated Londoner Krupps Miller. 

Morrison then moved East, spending the next five months in Queensland. He donned the mask again, working as ‘The Masked Marvel”.  This only lasted two weeks. He lost by disqualification to Leo Demetral at Bohemia Stadium. The following week at the same venue, he was unmasked in a loss to Billy Meeske. In the following months, at Bohemia Stadium, he lost again to Meeske, and to Russian Nick Dprenovsky and Mike Finnegan. He also lost to Sam Burmister in Rockhampton and to German Paul Egal in the small town of Bowen.

He made a brief trip to Sydney in December 1933 for a match against New Zealand’s Billy Bayne at Newtown Stadium (result unknown). The final record for him in Queensland is in January 1934, a loss to American Joe Gotch at Bohemia Stadium.

Morrison spent rest of the first three months of 1934 in Adelaide, again losing to Meeske, splitting two matches with John Saveloff and drawing with local star Hughie Whitman. He lost a bad-tempered match by disqualification to Greek Denis Koutsovides when some business dealings gone bad spilled over into the ring. In April, he travelled to Melbourne where he lost yet again to Meeske in a match which was staged at Wirth’s Circus in a cage of lions.

There are two further records for Terry Morrison, a loss to Hughie Santell in 1935 and in March 1936 to Frenchman Leon LeNaylor in Perth.  The latter was the last match record for Terry Morrison. He had retired by 1937, but he occasionally appeared as a boxing referee up until the start of World War II. 

Terry Morrison’s life was not without controversy. He was accused but found innocent of stealing some truck parts. He took up a new profession as a private detective, specialising  in divorce. He manufactured some evidence in order to get paid, but the lady got suspicious. He was convicted of fraud but does not seem to have served any time.  He was fond of get-rich-quick schemes and once convinced people that he could turn sea water into gold. 

Terry Morrison was a colourful character. He did not often get his hand raised in victory but always provided a competitive and entertaining match. As with many other wrestlers of this period the trail ends at the start of World War II. What became of Terry Morrison after this is unknown.

Opponents: Martin Bucht, Johnny Lewis, Krupps Miller, Leo Demetral, Billy Meeske, Nick Dprenovsky, Sam Burmister, Billy Bayne, Joe Gotch, Mike Finnegan, Paul Egal, John Saveloff, Hughie Whitman, Dennis Koutsevelis, Hughie Santell, Leon LeNaylor.

HUGHIE SANTELL (1929-35)

Hughie Santell was variously billed as being from Northern England, Scotland, or being born in Melbourne to Scottish parents. Records suggest the latter is probably the truth. Where the confusion came in is that in 1919, a young Hughie Santell sailed to England, heading to the North (probably Lancashire) in order to further his wrestling education. During this time, he was known to have been active as a wrestler, but no known results survive. He returned to Australia in 1929. A heavyweight, it appears he learned his lessons in Northern England well. He was noted for his speed and was regarded as the most skilful wrestler in the country in the early Thirties.

Though Hughie Santell was known to be active prior to this, the first record for him is on December 4, 1931in Queensland, a win by disqualification over Alex Lundyn at Rockhampton’s City Stadium. He was active in Queensland from late 1931 to April 1932. He also met John Saveloff in Rockhampton (result unknown). At Brisbane Stadium, he drew with Greek Con Grivas and lost a points decision to Saveloff. Santell v Saveloff would become a great rivalry of the period, the pair meeting several times (that we know of) with results split more or less evenly.

In 1933, Santell moved on to Western Australia, where he became a featured performer at the Luxor Theatre, Perth. At that venue, between February and September, he met Greek Spiro Kolonikos twice (one win, one result unknown), defeated Johnny Lewis by disqualification in February, then lost to him in August. He met John Saveloff three times for two wins and one loss by injury default and defeated Con Grivas. The only result outside of Perth was a draw with Martin Bucht at Bunbury Stadium. By December, he had returned to Queensland, where he continued his rivalry with John Saveloff, losing on points at Rockhampton’s City Stadium once again.

There are no records for Hughie Santell in 1934 and only two for 1935. He defeated German Paul Egal in March at Bohemia Stadium and Terry Morrison, venue and date unknown.

There are no further references to Hughie Santell after 1935. 

Hughie Santell was highly regarded by the top wrestlers of Australia and was arguably one of the best wrestlers never to have held the Australian Heavyweight title.

Opponents: Alex Lundyn, John Saveloff, Con Grivas, Spiro Kolonikos, Johnny Lewis, Martin Bucht, Paul Egal , Terry Morrison.

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