Wrestling Heritage

By Graeme Cameron

A British History of Australian Wrestling
By Graeme Cameron

Part 12:
SHARKS AND SAILORS

In this part, we continue looking at wrestlers from the Thirties. This time, it’s Krupps Miller, Peter Guion and Walter Bittman. 

KRUPPS MILLER (1932-34)

Krupps Miller was in reality Londoner W.E.M. (William) Carruthers. He was something of a late starter in professional wrestling, having had a distinguished career in the Royal Army. He served in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 and as a sergeant in Dublin in 1919. After leaving the army sometime in the mid-Twenties, he gained qualifications in physical culture and massage. He also became a pro wrestler. Carruthers earned the nickname “Krupps” while in the army due to his fondness for playing cards for money, a habit which would later get him into trouble with the law (more about that later).

He arrived in Australia with his family sometime in 1927-28. They first settled in Melbourne where Carruthers worked for three years as a physical training instructor at the police academy. The first record of him as Krupps Miller is not until late in 1932, when he travelled to Brisbane. A heavyweight, it was a brief career, lasting only from November 1932 until the end of April 1934 and entirely in Queensland, apart from one short trip to Western Australia in mid-1933, losing to Mike Finnigan in Perth in his only appearance there.  

Between November 1932 and March 1933, Krupps Miller made ten appearances at Bohemia Stadium. In November, he drew 1-1 with John Saveloff, then upset Australian Heavyweight champion Billy Meeske 2-1 in a non-title match (Meeske had moved to Brisbane). In December, he defeated Joe Dawson on points (Dawson would have a brief reign with Meeske’s title in 1934) but lost rematches to Meeske 1-2 and Saveloff on points. In January and February, Miller lost twice each to Meeske and Dawson in further rematches. The result of a match with French-Canadian Jack Hamon in early March is unknown. 

At this point, it should be noted that Miiller’s career nearly came to an end in January 1933 when he was convicted of “Ill Practice While Playing Cards” and sentenced to two months in jail or a 15-pound fine. It seems that while playing a game called “Continental Banker,” Miller knowingly used marked cards to win money from other players. He contested the decision and seems to have got off without any punishment (Continental Banker is a multi-player game similar to Canasta. You can look up how to play on-line). 

A week after his match with Hamon, Miller travelled to the coastal city of Rockhampton (600 km north of Brisbane) where he had a match with George (Hori) Tiki at Rockhampton City Stadium, then a second match with Tiki in the gold mining town of Mount Morgan (results unknown). Also at Rockhampton City Stadium, Miller lost to Sam Burmister late in March, drew with Cairns’ Alex King in April and met German immigrant Emil Wagner (“The Hamburg Giant”) in May, the result of which is unknown.

In April, finding Rockhampton to his liking, Miller moved his family up from Melbourne and opened a health academy where he taught physical culture and ran his massage practice. The building featured a swimming pool where one could be taught to swim by Australia’s first female swimming instructor, a former Olympian. 

The business must have kept him busy because the only results for 1933 were three matches at Bohemia Stadium, all losses, first to New Zealand’s Nugget Potaka 1-2 in late May, then to German Paul Egel on points in June and to Mike Finnigan 0-1 on December 23. This was his final match at Bohemia Stadium. Late in 1933, Miller joined forces with several other local businessmen to become an investor in and co-promoter of the North Queensland circuit.

In 1934, between January and the end of April, all of Krupps Miller’s matches were in regional North Queensland towns. In January, he lost twice to Billy Bayne in Townsville, and to Leo Demetral and Jo Coltos in Ayr. In a series of four matches with Finnigan in April, he lost in Ayr, then lost and drew in Mt Morgan. In the final match, Miller lost again to Finnegan in his guise as “The Masked Wrestler”, also in Mount Morgan. This was the final match record for Krupps Miller.

Although, retired from the ring, Krupps Miller remained involved in the North Queensland circuit, as well as running his business. He gave lectures on health and fitness and was involved in creating a youth sports program in the region. In 1940, he and his family moved back to Melbourne where he opened a new massage practice. He was somewhat surprised to bump into a man in the street whom he had arrested thirty years earlier while serving in the Royal Army in Dublin. In 1948, William Carruthers was the massage therapist for the Australian cycling team at the Olympics. There were no further records for either William Carruthers or Krupps Miller, but he is believed to have passed away in the mid-Seventies.

Opponents: John Saveloff, Billy Meeske, Joe Dawson, Jack Hamon, George (Hori) Tiki, Sam Burmister, Alex King, Emil Wagner, Nugget Potaka, Paul Egel, Billy Bayne, Leo Demetral, Mike Finnigan, Jo Coltos

PETER GUION (1933-41, 1946-50)

That Peter Guion was born in Sydney in 1918 is something of an accident of birth. The son of retired Royal Navy commander Thomas Guion, all of his three older siblings were born in England. Peter Guion first came to notice at the age of fifteen as a swimmer, defeating adults over 440 and 880 yards. He was a lifelong year-round swimmer and member of the legendary Bondi Icebergs club (they famously put blocks of ice in the water in summer to make it colder) and competed in amateur wrestling. At one point he was coaching amateur wrestlers in their clubhouse.

In 1933, somewhat following the family tradition, Peter Guion joined the Royal Australian Navy reserves, quickly rising to the highest possible non-commissioned rank, Chief Petty Officer (there are records of Guions in the Royal Navy dating back to the eighteenth century). As a wrestler, he turned pro in this year. 

A welterweight, Guion had a very small pool of opponents. As a result, he often found himself in catchweight matches against middleweights, light heavyweights and even heavyweights. His career was confined almost entirely to Sydney, usually working support matches at Leichhardt Stadium and featuring at various suburban stadiums, particularly Auburn and Penrith, which featured lighter weight wrestlers. Ambitions to go to America were curtailed by World War II. As there are 152 match records for Peter Guion, some summarising will be necessary.

He made his debut In August 1933.  Over the next 17 months, there are records for 8 matches, all against different opponents, losing to George Vassilis and going to a No Contest with local Ossie Norman in 1933. In 1934, most of his matches were at Carlton Stadium, defeating future Australian Middleweight Champion Sammy Rogers and German Ivan Waldheim as well as meeting locals Sid Lucas and Sam Peterson (results unknown) and losing to Brisbane’s “Bad” Bill Bray. In 1935, he made his Leichhardt Stadium debut against Rogers. In fact, almost all of his matches that year were against either Rogers (2 losses, 4 results unknown) or Vassilis (1win, 1 loss, 2 result unknown).  The only other known result was a loss was to another future Australian Middleweight champion, Dick Cameron at Leichhardt Stadium.

Peter Guion’s standout year was 1936. He defeated Canadian “Tiger” Joe Haxson at Auburn Stadium to become the inaugural (and only) Australian welterweight champion. The records show 7 other appearances at this Stadium.  Welterweight opponents were Greek Johnny Paradice (1 win, 1 draw, 1 result unknown), former amateur champion Reg Piermont (1 loss, 2 results unknown), Little Hack (1 draw, 1 result unknown) and New Zealand’s Arthur Stretton (2 results unknown).  All failed in title challenges. Other opponents were Vassilis (1 loss, 2 results unknown), Rogers (1 loss), Joe Keatos (1 loss, 2 results unknown), and Cameron (1 loss)

For most of the next 5 years, Peter Guions matches were largely against the same opponents. While his results against heavier men were mixed, he was dominant in his own weight class. His overall record (win-loss-draw-result unknown) is as follows; George Vassilis (1-3-0-6), Sammy Rogers (2-3-0-5), Johnny Paradice (4-1-1-8), Reg Piermont (4-1-1-5), Dick Cameron (0-5–1-1), Arthur Stretton (2-1-0-5), and Little Hack (4-1-2-3). 

Between 1937-41, some new faces appeared on the scene. Most notable were victories over a novice Frank Hurley and masked wrestler, “The Unknown”, plus two meetings with Frenchman Leon Le Naylor at Auburn Stadium (results unknown). Other new opponents were Hal Morgan (2 losses, 1 draw), Bill Purdy (2 wins), Carl Webber (1 win, 1 draw), Kiwis Tiger Garner (1 win) and Curly Connors (result unknown), Bern Tamplin (1 loss, 2 results unknown), Todd Hardwick (1 win), Johnny Gilday (2 wins) and Jon Morro (1 win, 1 draw, 1 result unknown). The latter two (Gilday as Alan Pinfold) were future Australian Light Heavyweight and Junior heavyweight champions respectively. Matches with Tamplin were billed as “Navy v Air Force” as Tamplin had joined the Air Force as a sergeant working in the recruitment office.

1939 was also a significant year for Peter Guion. With the coming of war, he was called up to serve on a ship in February. Later in the year, he got married, racing from the ceremony to a match at Leichhardt Stadium, then returning to the reception. Busy day. He attempted to continue his wrestling career despite often being away, but eventually it became impractical to continue. He put a hold on his in-ring career in July 1941, drawing with Little Hack at Leichhardt Stadium as his (for now) final appearance.

Despite not being active, Peter Guion still managed to make the news. While his ship was docked in Darwin Harbour, he and some crewmates decided to take a swim to escape the heat and humidity. Guion felt something on his back and realised a shark was trying to bite him! He alerted his fellow crew members who ganged up and beat the shark off. (Note: DO NOT SWIM IN DARWIN HARBOUR! As was once said, you don’t have to worry about the sharks in Darwin Harbour, the crocodiles will get them). In fact, this wasn’t the only time Peter Guion’s life was in danger. An article revealed that his commanding officer claimed he had nine lives, and he probably only had one left. Apart from the shark incident, he narrowly escaped being killed in a fire on the ship after an explosion and was in two car accidents that should have claimed his life, not to mention somehow coming through unscathed in four other life-threatening situations.

With the war over, Peter Guion resumed his wrestling career and continued for another five years, but things had changed. He had put on weight and now weighed 13 stone. The welterweight title was essentially forgotten. With the closure of all the suburban stadiums in Sydney, he almost exclusively worked as a support wrestler at Leichhardt Stadium. but there were a few exceptions to this. As part of the first post-war New Year’s celebrations on January 2, 1946, Peter Guion wrestled local wrestler Harry Warren on a barge on Sydney Harbour. In August and November 1946, he visited the town of Gloucester (220km northwest of Sydney), twice wrestling local and former army sergeant Don Taylor in a Navy v Army match (1 win, 1 draw). He returned in April 1947, drawing with the villainous Bob George with Taylor as the referee. In July of that year in Newcastle, Guion drew with Todd Hardwick and met Brisbane’s George O’Brien (result unknown).

At Leichhardt Stadium Peter Guion found himself opposite a number of new faces, most notably Roy Heffernan to whom he lost in October 1948 but held to a draw in March 1949. There were again a number of opponents he met regularly over those 5 years, Wal Truscott (0-1-1-0) and Harry Warren (1-0-1-1) 1946-47, former amateur champions Ken Hawthorne (0-2-2-0) and Todd Hardwick (1-0-4-0) 1947-50, and Brisbane’s George O’Brien (0-2-0-0) 1947-48. He also opposed Bern Tamplin (0-1-1-0), Alf Greer (2 wins), Harry Whitehall and Bob George (draws) and defeated Ron Hanson, Snowy Dowton and Adelaide’s Stan Wurth in one-off matches. 

Peter Guion retired from wrestling in late 1950, his final appearance being a draw with Ken Hawthorne at Leichhardt Stadium in August. He spent the rest of his life living quietly in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs. He passed away in 1975 at the age of 57. 

Opponents: George Vassilis, Ossie Norman, Jeff Powers, Sammy Rogers, “Bad” Bill Bray, Ivan Waldheim, Sid Lucas, Sam Peterson, Dick Cameron, Johnny Paradice, Reg Piermont,  Joe Keatos, Arthur Stretton, Little Hack, Carl Webber, Leon LeNaylor, The Unknown, Hal Morgan, Dick Purdy, Jon Morro, Frank Hurley, Tiger Garner, Johnny Gilday, Bern Tamplin, Curly Connors, Todd Hardwick, Don Taylor, Wal Truscott, Harry Warren, George O’Brien, Bob George, Ron Hansen, Roy Heffernan, Alf Greer, Ken Hawthorne, Stan Wurth, Snowy Dowton

WALTER BITTMAN (1932-34)

Walter Bittman, real name William Pittman, was variously billed as being either English or Scottish. Evidence suggests the latter to be the truth. He served in the Royal Navy and claimed to have been middleweight champion of that service three times. Arriving in Australia in late 1932, he settled in Perth where, following the tradition for British immigrant wrestlers, he joined the Perth Fire Brigade. 

His in-ring career was brief, with the first match record in February 1933 and the last in January 1934. Though there were likely many more, only five match records could be found.

In February 1933, he twice met Martin Bucht,  winning in the town of Colie, but losing in Fremantle. In March he opposed two other locals, losing to Hector Jacob, but defeating Bert Best on points after each had taken a fall, both matches also in Fremantle. The only other record for him is in January 1934 when he met another local, Ernie Valdez, at East Perth Stadium in a match billed as being for the Western Australian middleweight title (result unknown).  

It’s possible Bill Pittman’s career was so short because he had so many other irons in the fire. As well as being in the Fire Brigade, he drove a bus on the route from the small town of Moora to Perth and back. He was a highly respected trainer of professional wrestlers. Among those who benefited from his tutelage were such notable names as John Saveloff, George Boganski, Henry Irslinger, Sam Burmister and Luis Pergantes.  He was also a very successful coach of amateur wrestlers, training many state champions and acting as coach of the Western Australian team at national championship tournaments.

There are no references to Walter Bittman or Bill Pittman after 1934. As far as is known, he lived out the rest of his life in Perth. 

Opponents: Martin Bucht, Hector Jacob, Bert Best, Ernie Valdez

Page added 23/03/2025

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