Wrestling Heritage

By Graeme Cameron

A British History of Australian Wrestling
By Graeme Cameron

PART 16: 
Cometh The Legends

The second half of the 1950s was notable for three reasons. irst, the number of legends who toured the country. For Stadiums Limited, in late 1956, “The Human Orchid” Gorgeous George graced us with his presence. Then In late 1957, National Wrestling Alliance World Heavyweight champion toured. Many former and future world champions had toured in past years, but this was the first time a reigning world heavyweight champion had ever defended his title in Australia. 1959 saw the return of Fred Atkins and a tour by African-American legend Bobo Brazil. Meanwhile, in 1957 George Gardiner brought out Primo Carnera and introduced us to the 28 stone plus Hungarian King Kong (Emil Czaya) who was also the promoter in Singapore. The two met at White City Tennis Courts in Sydney, drawing a crowd of an estimated 22,000, a record which stood until the twenty first century. Carnera returned in 1959 to face the veteran legend Jim Londos. Also in the country that year were future world tag team champions Murder Inc. (Stan Kowalski & Tiny Mills) who worked for all the promotions. Other wrestlers known to Heritage readers who toured were the returning Jack Claybourne and Lucky Simunovich, Francois Miquet, Jake “Dutch” Zorra (as The Great Zorro), Andre Drapp, Ricki Waldo, Ski Hi Lee, Sammy Berg and “Texas” Jack Bence for Stadiums Limited, and for George Gardiner, Andreas Lambrakis and Con Papalazarou.

The second notable feature was the dearth of local main event level wrestlers to face this array of international talent. By the end of 1955, Alan “Bonnie” Muir and American immigrant Leo Jensen had retired, Al Costello, Roy Heffernan, Ray Hunter and Elmo (Paul) Lincoln had all left to further their careers overseas, and Canadian Pat Meehan had returned to his homeland. Chief Little Wolf suffered a career-ending stroke in 1958. In that same year, Wadi Ayoub embarked on a world tour and didn’t return until 1963. By the time Gorgeous George and Thesz arrived, they only wrestled other touring internationals as there were no main event level local wrestlers left to oppose them. Holding the fort were the now veteran George Pencheff, immigrants Emil Koroshchenko and Baron von Heczy, and the returning Frank Hurley. After over 17 years as champion, Pencheff lost the Australian Heavyweight title to Von Heczy in Newcastle. Wrestlers familiar to Heritage readers who made their debut in the latter half of this decade were Kangaroo Kennedy, Otto Ward (Acron), Dennis Dean, Ron Fury and Braka Cortez.

The third feature was the introduction in Sydney of what would become known as “Club Wrestling” towards the end of the decade. Social clubs for returned servicemen (RSLclubs) and workers’ clubs, providing alcohol, dining, social activities and entertainment, sprung up all over the city during the Fifties. Professional wrestling was part of that entertainment (the clubs actually paid the promoter to put on a card). The first regular weekly presentation began in February 1958, every Thursday night at the George’s River Sailing Club in Southern Sydney. “Club Wrestling” exclusively featured local wrestlers and at first, was only in Sydney but eventually it was adopted all over the country.  British wrestler, Allen (Al) Sherry was one of the founding group of wrestlers and it’s with his profile that we start.

ALLEN SHERRY (1953-60)

Thought to be from Wandsworth in London, Al Sherry emigrated to Australia sometime in the second half of 1952, settling in the Bankstown area in Sydney’s Southwest.  Adopting the more formal Allen Sherry, his career was almost entirely Sydney-based. He mostly (but not always) worked as a villain. There are over a hundred match records for him, all but three in Sydney and the majority at Leichhardt Stadium. He appeared there regularly and semi-regularly at Sydney Stadium, largely working as a support wrestler below some of the big international names mentioned above. He had a more prominent role from December to April when Stadiums Limited closed down, and there being no international stars, Leichhardt Stadium featured local wrestlers. 

The first record of Allen Sherry is at Leichhardt Stadium on February 26, 1953, when he’s unsuccessful in challenging Finland’s “Count” Alf Greer for that promotion’s version of the Australian Light Heavyweight title. Seven days later, Sherry reversed that result to become the new champion. Then something odd happened. There’s no record of Sherry ever defending this title. Soon after this, Leichhardt Stadium promoter Herb McHugh seemed to become more interested in tag team and novelty matches such as battle royals and it appears the title was simply forgotten.

Allen Sherry proved to be extremely proficient in the art of tag team wrestling. He first teamed with veteran villain Bob George, the two working together in April/May 1953, then October 1953 to January 1954. Their first recorded appearance was a victory over Bud Cody & Dallas Brown, but the pair engaged in a rivalry with the team of Jon Morro & Snowy Dowton which, it could be argued, established tag team wrestling at Leichhardt Stadium with the two teams headlining five weeks in a row. Over the two periods above, these teams met at least 11 times, even taking the rivalry to Newcastle. Sherry continued the rivalry from March 1954 with a new partner, Alan Pinfold, whom Sherry & George had fought more than once with his previous partner Bud Cody. Sherry & Pinfold opposed Morro & Dowton at least a further seven times. The partnership was cut short when Sherry injured his knee in July and was out until December.  

Early in 1955, a tag team tournament was held to determine the first-ever Australian tag team champions Sherry reunited with George to hold Morro & Dowton to a draw but in the final in February, Morro & Dowton defeated Pinfold & Cody to become the first champions. Sherry appeared in the main support match to this final, defeating Val Cerino in a battle of British immigrants. Teaming with Pinfold once again, Sherry challenged for the title several times.  Finally, in February 1955, Sherry & Pinfold won the title, but their reign was short-lived. In their very first title defence just a week later, they lost the title to Sherry’s old partner Bob George and regular foe, Alf Greer. After this, Sherry teamed with both George and Pinfold occasionally but mainly appeared in singles matches for the next few years.

In singles, Allen Sherry appeared in a number of main events at Leichhardt Stadium during the December-March period each year, but the highlight of his singles career would undoubtedly have been appearing in the main support match when Lou Thesz defended the NWA title against Lord Jan Blears at Sydney Stadium in 1957. His opponent was his old tag team partner, Bob George. He was one of a group of wrestlers we shall call “The Leichhardt Lads” who made numerous appearances at Leichhardt and Sydney Stadiums between 1953 and 1959, wrestling both with and against each other. The group was Sherry, George, Morro, Dowton, Pinfold and Greer, supported by a cast of semi-regulars that included Bud Cody, Val Cerino, Dallas Brown, Len Holt and a number of other wrestlers. His nemesis in singles was Jon Morro, whom he was only ever able to beat once by disqualification. Here’s a list of opponents from that period with win-loss-draw-result-unknown in brackets. 

Jon Morro (1-4–0-6), Alf Greer (4-1-2-5), Alan Pinfold (0-1-0-5), Bob George (3-0-1-2), Snowy Dowton, Bud Cody, Norm Ryan, Frank Potter and Val Cerino (all 2-0-0-0), Len Holt (1-0-1-0), Bern Tamplin (1-1-0-0), Dallas Brown, Carl Novak and Pat King (all 1-0-0-1), Jack Haswell (1-0-0-0), Ken Hawthorne and Rocky Riley (0–0-1-1) plus two matches each for Hal Morgan, Max Steyne, and Stan Andrews and one  each against Jack Parker, Jean Andre and Charlie Gammage, the results of which are unknown.

As previously mentioned, in 1958 Sherry was one of the founding group of wrestlers on the weekly “Club Wrestling” cards at George’s River Sailing Club. In 1959, Stadiums Limited only ran a three-month season from June through August and George Gardiner only in January. Leichhardt Stadium ran all year, and local wrestlers were featured prominently, Sherry was raised to main event level, working with the likes of Frank Hurley, Baron Von Heczy, George Pencheff and American Stan Kowalski. All of these were tag team matches. In April, Sherry teamed with Hurley & Von Heczy to defeated Stan Kowalski, Bob George & The Phantom (Hal Morgan), then teamed with Kowalski for three weeks, winning a tag team tournament over Hurley & The Phantom before losing the next week to George & Rudi Vogel, whom they had gotten by on coin toss in the tournament after drawing with them.  From late September until the season’s end in November, Sherry teamed with George Pencheff, defeating the teams of Snowy Dowton & Pat O’Hara and The Phantom & Bob George twice each, a third contest with the latter team ending in a double knock out. The results of two contests opposing George, who paired first with Max Steyne and then The Phantom are unknown.

Sherry also teamed with Braka Cortez twice and four times with Keith Thompson, (who was a personal friend of mine), two of these bouts being in another Leichhardt tag team tournament, won by Dennis Dean and local wrestler Mark Clayton. In 1960, Sherry won the revived Leichhardt Stadium version of the Australian Light heavyweight title a second time, defeating Greek immigrant Con Dandos. His reign was again brief, losing to Dandos’ brother-in-law, Con Tolios. At the end of 1960, Leichhardt Stadium closed and Sherryl also brought his career to a close. There are no records for Allen Sherry after 1960.

It’s not known when Allen Sherry passed away. In an interview in 2015, Alan Pinfold expressed how much he missed his close friend, so it appears that Sherry died some years earlier. Two Australian Light Heavyweight titles, one Australian tag team title, being integral in establishing tag team wrestling at Leichhardt Stadium and being a member of the founding roster of “Club Wrestling”. All this in just eight years. He will be forever linked with the history of Leichhardt Stadium. As far his wrestling career goes, emigrating to Australia would appear to be the best decision Allen Sherry ever made.

Opponents: Len Holt, Alf Greer, Rocky Riley, Ken Hawthorne, Pat King, Jon Morro, Dallas Brown, Bud Cody, Norm Ryan, Bern Tamplin, Val Cerino, Frank Potter, Jack Haswell, Carl Novak, Snowy Dowton, Hal Morgan (The Phantom), Jack Parker, Bob George, Alan Pinfold, Max Steyne, Jean Andre, Charlie Gammage, Con Dandos, Con Tolios

LORD JAN BLEARS (1957, 1960)

You can read about the life and career of Leigh’s Lord Jan Blears in the “People” section of this web site. His 1957 Australian tour for Stadiums Limited coincided with that of NWA champion Lou Thesz. Blears challenged Thesz for the title twice, their first match in Melbourne ending a double knockout. The second in Sydney saw Thesz defeat Blears two falls to one. In a clash of villains, Blears met Ski Hi Lee twice, defeating Lee in Melbourne but losing in Sydney. He also had matches with Greek Jesse James (Sotiros “Buddy” Pappas) and American Ricki Waldo, the results of which are unknown. Blears returned in 1960, this time working for George Gardiner. The only record for this tour is a draw with Canadian wrestler Jack Laskin but other possible opponents, would have been Con Papalazarou, Chief Big Heart, Lucky Simunovich and “Young” Joe Savoldi. Both tours were brief, lasting about six weeks.

As mentioned in the “People” section, Blears was instrumental in the development of pro wrestling in Hawaii, and trained a number of wrestlers who became big names including Curtis Iaukea and Don Murraco. He was also one of the first four wrestlers to travel to Japan from America and helped to establish pro wrestling in that country.

Opponents: Lou Thesz, Ski Hi Lee, Jess James, Ricki Waldo, Jack Laskin

PAT O’HARA (1959-65)

Pat O’Hara was a 22 stone immigrant from the Republic of Ireland. There is little information on him, but he seemingly arrived sometime in 1958, settling in Sydney. A large, lumbering wrestler, it would be overstating it to say O’Hara was a journeyman. Only twice when working for larger promotions is there a record of Pat O’Hara getting his hand raised, although he may have had victories on the “Club Wrestling” circuit for which there are few records. It’s known that he largely worked on that circuit from 1959 to 1965, but he did make some appearances for larger promotions. 

Pat O’Hara made seven appearances at Leichhardt Stadium in 1959. In April, he teamed with Frank Hurley, losing to Stan Kowalski & The Phantom, then lost to Malo the Leopard Boy in May. The results of matches against Rudi Vogel and Mark Clayton in August and September are unknown. In October, he twice teamed with Snowy Dowton, falling to George Pencheff & Allen Sherry both times, and also lost to Max Steyne.

He doesn’t appear in the records again until December 1964, losing to Larry O’Dea at Sydney Stadium on a “World Championship Wrestling” card. Pat O’Hara is recorded as having worked for George Gardiner in 1965, but no match results are known. All except one of his recorded appearances for 1965 were for “World Championship Wrestling”. In January, he lost to Italian Dominic DeNucci on Sydney TV. In February, he opposed Johnny Boyd at Wolllongong Stadium (result unknown), then defeated Max Steyne at Newcastle Stadium. In May, he partnered French-Canadian Tarzan Tyler, losing a handicap match to The Mighty Hercules (Pepe Cortez) at Sydney Stadium. Later that month, O’Hara teamed with Larry O’Dea against Alan Pinfold & Abe Lightfoot on a “Club Wrestling” card at Hurlstone Park RSL club in Sydney’s inner west (result unknown). In June, he lost again to DeNucci, then to Greek Johnny Kostas, both matches at Sydney Stadium. In late October/November, Pat O’Hara participated in two tournaments in Melbourne’s Festival Hall. In the first, he defeated Big Caramba in the first round, then lost to Karl Gotch (Istaz) in the second round. The following week, he lost in the first round to Col Peters in another tournament at the same venue. This was his final recorded appearance 

Pat O’Hara was never a big name, but he was the definition of a Heritage wrestler, entertaining the crowds for seven years. Outside, the ring, he was an amiable giant. The exact date is not known but Pat O’Hara passed away sometime in the 1980s.

Opponents: Rudi Vogel, Mark Clayton, Larry O’Dea, Dominic DeNucci, Johnny Kostas, Big Caramba, Karl Gotch, Col Peters

Next Time: The Sixties: American Invasion

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