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The West Australian newspaper of 9th October, 1946, told the story of Sydney wrestler Frank Hurley. Frank had joined the professional wrestling ranks in 1939, a career soon to be brought to an abrupt end by the outbreak of war. Frank was reported to have been captured in Crete in 1941 during the Second World and sent to a Prisoner of War camp in Germany. Following his release in 1945 he was said to have wrestled in France and England before returning to Australia at the end of 1945. We were unable to find any UK matches in 1945 but have found him back in Australia at the beginning of 1946. He mainly worked for George Gardiner at the Leichhardt Stadium and on Gardiner’s smaller bills in regional towns and cities.
The rough, tough Australian heavyweight came back to the UK in 1949, we find him here in April proclaimed as Australian heavyweight champion. In those first few months he met the heaviest men in Britain, including The Ghoul, Ray St Bernard and Bill Coverdale, Red McKenzie and a Harringay loss to Jack Pye.
His mettle was proved in a 1950 match with Bert Assirati. On 3rd February, 1950 The Coronation Ballroom in Ramsgate was host to the Empire Heavyweight Championship contest when Bert Assirati made his defence against Frank It was a much anticipated return match as Hurley had given the champion a hard time in the same hall a few weeks earlier. Scheduled for six ten minute rounds the Australian took an early lead in the second. It took only minutes for Assirati to equalise and they went into round four all square. Not for long as Assirati’s power proved his superiority and Hurley was counted out.
With that Frank packed his bags and was not to return until 1960, having spent the intervening years in Australia, the United States and Canada.
A return to Britain in 1960 brought one of his few high profile matches. Dale Martin Promotions billed him at the Royal Albert Hall on 21st September, 1960. For Frank there were none of the favours often granted to visiting overseas wrestlers. They pitted him against the ever popular Dazzler Joe Cornelius, a man in his prime on his own turf. Frank did what was expected of him, as always, and went down by two falls to nil,
Frank worked mostly for Dale Martin Promotions in southern England. On television he was inevitably the bad guy, wrestling Peter Maivia and Roy St Clair, twice. His last tv outing was against Roy St Clair in October, 1965. From then on appearances seemed to become rarer, with our final sighting at Croydon in September, 1972, knocked out by Wayne Bridges.
It was said at the time that Frank Hurley was the most travelled wrestler in the world which seemed quite believable. His hobby of ballroom dancing seemed less believable to us but then Heritage sleuth John Shelvey got on the case. He reported “”I met Frank and asked him about his being a ‘good dancer’. Turning to his better half he replied ‘Ask the missus.’ I did and she confirmed he was a very good dancer. You have to remember guys back in Frank’s day usually did learn to dance and would go regularly.”
Frank also told John that he had wrestled, for real, in the gym with Karl Gotch and Buddy Rogers among others. Back home in Australia it seems that Frank made his last appearance much later than we had assumed as John last saw him in the 1980s in Sydney in a Battle Royal which included Andre the Giant.
Frank Hurley was born on 29th January, 1917.
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