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The Irish Whirlwind
Rough and tough middleweight Frank O’Donnell used the sort of tactics that made the crowd love to watch him, win or lose. The bald dome and rugged tactics were a familiar feature of wrestling halls during the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in the village of Loughanornan, County Donegal, in 1924 he was brought up in a Gaelic speaking home, left school at fourteen and took up farm work. Frank moved to Scotland when he was seventeen, again working on a farm near Dundee. Having joined a local gym he took up boxing and weightlifting. At the gym he met a Dundee policeman, Eddie Anderson, who was the brother of professional wrestler Jim Anderson. He also befriended a number of wrestlers making use of the facilities, one of them being George Kidd. Frank discovered that he enjoyed wrestling more than boxing and gave up any aspirations in that direction to concentrate on wrestling.
Frank took up amateur wrestling in 1944 and turned professional towards the end of 1945, losing by a knockout in the third round to Sanky Allen in Dundee. In 1954, encouraged by wrestlers George and Harry Broadfield, he moved to the Yorkshire village of Middlestown, half way between Wakefield and Huddersfield. Again he took to farm work, this time working on Broadfield’s farm combined with life on the road as a professional wrestler.
In later years Frank’s working life was shared between his wrestling career and roadbuilder with McAlpine. He travelled extensively during his wrestling career, including regular trips back home, and worked for all the Joint Promotion members. The “blue eye” of his early wrestling days gradually transformed into a harder edged grappler who was more than content to disregard the rules. National television exposure came with appearances against some of the most accomplished wrestlers, Majid Ackra, Les Kellett and Harry Fields amongst them.
Golf was Frank’s main love following his retirement in 1972. He used his construction and landscaping skills to good effect when he designed the Bagden Hall golf course and managed its construction.
Frank O’Donnell died on 25th July, 2004. When he died, aged eighty, the flag was lowered to half mast at the Dewsbury Golf Club. Newspapers reported over two hundred mourners attended his funeral.
Page added 05/05/2024
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