Jack Sherry

Ron Historyo Goes On The Trail

Wrestling Heritage welcomes memories, further information and corrections.

If you are still young it may be that you rate the impact of Mighty John Quinn on the British Wrestling scene and if you can remember the sixties perhaps the extra quality that George Gordienko , Billy Two Rivers and Ricky Starr brought here.

The question is, who were the men of the 1930’s to have such an effect? One would be for sure Jack Sherry, not one of the initial pioneers in the early 1930’s , but by the end of the decade a major player.

I will start at the beginning by saying that Sherry , real name Ivan Seric was born 18th October 1894 in Barlete Yugoslavia and named his own ethnicity as Croatian. Looks like he grew up there in a rugged and rambling countryside nowhere near a big city.

Seric travelled to America 12th April 1912 not yet 18, and if you need a historical reminder, that was a key year that the Balkans war was starting and the landscape was changing. Speculation, but a likely reason to be setting sail from Bremen in Germany and landing at Baltimore USA, the ship Breslau.

From then on I caught a fleeting glimpse of him in the papers maybe as early as 1916 and certainly by 1919 and very much can highlight that showman type wrestling in a ring in America was ten years ahead of Britain. From about 1927 for four or five years he adopted the persona Indian Jack of Cherokee origin although I saw no evidence of anything like Indian dress. I guess they were taking advantage of his Slavic features.

There is much written of Sherry’s career in America and how he was at the very top of the game with stories of top men dodging him and him falling only just short of his big chance to be World Champion. Also the Alaskan Jack persona, but I am not going to try and go through his American time.

Fast forward now to crossing the Atlantic in February 1934, I assume for the first time since 1912. Ivan Seric did not travel alone, he was with another wrestler. The name Frank Jedlenski. The wrestling name for this man was Frank Judson , both veterans by now , Seric age39 and Judson 37.

Frank Judson you might find on a Portsmouth bill in England unmasking Mr X who turned out to be Louis Pergantes. On the 23rd February 1934 the two spent just a few hours in Southampton because they were actually on their way to Johannesburg in South Africa.

The story of 1934 does not end there though because by June I am finding wrestling bills and results for Jack Sherry wrestling in England, strangely there were no travel documents.

In July Frank Judson goes back to New York from Southampton without Sherry who seems to do a six month stay.

Of course it is almost impossible to unearth all of the matches and in fact only 11 come to light. How many more there were would be hard to speculate but it also gives us an idea of venues and hence possibly the promoters that Sherry worked with. In America Sherry had met Bill Garnon who was a prime candidate to be a frequent opponent to work a bout with.

Jack Sherry 1st Stay

4 July Crewe beat Sam Rabin11june193
13July 1934 Bradford beat Rene Morris 2-0
17July 1934 Baker St London 1-1 Garnon
10August 1934 Liverpool beat Sam Radnor
29August 1934 Plymouth beat VanDutz
5 September 1934 Plymouth beat Garnon 2-0
27September 1934 Bognor 1-1 Garnon
29October 1934 Clapham VanDutz
29November 1934 Plymouth beat George Clark DQ
3December 1934 Leeds beat Mighty Palmer
5December 1934 Plymouth beat Estelles
Four shows out of these 11 were at Plymouth.

With opponents such as Garnon and Van Dutz it is almost a certainly that in 1934 the man behind this promotion was Atholl Oakeley.

In May he went home unbeaten, and for me the pick of those fights would have been against George Clark. Clark was a Highland Games powerhouse who also crossed the Atlantic to gain world repute. The fight at the Millbay Rinkeries went four rounds with Sherry pinning Clark who got up causing a big scene with both Sherry and the ref Billy Woods, and was disqualified.

Wonderful new technology those steam ships. The crossing could now be done in 6-7 days. For sure Jack Sherry was in USA in the early months of 1935 . In fact in January he started the process for Naturalization which was to take a couple of years to complete. 1935 was a bigger year for catching the stats. There were some reputed fights with Bert Assirati but there is no hard newspaper evidence that these actually took place. I could find 10 bouts with Bill Garnon on this tour. Garnon did not win any, but it must have been a well oiled act.

2nd Stay

9 March 1935 Coulsdon, beat Garnon
10 March 1935 Tooting, beat Green
9 April 1935 Warrington, beat George Gregory
13 April 1935 Poplar, beat Green
14 April,1935 Witton, beat Garnon
20 April 1935 Crewe, 1-1Garnon
22 May 1935 Plymouth, beat Mighty Palmer
24 May 1935 Belle Vue M/C, fought deGroote
29 May 1935 Plymouth, beat Garnon KO
10 June 1935 Newport, beat Garnon
19 June 1935 Plymouth, beat Garnon 1-0
25 June 1935 Brixton, fought Garnon
2 August 1935 Cambourne, beat Garnon
5 August 1935 Penzance, beat Francis Gregory
4 September 1935 Plymouth, beat Paul Lortie 1-0
25 September 1935 Plymouth, beat deGroote
28 September 1935 Cambourne, beat Garnon
23 October 1935 Baker St, beat Garnon
29 October 1935 Depford, beat Mitchell Gill
30 October 1935 Plymouth, beat Half Nelson Keyes
6 November 1935 Baker St, beat Dubarry

George Gregory would have been a good opponent and my pick would be the August Bank Holiday match with Francis Gregory at the StClare Sports Field in the open air at Penzance. The match was 6 x 10 minute rounds. In the fourth Gregory was knocked out in a wild match, but such were the rules that he was allowed to go into the next round and the bout was stopped in the 5th because of the punishment he was taking. So this time 24 matches found and probably many more.

Still Sherry had not met the British Champion Douglas Clark. I could suggest that Sherry had not fought too often in the North and Wrestling in Scotland was hardly going yet. When Sherry went back to New York, again on the SS Europa on 20th November he gave his address as the Grafton Hotel in London. Again he sailed from Southampton and was home within the week.

I think the promoters had well looked after him and he was starting to enjoy himself. May 8th 1936 Ivan Seric arrived at Southampton from New York again to be Jack Sherry on his third trip. And Jack was getting used to traveling on the SS Europa. 41 year old Seric was to stay at 9A High Street London. Again speculation from the writer, was this lodgings or the abode of a promoter.

The funny thing about 1936 is that match wise it was a strange trip, unless the results elude us historians. To start with Sherry was billed to meet Boganski on the 8th May at Belle Vue. This is hardly likely to have gone ahead seeing as he was in Southampton earlier that day, and to back that up we have no result.

3rd Stay

8May 1936 Belle Vue M/C, billed against Boganski (only landed in Southampton)
11 June 1936 Walsall, beat Boganski 1-0
15 June 1936Southampton, billed against Francis Gregory

And that was it , no other results. Yet it was September 13th before Sherry went back to New York. He could of course have gone over to Europe or South Africa, but I have an extra proposal. In June 1936 Ivan Seric was involved in a court case in Liverpool. He and Bill Garnon brought a case against Bill Bankier, the promoter and E.Jones and co of Liverpool trading as the Pylon Publishing company. Garnon and Sherry had fought a match at Stanley Greyhound Racing Track. The match had been billed as a World Championship match with Sherry the champion.

Bankier owned or ran Liverpool Stadium wrestling and in a program for one of his own events libelled Garnon and Sherry by stating that the claim was impertinent and that it was claiming money under false pretences.
Seric claimed that the world had no official champion and his own claim was reasonable as was the way of the world with wrestling.

Well the event was to cost Bankier heavily because Garnon was granted £300 and Sherry £800. That was a monumental amount. Wrestlers were only earning a few pounds a match in the 1930’s. There are some possibilities now for Sherry’s absence for the rest of the summer.

1. Why work when you are rich?
2. Was there an injunction while Bankier appealed?
3. Did Sherry wrestle elsewhere in Europe or South Africa or just the odd match in England that we have not found?

Sherry who was now at 10 Ealing Village got on the SS Columbus on 13th September 1936 bound for New York. In November 1936 Ivan Seric swore to withdraw all allegiance to Peter II , King of Yugoslavia. Naturalization was finally granted in November 1938

The 27th of July 1937 saw him getting off the Berengaria in Southampton and returning to Ealing Village for his fourth stay as a wrestler here.

4thStay

18 October 1937 Nottingham, beat Fazal Mohamed
19 October 1937 Nottingham, beat Mahone
26 November 1937 Belle Vue M/C, billed to fight Tiger Dauler
29 November 1937 Nottingham, beat Gaby Cyr
10 December 1937 Belle Vue M/C, billed again Alan Muir

Not many matches found for 1937 but the ones I did find smacked of Oakeley who had much influence in Nottingham and had connections with Miss Kathleen Look for big events at Belle Vue. Where was Sherry in August and September after arriving.!!

The court Appeal with Bankier had been settled at the end of May. Bankier had claimed there was fresh evidence and had obtained an affidavit from Strangler Lewis. It stated that Sherry had tried to claim the World title because Lewis was not there to oppose him for the title. Lewis stated that he had met Sherry four or five times in the last 15 years and had beaten him on each occasion. He had last defeated Sherry in new York in 1932 and had been matched to meet Sherry in Philadelphia but the promoter had called off the match. Lewis had offered to privately meet Sherry in any Gym. Sherry refused.

On top of that , the admission fee of sixpence for the Sherry v Garnon match was hardly extortion. So Bankier had lost his appeal.

Of the matches listed I would pick to see the Fazal Mohamed one at Nottingham. Fazal was the brother of Tiger Dauler. There were four brothers with Fazal wrestling some ten years before his younger brother Tiger and acting as his mentor. Well over six feet and 17-18 stones.

The match was billed as 100 minutes but went about 25. Fazal wrestled bare footed and was a powerhouse, but the bout turned when Sherry stamped his toes and then resorted to punching and battered his opponent until the match was stopped .So 1937 for Ivan Seric seems a little barren, was he in Europe, or on holiday just wrestling the odd bout for big money or could he not get much work?

This is the mystery.

11th December 1937, this time from Greenock Sherry returned to New York on the Georgic. Address still given as Ealing Village .

As yet I am not so sure his time in Britain was Legend Status.

It seems Sherry only went home for a Christmas break and was back on the 30th January 1938 from New York landing at Plymouth after traveling on the Lafayette. Age 43 now and on his way to Museum Street London.

The fifth stay was probably his peak years here and the numerous opponents were a bigger and more varied roster of talent.

5th Stay

10 February 1938 Exeter against Francis Gregory
2 March 1938 Plymouth beat Boganski
5 March 1938 Newcastle beat Dave Armstrong
4 April 1938 Southampton billed against Boratti
2 June 1938 Blackfriars billed against Bill Cunningham
12 June 1938 West Brom beat Cunningham
15 June 1938 Plymouth beat George Gregory
7 October 1938 Belle Vue M/C beat George Gregory
8 October1938 Blackburn Fought Dave Armstrong (world title)
14 October 1938 Belle Vue M/C beat Reginski
19 October 1938 New Brighton Billed against George Gregory
11 November 1938 Belle Vue M/C against Doug Clark (Clark retired with cut eye)
17 November 1938 Exeter fought Alan Muir
24 November 1938 Blackfriars Beat boxer Phil Scott
25 November 1938 Belle Vue M/C may have fought on this date.. opponent unknown.
16 December 1938 Belle Vue M/C fought Fought Doug Clark
21 December 1938 New Brighton fought the Ghoul
26 January 1939 Nottingham fought Reginski (unsure of two events)
30 January 1939 Nottingham fought Reginski
27 February 1939 Hull beat Alan Muir
3 March 1939 Bradford fought Legs Langevin
9 March 1939 Blackfriars lost to Reginsky
31 March 1939 Belle Vue M/C beat Clark (which one?)
5 May 1939 Belle Vue M/c beat Reginski
12 May1939 Belle Vue M/C beat Doug Clark

Finally I think it was the money, big bouts at Belle Vue arranged by Oakeley and Kathleen Look and three or possibly four meetings with Douglas Clark who had hardly lost any matches in Britain at all. Clark, only a couple of years older than Sherry was waning now, and at the highest level he had begun to work defeats on his second tour of Australia, and the time had come. Finding reports for these matches is priceless. I believe Clark got injured in one match and had to retire and in another Sherry was easy victor. In Blue Blood on the Mat, Oakeley claimed Sherry handled Clark easily. Rest assured Clark had been the man of the 1930’s, the true British champ, won and defended in the ring and lingered a couple more years as war broke out and the next big champ was to be Assirati.

If anything was to give Jack Sherry legendary status in this country I think it was his beating of Clark.

A lesser known match was a match against Boxer Phil Scott at Blackfriars. Scott had been a champ and was allegedly turning to wrestling. I found a report showing that Sherry won easily with a submission.

That whole list of opposition were pretty much “A” listers and maybe in the years to come more matches can be found to build the statistics into this article. I will leave it to the Americans to do America but from an amateur base I have tried to capture Sherry’s time in Britain.

The story does not end there though , The May 1939 match listed with Doug Clark was the last time I can find Sherry but he did not arrive home until 30th September 1939 on the SS Manhattan. That was the month World War II began in Europe, a good reason to never come back.

Here’s the thing though, Ivan Seric had been in Europe and he sailed from Le Verdon in France. And that was not all, he was not traveling alone, he had with him 37 years old Ana Seric a new wife who had been born in Ivan’s home town of Barlete; they had married on 23rd October 1938 in Gospic , Yugoslavia. Whilst Sherry was now American his wife was still Croatian and had obtained the passport in May 1939. Thus here was an example of Sherry away in Europe and we have a gap in his career records explained. Above, Gospic , Croatia where Ivan Seric married, near his home town of Barlete.

If nothing else I have provided some dates of travel that might just help someone in the future to find more bouts as online newspapers become more abundant. Ana was Nationalized in 1961 in California and died 1997 in L.A.

Ivan Seric died 11th October 1969 in Los Angeles and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery. Ivan and Ana had two children.

Historyo

1953