Ron Historyo Goes On The Trail
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I guess it was the promoters that wanted to call him Gotch. Famous name and we have had a few versions. Always worth a punt. They billed him from here, there and everywhere. Poland, Denmark, Russia, Holland, USA. Having collected wrestling bills, my fascination is that some names just seem to stand out and then I am lured into the task of finding the reality behind the billing. Some were real and some were imaginative.
Jan Gotch had a string of aliases. Wally Greb and Harry Greb were a couple but I don’t think ever used them here. Mule Malone and Paddy Malone were others and I still don’t think he used these in Britain, only in North America. We had a Paddy Malone in Britain that generally fought as Fighting Malone, but no confusion as he was at welterweight fighting the likes of Scotty Ambrose or Jack Alker.
Walter Grabek was a six footer and a rough house. Also in the USA he was in a Red Devils tag team. The Red Devil Brothers were Emil and Rudy. One website had Gotch from Puerto Rico and others from Poland. Some have his name almost right but not quite. Jan Gotch set sail here in late January 1936. It’s a tough call as to him being a wrestler because he came as a Steel Worker.
I should however start at the beginning. Real name was Waclaw Grabek, anglicized to Walter. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario 23rd May 1913. The district was Barton and Grabek grew up near the beach on the shores of Lake Ontario. This area is so close to the USA. His journey via New York to London actually started at Niagra Falls.
His ethnicity, although with a Canadian Passport, was considered to be Polish as his father John and mother Sofia were both born in Poland. Walter had a younger sister and brother and I assume they were not well off as his father was a labourer. In 1923, aged ten, life became harder when his father John Grabek died as a young man age 39. He was a blast furnace worker in the steel industry that had so much to do with Hamilton’s growth as a city. (Steel Company of Canada). I don’t have the details but John Grabek died of a broken neck.
Mother Sofia, age 32, had three young children to bring up on her own. Sofia was Sofia Kasnowski and seems to have been born in Bzowiac, right over in the east part of Poland quite close to Ukraine. They seem to have emigrated to Canada in 1911.
I can offer no evidence that Grabek did any wrestling before he came to Britain just before his 23rd birthday in 1936. As was the case in 1936, it would have been normal to come to London for opportunity and I know that in 1939 he was living at 10 Winston Avenue in Wembley, Middlesex. His official job was in demolition, working for London County Council.
By night and perhaps by secret, he was Jan Gotch.
Of course we know that as wrestling was developed in London in the 1930’s anyone pretty tough, rugged and sporty was fair game for converting to wrestling. Examples such as the Ansell brothers, Assirati, Anaconda, Carver Doone, King Curtis were all found in London. We also know though that a good cluster of Canadians came here in the late 30’s. Examples such as van Wurden, McLaughlan, Whipper Watson. It’s a tough call, was it an arrangement or was he spotted as a possibility?
Despite living in London Jan Gotch worked the country. Jan Gotch learned his trade here and we have probably failed to spot what a great wrestler he became because his career stretched into the 1960’s mainly in the USA. He was not a shoot wrestler, much more of a showman type like Jack Pye or his brother Harry. His main gimmick was just rough action, to some extent acted of course.
Talking of acting he was in the film Okay For Sound along with Louis Pergantes. The 1937 film is on Youtube and I think he is the big guy wrestling at around about 54 minutes.
A pattern has emerged with many 1930’s wrestlers. When the war came they all had to move north to keep working. Guys who had lived in London like Martin Conroy, Jack Pye and many more came up to Lancashire. Manchester was a hotbed for inner city dwellers who were wrestlers. Jack Atherton and Van Wurden, Padvo Peltonin, Hec Trudeau and others were able to practice, travel and socialise together, perfecting their act at dozens of venues. The multiple times they all met went under the radar of almost all fans.
Of course Gotch lost a lot at first, when he first got here I think I first found him fighting Tony Baer. Soon after he lost to Karl Reginski. For sure he worked with the Canadian guys a lot and all those wrestlers based in Manchester. He gave the game great service as a believable mid card wrestler and went home much more prepared for all the years he did in the United States. In all this time mother Sofia was still in Hamilton and he was not yet thirty years old. During the War The Red Devils, said to be the roughest tag team ever, featured Dick Lever as Rudy Red Devil and Grabek was Emil Red Devil.
Could it be that Walter Grabek was one of our many early Red Devils here in England? There seems to have been a regular one at Preston and at Newcastle against many of the Jan Gotch usual opponents. Frequent opponents were George Finnie, Dave Armstrong, Ed Blonde Gordon and Tony Baer., as well as all the Manchester regulars at Belle Vue.
On the 23rd March 1942 Jan Gotch finally went home after six years in England. On his documents he was still stated to be a steel worker , and lived at 14 Whalley Road Manchester. He sailed from Liverpool on the Jamaica Producer bound for StJohn’s in Canada. The day before he was billed to work for William Bankier at Liverpool Stadium. His opponent was Bert Assirati.
Over in North America it was no secret that he was from Hamilton in Ontario.The Poland thing had long gone. I think Walter Grabek died in 1990.
He deserves his tribute
Ron Historyo
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