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The Human Masterpiece
Nicknamed The Human Masterpiece the White Owl was not your stereotypical 1930s wrestler, having said to have given up a promising career when he graduated from university to follow in the footsteps of his friend, Bob Gregory, and become a professional wrestler.
White Owl, the pseudonym of Michael Martin Flack, was no rough and tumble 1930s tearaway. Gregory taught him the finer aspects of the sport, which combined with his natural agility and skill, saw him at his best with other skilled men that included Jack Dale, Leo Lightbody, George DeRelwyskow and his friend Bob Gregory, of course.
That’s not to say he wasn’t involved in many rough contests, of course. Professional wrestling was a tough business, and the injuries he sustained during the five years he wrestled may well have led to the day he paid the ultimate price. Following his death on 24th December, 1937 the inquest was told that Michael Martin Flack had suffered more injuries than most wrestlers, which may have been due to his poor eyesight. The inquest was told his last wrestling match had been over a week earlier though he had not complained of any specific injuries. “He was constantly getting hurt” his mother told the inquest at St Pancras. Micky Flack had been advised by his doctor to go to hospital in the days before his death but had refused to do so because of his fear of hospitals. Finally admitted to hospital with suspected appendicitis he died of a large abcess in his loin.
White Owl had turned professional in 1932, though our earliest documented evidence is of a match in February, 1933. Weighing around fourteen stones he wrestled many of the top men in the country with mixed results but attracted a popular following. A few months before his death Micky Flack had appeared on BBC television, alongside Bob Gregory and King Curtis in demonstration of Ju-Jitsu entitled “Weaponless Self Defence.”
Bob Gregory, employed White Owl to work on some of the shows he promoted. However, it transpired that early in 1937 he advised his friend to stop wrestling as he was unwell and suffering too many injuries. Micky took up work from Gregory in an administrative role, but had continued to supplement this income by continuing to wrestle for other promoters.
Wrestling publicity had always emphasised White Owl’s academic background, and at the inquest it was revealed this was no wrestling fiction but that he was a well educated man with a public school education and university degree.
Medical witnesses described him as a muscular, well nourished man, killed from poison on an abscess to his loin, but were unable to say whether it might have been caused by blows during wrestling contests.An open verdict was returned on the 27 year old wrestler. No blame was placed on anyone involved in wrestling, but evidence provided of the wrestler’s injuries during the previous six months illustrated just how hard was the life of an all-in wrestler.
Michael Martin Flack, born in Stamford Hill, London, in 1910, died in Pancras, London, on 24th December, 1937. His mother, Cecile, lived until she was ninety years old and died in Hendon in 1978.
The occasional billing of a White Owl in 1939 and 1940 was obviously not the original.
Page added 17/12/2023
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