These are our shorter Biographical portraits which we would like to extend if you can provide information or memories.
Paul Debusne
French middleweight made numerous visits to Britain in 1954, 1956 and 1957. Worked mostly in the north of England with opponents including Harry Fields, Jack Dempse, Tommy Mann and Bert Royal.
Roland Deconinck
Belgian champion visited Britain in 1952; opponents included George Kidd, Carlton Smith, and Mick McManus.
Marquis Pablo DeGardiazabal
The heavyweight champion of Spain, according to the promoters, made a few appearances in British rings in 1937, making his debut at Belle Vue, Manchester, with a credible win over Bulldog Bill Garnon. A report of a match in which he defeated Francis St Clair Gregory described him as a magnificent specimen who stood well over six feet with enormous strength. His British debut was preceded with publicity in the Daily Mirror, which was surprising as the national press were shunning professional wrestling by this time. The newspaper said that DeGardiazabal was born in Chile before moving to Spain where he became national champion.
Lucien DeGroote
1959 heavyweight visitor who met the big named UK heavyweights such as Dennis Mitchell, Tibor Szakacs and Billy Joyce
Gerry DeJager
He looked in trouble, but then delivered the kind of magic that was not an illusion. Without warning, and seemingly from any direction barefooted South African heavyweight Gerry de Jager would execute a perfectly placed drop-kick or flying head scissors.
Although a master of all the holds for Gerry the drop-kick was his jewel in the crown, delivered with a speed that meant it was always a surprise weapon used to devastating effect.
He was a big, powerful man and his speciality combined that power with a natural agility and speed that belied his stature. The popular 1960s heavyweight was said to have the fastest knock-out win on record, just twelve seconds.
Born in the Orange Free State, South Africa Gerry worked on his father’s farm as a youngster, building up the strength and physique that was to prove invaluable in his chosen career. Gerry took up amateur wrestling in 1945, turned professional in 1948 and came to Britain in 1951.
For the best part of the next twenty years he travelled extensively around the world but always returned to Britain where he was welcomed back by fans.
Mike Delaney
“The Irish Terror” with little regard to the rules had a career spanning twenty years from the mid 1930s until the mid 1950s. Following retirement he followed the well trodden path to referee
Roger Delaporte
Visitors from across the English Channel were common throughout the twentieth century. Roger Delaporte was a first class villainous French wrestler who came our way for a month in the spring of 1958.
Roger travelled extensively during his visit, even venturing across the sea to Northern Ireland to go down to Dennis Mitchell.
Opponents were of the highest calibre: Mitchell, Dazzler Joe Cornelius, Mike Marino, Tibor Szakacs amongst them.
Two years later Roger Delaported was to become one of the top promoters in France, a position he was to hold for a quarter of a century. He could still be seen in the ring on occasions, officiating as referee.
When not wrestling Roger appeared in a number of French films, authored numerous books and was a restaurateur.
Roger Delaporte died in 2009, aged 81.
Wally Delmar
Another of those Manchester lads so worthy of celebration. There are so many of them. Wally was a one-eyed exiled Channel Islander who lived near Strangeways Prison in Manchester. Five and half feet tall (he said) and a typical bantam cock of a lightweight bristling with ideas and ambition. He trained at the Black Panther gym and wrestled just about everyone under fourteen stone: Ian St John, Johnny Clancy, Tiger Delmonte, Ali Gil, Shem Singh, Mark Wayne, Mad Dog Wilson, Eddie Rose, Cyril Knowles, Jack Dempsey, Gustav LeBrun and Johnny Saint.
Wally worked on Matt Moran’s fairground wrestling booth for years and could handle himself in a tight spot against any one. His unfulfilled ambition was to get in the ring with Mick McManus. He did once jump the ring on Jackie Pallo and they had a ten second dust-up before being separated by the referee and seconds.
Wally had lost the sight of his left eye and being driven by him to wrestling shows always filled the lads with trepidation as he was forever turning round to engage the back seat passengers in conversation. No real worries as he was a lorry driver by profession. After training he loved nothing better than a couple of pints of Tetley bitter and a good old yarn about past bouts.
Jules Delmee
Stylish European mid heavyweight champion in the 1950s made a short visit to Britain in January and February, 1954. Top class opponents included Vic Hessle, Ernest Baldwin, Jack Beaumont and a defeat by Mike Marino at the Royal Albert Hall.
Mike De Main
Mike DeMain was one of those fans who managed to get work as a second at a local hall and used it as a springboard to meeting up with wrestlers such as Mal Kirk who helped prepare him for his transition from second to professional wrestler. National service intervened and delayed entry to the professional ranks until the mid 1960s. When the opportunity came Mike established himself as a popular middleweight on the independent circuit, particularly working for ACE Sports Promotions and other members of the British Wrestling Alliance. He tagged with Yugoslavian Milan Prica as the FBI team, and more notably with Sue Brittain, the two of them holding the BWA mixed tag title. He sneaked in and was featured in the last ever issue of The Wrestler (October 1972); a nice bit of timing. Mike continued wrestling until the 1990s.
Tony DeMarto
Tony DeMarto was the Italian Thunderbolt and a name that went all the way back to the 1930s. Here was a man who had shared a ring with the likes of Mario Magisti and Tommy Rigby. Walthamstow based Tony retired and went into the catering business and promoting wrestling in London and around Southern England during the 1960s. He was well respected as a fair promoter by all those who worked for him
Johnny Demchuck
Reputedly of Russian birth Johnny Demchuck lived and worked mainly in the United States. In 1937, when he was 25, Johnny came over to the United Kingdom as professional wrestling was booming and stayed until shortly before the outbreak of war. He was a frequent opponent of young Canadian Whipper Watson as well as domestic talent that included Jack Pye, Harry Brooks, Bert Mansfield and Tony Baer.
Johnny Demchuck continued working in North America after the war in both Canada and the United States. Whist working for Stu Hart’s Calgary promotion in 1959 he was an opponent of a fledgling Ian Campbell.
Whilst still working at the age of 49 tragedy struck on 19th June, 1962 in the Memorial Hall, Victoria, British Columbia. Twenty minutes into a bout whilst gripped in a hammer-lock by British wrestler Oliver Winrush (known to UK fans as Ramon Napolitano), Demchuck suffered a fatal heart attack. He was pronounded dead on arrival at the hospital.
Leo Demetral
Greek born and Australian domiciled Leo Demetral arrived in Britain in the autumn of 1949 and established himself as a permanent figure in British wrestling for many years to come. Promoter George Gardiner had installed Demetral as Australian heavyweight champion in 1938, He held the title for about two years before losing it to George Pencheff in a match which unified two versions of the title
During the winter of 1949 he seemed to be a weekly resident at Belle Vue, facing Francis St Clair Gregory, Chick Knight, Ray St Bernard and others. Demetral, his birth name was Stathis Nicolaou, was already an international star when he arrived in Britain, having worked extensively in Australia, New Zealand, Singaport, the United States and Canada. He had moved to Australia whilst a youth and during World War 2 he served in the Royal Australian Air Force, teaching unarmed combat and paratrropers how to land. When Joint Promotions were formed in 1952 he appeared regularly on their bills, mainly in the north, until 1955. We then lose contact with his career until 1959 when he reappeared in the south on shows of fellow Australian promoter Paul Lincoln. He retired from wrestling in 1962 and became a masseur on a cruise liner. Leo Demetral died 1966 aged 53.
Michael Dempsey
Towards the end of the 1970s there was a brief career for Wigan’s middleweight, Mike Dempsey, mostly noted for being the son of the former welterweight champion, Jack Dempsey.
Martin Deneef
Our first recorded bout is in September, 1949, an advertisement for Belgium’s Martin Deneef wrestling for Bert Assirati’s European Heavyweight title. Deneef was said to be 27 years old and weigh 18 stones. Further opponents included Bulldog Bill Garnon, Kiwi Kingston, The Ghoul and Giant Anaconda between 1949 and 1954. We are still seeking information about this very competent wrestler who, according to wrestlingdata.com worked under the name Bob Martin in the USA and Canada between 1946 and 1948, and in Germany and Austria from 1951 until 1959.
Vicomte Joel DeNoirbreuil (Also known as Joel De Fremery)
The dashing young French viscount toured Britain twice in the mid-sixties and is seen left with an armlock on Gentleman Jim Lewis. Born in Paris and mentored by Georges Cohen, he was trained for the ring by Albert Ben Chemoul, father of the European Middleweight Champion, René, and became a favourite on French televised wrestling. 5’5″ Noirbreuil wrestled all over France and tagged surprisingly with N’boa the Snakeman, see above.
On his UK tour he challenged Alan Colbeck for the European Welterweight Championship and faced many of the UK’s top middle and welterweights. His sole UK tv bout was against Jon Cortez. But his record shows four 1965 losses against Jackie Pallo, all at coastal locations. Joel was back in Britain in the 1980s, dutifully losing to Rollerball Rocco on 26th August, 1981 in a World Heavy Middleweight championship contest.
The Destroyer
A name used repeatedly, mostly by independent promoters, to fill the bill by putting a mask on any available wrestlers; Billy Stock was just one of the many. The only notable attempt to create something more permanent was a stocky masked light heavyweight of the early 1970s, and a regular of Wryton Promotions bills, but despite wrestling ability he too made little impact on the national scene. We understand that underneath the mask was accomplished wrestler Jack Fallon of Wigan. His style was unexciting, though, and the masked Destroyer failed to rival contemporaries such as The Outlaw or Kendo Nagasaki.
Joe Devalto
Jumping Joe Devalto certainly had his place in British wrestling, a familiar figure from 1935 until 1940. Surprising, therefore, that so little is known about him, we would welcome more information. Said to weigh between 13 stones and 15 stones he met most of the top men around the 14 stone mark, including Vic Hessle, Tony Mancelli and Rex Gable. In those pre war days he must have looked rather stylish as he entered the ring in a black dressing gown with his name in white adorning the back, Consistently billed as Italian until 1940, when he suddenly becomes Canadian! Reports are of a rough and unruly character described as “The menace of the ring.” One brief moment of fame came in 1938 when he was called as a witness when referee Phil Meader sued wrestler Karl Reginsky for assault, a case that made the national press.
Frank Dhondt
The Belgian near heavyweight made a four week visit to Britain in January 1973, part of a Continental team brought over to mark Britain’s entry to the European Community, or Common Market as we called it in those simple times. During his tour of (mainly) southern rings it was quite a busy month with Frank meeting a surprisingly wide range of opponents from Kevin Conneally to Steve Veidor. On tv he faced Paul Mitchell (read all about it in Armchair Corner’s Wrestling Leads The Way) and Mick McManus. At the Royal Albert Hall he was disposed of by Adrian Street.
Page reviewed 28/04/2023
974D2
Wrestling Heritage 