Wrestling Heritage

1953

 

Enter the Champions

On June 2nd, 1953 a Queen was crowned in Westminster Abbey and the British people heard of the first ascent of Everest, admittedly a couple of days earlier. It was turning into quite a year. American President Harry S. Truman had announced in January that America had discovered another new way to kill millions of people, the hydrogen bomb. Seven months later the Soviet Union announced they also had the same technology. Extensive flooding in the East of England and the Netherlands resulted in the death of almost two thousand people. England lost 6-3 to Hungary at Wembley, their first home loss to to a European team at home. Two giants in their own field passed away. Dictator  Josef Stalin died a week after suffering a stroke, and on May 29th  Frank Simmons Leavitt, better known as wrestler Man Mountain Dean died at the age of sixty-one.  

In the wrestling world the newly established Joint Promotions were beginning to establish themselves as the dominant force in British wrestling. Their formation had left many promoters and wrestlers “out in the cold” as it were, but for the most part the established names had fallen into line with the disciplined requirements of Joint Promotions. That meant wrestlers appearing when and where they were told, against an opponent of the promoter’s choice, and for the fee on offer. The upside for the selected wrestlers was regular work in conditions that were reasonable if not generous.

Having established credibility by the adoption of the Mountevans rules Joint Promotions continued to establish credible British title holders recognised nationally, in their halls at least.

Eric Sands defeated champion Johnny Stead at Middlesborough to establish himself as lightweight champion. Welterweight champion Tony Lawrence kept his title in a number of epic defences against John Foley only to finally lose and see the belt firmly around the waist of Jack Dempsey by the end of the year. Yorkshireman Harry Fields retained the Middleweight title for the whole of the year, making defences against Jack Beaumont and Vic Coleman (pictured) amongst others. A Heavy Middleweight champion was recognised for the first time, with Bradford’s Eric Taylor taking the title that he was to hold for many years to come. Ernie Riley took the reigns from Dennis Mitchell in the light heavyweight division. Norman Walsh was beginning to feel comfortable with the mid heavyweight belt strapped around his waist. A flurry of activity in the heavyweight division saw the title pass quickly from Ernie Baldwin to Alf Rawlings, on to Dai Sullivan and back to Baldwin by the end of the year.

Clearly a pattern was established by the end of 1953 that was to stay in place throughout the Mountevans period, namely that championship contests were dominated by wrestlers from Lancashire and Yorkshire. Whilst we can only speculate as to why this was to be the case, we do know that the northerners reluctance to travel meant that fans in the South had fewer opportunities to see these wrestlers in action. 

Although no longer the huge draw that he had been when introduced to wrestling by promoter Athol Oakeley the former boxer Jack Doyle retained a sufficiently high profile to receive regular wrestling work. No doubt his fees fell dramatically from the days when he had been established in wrestling on the basis of his success as a boxer. Success now depended far more on wrestling ability, which meant Jack could not even be guaranteed main event status In February, for instance local boy Bill Garnon defeated the Ghoul in the main event at Fishguard, whilst Doyle played a supporting role and was knocked out by an established wrestler, Dave Armstrong. A return visit to the Royal Albert Hall in March saw Doyle knocked out by Gerry Hogarth.

In Northern England the Pye clan had now been joined by Jack’s son, Dominic, who had a couple of years professional experience to his credit. Belle Vue, Manchester, was a regular venue for the Pyes, often with three or four members of the family on the same bill. Typical of a Belle Vue night  of Pye family and mayhem was the 7th November, 1953. In the main event Jack and Man Mountain Benny ended with both men disqualified, Dominic beat Anaconda and Tommy was counted out against Tony Mancelli. Also on the bill Joe Cornelius ko’d Lew Roseby.

Two Londoners got together for the first time in a professional capacity when the Master of Ceremonies announced for the first time the team of Mick Mc Manus and Steve Logan. Fans at Finsbury Park would have no idea of the significance of the historic occasion when they witnessed the team of McManus and Logan overcome Tony Mancelli and the Cockney Kid.

The young Belgian Karel Istaz, who had come to Britain in 1950 to learn his trade at Riley’s gymnasium, was continuing to do well in the professional rings and making almost weekly appearances at Belle Vue. Wins over Man Mountain Benny, Tony Mancelli and Jack Pye were brought to an abrupt ending with a knock out defeat against Bill Joyce.

The tradition of overseas visitors making regular appearances in Britain was set to continue. One of the biggest, in both stature and reputation, was the French heavyweight Felix Miquet (pictured). This heavyweight champion of France stood 6’3” tall and weighed over twenty stones. In a sensational, rough and tough bout at Belle Vue in April the Frenchman defeated the Uncrowned King of the Mat, Dirty Jack Pye.

Other 1953 visitors included the Belgian Fernand Bawin, who brought with him his World Welterweight belt, and whilst in the county challenged Frankie Hughes at Levenshume for the middleweight title. Also appearing in British rings during 1953 were Jean Morandi, Baptiste Benoy,  Jakkel Erasmus, Zoag Ffeiner, Suni War Cloud, Jan Huard,  Gene Dubuque, Franz Von Heinbeeck, Ed Weiczkorski and Hermann Reiss.

The traffic wasn’t all one way. New Zealand heavyweight Ray Clarke, who had made a name for himself during the preceding four years, packed his bags and returned home to join the police force. Alan Garfield made the first of two visits to the USA. Over fifty years later, when technology has made international travel routine for many, it would be far too easy to fail to appreciate the achievement of Garfield in travelling to the USA and working regularly for well over a year.

Other events on the western side of the Atlantic were the professional debuts of light heavyweight Billy Two Rivers in Detroit, and Canadian born Sandy Scott. There was a new incarnation of George Bollas, now known as "The Intercollegiate Dark Secret."

For one man his career came to a close. The French Angel, Marice Tillet, who had wrestled before vast audiences around the world for close on twenty years, lost to Bert Assirati on 14th February, 1953. He was never to return to the ring.

All careers come to an end, and others to learn this lesson were American President Harry S Truman, Hungarian Premier Mátyás Rákosi, and Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion.  Their demise was probably of less interest to most wrestling fans.

Continue to the next year......