Greetings.
I recently had a fascinating visit on my Hart Beat Radio podcast with former wrestler and renowned wrestling photographer Scott Romer. We paid tribute to Jewish wrestlers, promoters and others who had made noteworthy contributions to our business.
Scott, whose father-in-law was the legendary Dick the Bruiser, has been involved in the wrestling business for well over forty years, made note, of a myriad of legendary promoters.
New York promoter from the 1920’s Jack Curley, who originally introduced Vince McMahon’s grandfather, Jess McMahon, to the wrestling business; the nefarious Jack Pfefer – who promoted in Massachusetts from the 1920’s to the 1950’s and was the object of much controversy and denigration amongst his wrestling colleagues.
Willie Gilzenberg, who was a long time associate of Vince McMahon Sr. back in the 50’s; Paul Boesch, who was an old and dear friend of my dad, and originally was involved with the New York promotion in the 40’s, but later moved to Texas in the 50’s and, for years, was a successful promoter in Houston.
Morris Sigel, a friend and colleague of Boesch and much respected promoter in Dallas, from the 30’s to the 60’s.
Bert Ruby, a controversial operative, who promoted in Detroit during the tumultuous 50’s and 60’s, prior to the reign of the Shiek.
Joe Malcewicz, who originally hailed from Utica, New York and was highly regarded as a shooter – hence, the nickname, “the Utica Panther”, who was a well respected promoter in San Francisco from the 1930’s until his death in 1962.
Roy Shires, who succeeded Malcewicz in Frisco and would help launch the careers of legends such as Ray Stevens and Pat Patterson, was a polarizing figure, who some love and even more seem to hate.
Sam Muchnick, who was one of the founders of the National Wrestling Alliance and its president from through the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s and also promoted the highly respected St. Louis promotion, which featured such iconic stars as Lou Thesz, Pat O’ Connor and Harley Race; Wally Karbo, who promoted in Minneapolis during the 50’s and 60’s in conjunction with partner, Verne Gagne.
My father, I’m proud to note, was a good friend and colleague of many of those gentlemen and had a great deal of respect for many of them.
Scott alluded as well, with great pride, to the illustrious list of Jewish wrestlers who have made a monumental impact upon our business.George Hackenschmidt, a Russian Jew, whose classic showdown with Frank Gotch back in 1911 launched the modern era of pro wrestling;
Stan Zbyszko , who was a colleague of Hackenschmidt and Gotch and was heavyweight champion in the World War I era and, later, in the twilight of his career, reigned again in the 1920’s.
Dr.Benjamin Roller, who was a highly respected contemporary of Hackenschmidt and Gotch from 1905 until his retirement in 1918; Ralph “Ruffy” Silverstein, from Columbus, Ohio, who was a feared shooter and NWA world junior heavyweight champion in the 1940’s.
Gus Sonnenberg, former Fordham football player, who for a brief stretch was NWA champion in the 1920’s; Aaron Schlosser, a close friend of the Silverstein family, who, out of respect for Ruffy, adopted the name Ruffy Silverstein Jr. and performed intermittently back in the day across Canada and the States.
Hymie Fishman who was a main eventer in New York during the 30’s; Dave Levin – former NWA champion; Dave Levin – NWA heavyweight champion back in the 1930’s; Gene Le Bell – “the toughest man alive”, who was NWA world junior heavyweight champion and also mentored legendary cinematic martial artists such as Bruce Lee and Chuck Norris.
Gene Stanlee, former bodybuilder and one of the top heels in California in the early 1950’s; Sammy Berg, a former bodybuilder who enjoyed marginal success wrestling in Ontario and Quebec back in the 50’s and 60’s; Abe Jacobs, who emigrated from Australia to the States back in the 1950’s and was a highly regarded journeyman and vaunted shooter.
Michael “Freebird” Hayes, who tag teamed with Terry Gordy and Buddy Roberts to form the Fabulous Freebirds and has been an agent for the WWE since the 1990’s; Mark Mero, who’s probably better known for having been the husband of Sable.
The Lewin brothers (Don, Ted and Mark), all of whom were popular baby faces in and around the East Coast back in the 50’s; Randy and Lanny Poffo, who worked for the WWF back in the 80’s and 90’s, with Randy Savage having a glorious reign as WWE world champion.
Boris Malenko and his sons, Joe and Dean, who were fixtures in Florida for decades and were also all highly regarded shooters; Kevin (Diesel) Nash, who enjoyed success in both the WWF and the WCW in the 80’s and 90’s and is a well respected member of the so-called Clique; the Nasty Boys (Brian Nobbs and Jerry Seganovich) who were WWE tag team champions back in the day.
Dr. Isaac Yankem/Kane, who had a long and colorful run in the WWF in different roles and is now a politician; Raven, who enjoyed some success in the WCW back in the 90’s and was a good friend of my old colleague Brian Pillman; and perhaps the most notable Jewish champion of the modern era – Bill Goldberg, who was a major star in the WCW back in the 90’s and continues to be held in high regard by his peers.
Other notable Jewish personalities included managers Ernie Roth (who, ironically, managed as the insidious Arab, Abdul Farouk, Eddie Creatchman, Diamond Dallas Page, Paul Heyman and television commentators, such as Sam “the Sham” Menacker, Gordon Solie and Athol Layton.
Scott is extremely proud of the long and proud Jewish heritage in our business, however, was justifiably disconcerted that other than Goldberg and Savage, the WWE and other major promotions in the United States haven’t seen fit to put major world championship belts on Jewish wrestlers in recent times, which is nothing to be proud of.
I’m not sure what the rationale behind that might be – whether there`s a trace of anti-semitism or what, but I tend to agree that there needs to be a lot more diversity insofar as to who’s being crowned world champion, not just with Jewish wrestlers, but with blacks, Japanese, Arabs and other denominations – very few of whom have been allowed to wear the WWE, WCW, or, back in the day the NWA or AWA world titles, even though many were more than worthy candidates.
Hopefully the WWE and/or perhaps the new AEW promotion, which is scheduled to start up in May, will see fit to rectify that egregious oversight and open the doors to champions of all colors and creeds, because the wrestling fan base certainly encompasses every conceivable background.
In any case, I’d like to thank Scott for joining us on Hart Beat Radio and for sharing with us his illuminating insights on Jewish wrestling. Keep up the great work my friend!
On that note, I’ll call this a wrap, but will look forward to catching up with you all next week for our synopsis on the upcoming Wrestlemania. Until then, to all the students and fellow teachers out there, enjoy your spring break!
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