Seelie Samara
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September 13, 1945 - Victoria Daily Times
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This was originally posted in our Facebook Group as part of a series called Grappling With Color for Black History Month.
Seelie Samara was a well known wrestler in his day and became the first man of color to be proclaimed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. While being a claimant to the World Championship for Charley Gordon's group in Boston, Massachusetts, during 1937, he met some of the top names of the day: Ted Germaine, Dizzy Dean, Tor Johnson and Hans Steinke.
He also used the name Ras Samara. With both names came a phony story about him being born in Ethiopia. Sometimes reports went as far as saying he had been close to Emperor Haille Selassie. The truth was Samara was actually born as George Hardison in Fort Valley, Georgia. As a young man he got into boxing. One account has him being a protege of the "Barbados Demon" Joe Walcott. It was said Samara's father was good friends with the former boxer. Unfortunately used the name "Young Walcott" and there were several boxers around the same time period all using that name, so it makes it hard to pinpoint exactly which bouts can be attributed to him, or even how long his career actually spanned. Around eight years would be a conservative estimate though.
When he was being billed as the aforementioned World Champion, Samara had only been in the wrestling business for around three years. He clearly took to it like a duck to water. He may have never gained the same level of recognition anywhere else, but he was consistently a top name player in the ranks of pro-wrestling wherever he went.
It is often erroneously reported that In the autumn of 1944 he won the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version) on November 29, 1944 by defeating George Koverly. Thanks to Rock Rims we can confirm that did not happen, because on that night Seelie Samara was trying to wrestle away Jim Londos's World Heavyweight Championship in Los Angeles, California.
After World War Two he went to Australia and New Zealand trading his talents with the boys there including a huge match with Jim Londos that drew well over 10,000 fans in Sydney.
Seelie Samara truly made history by having a serious claim to a World Heavyweight Championship not specifically created for African-Americans before television, and years before any other black wrestler could make the same claim. Not to mention the fact he then continued wrestling for a further 19 years before retiring .
He also used the name Ras Samara. With both names came a phony story about him being born in Ethiopia. Sometimes reports went as far as saying he had been close to Emperor Haille Selassie. The truth was Samara was actually born as George Hardison in Fort Valley, Georgia. As a young man he got into boxing. One account has him being a protege of the "Barbados Demon" Joe Walcott. It was said Samara's father was good friends with the former boxer. Unfortunately used the name "Young Walcott" and there were several boxers around the same time period all using that name, so it makes it hard to pinpoint exactly which bouts can be attributed to him, or even how long his career actually spanned. Around eight years would be a conservative estimate though.
When he was being billed as the aforementioned World Champion, Samara had only been in the wrestling business for around three years. He clearly took to it like a duck to water. He may have never gained the same level of recognition anywhere else, but he was consistently a top name player in the ranks of pro-wrestling wherever he went.
It is often erroneously reported that In the autumn of 1944 he won the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Championship (San Francisco version) on November 29, 1944 by defeating George Koverly. Thanks to Rock Rims we can confirm that did not happen, because on that night Seelie Samara was trying to wrestle away Jim Londos's World Heavyweight Championship in Los Angeles, California.
After World War Two he went to Australia and New Zealand trading his talents with the boys there including a huge match with Jim Londos that drew well over 10,000 fans in Sydney.
Seelie Samara truly made history by having a serious claim to a World Heavyweight Championship not specifically created for African-Americans before television, and years before any other black wrestler could make the same claim. Not to mention the fact he then continued wrestling for a further 19 years before retiring .
Unique content strictly for the Professional Wrestling Historical Society.
Biography of Seelie Samara.
Author: John Hubert Williams (Dantethescrub_ on InstaGram).
Published: October 29, 2019.
Biography: #188.
Editor: Jimmy Wheeler.
Updated: October 30, 2019.