Augustino Eugenio “Gus” Mercurio (10 August 19287 December 2010) was an American-Australian chiropractor, actor,

boxing referee The referee in boxing is the individual charged with enforcing the rules of that sport during a match. The role of the referee The referee has the following roles: *Gives instructions to both boxers before the fight *Determines when to start or ...

boxing judge A boxing judge is responsible for judging the results of a boxing match, with as many as three judges typically present at ringside to score the bout and assign points to the boxers, based on punches that connect, defense, knockdowns, and other, mor ...

, and

sports commentator In Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

. He was equally prominent as a

character actor A character actor is an actor known for playing unusual, eccentric, or interesting character (arts), characters in supporting roles, rather than leading ones.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrie ...

on film and television, and as a personality in the sports world. He was a long-time commentator on the

Seven Network Seven Network (stylised 7Network, and commonly known as Channel Seven or simply Seven) is an Australian commercial free-to-air Television broadcasting in Australia, television network. It is owned by Seven West Media, Seven West Media Limited, ...

's ''World of Sport'' from 1976 to 1987. The ''Sydney Morning Herald'' described him as “one of the most recognised and loved faces in Australian television,” while boxing writer Paul Upham called him "one of the great characters of Australian boxing."

Early life

Of Sicilian descent, Mercurio was born in West Bend, Wisconsin near Milwaukee, in 1928. He was the eldest child of Vincent A. Mercurio and Cecilia W. "Mickey" Miller. He had two sisters, Gerie and Connie, and a brother, Tony. The elder Mercurio was a member of the Milwaukee mob, and according to his son, was verbally and emotionally abusive. His parents were divorced when he was seven. Mercurio served in the

United States Maritime Service The United States Maritime Service (USMS) was established in 1938 under the provisions of the Merchant Marine Act of 1936 as voluntary training organization to train individuals to become officers and crewmembers on merchant ships that form the ...

, then the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

, and was also a

chiropractor Chiropractic () is a form of alternative medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of physical disorder, mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially of the vertebral column, spine. It is based on sever ...

.Upham, Pau
"Gus Mercurio"
. aussiebox.com.au, Retrieved 7 December 2010 He first visited Australia during the

1956 Melbourne Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the except ...

and decided to stay. He worked as a chiropractor in regional Victoria for over a decade before he became prominent in the media. He was later naturalised as an Australian citizen.

Sports career

Mercurio’s family had close ties to boxing. His father had boxed professionally under the ring name of Vince McGurk, and one of his uncles had boxed professionally under the name of Ray Miller. Mercurio began boxing while in the Marine Corps, and turned professional after leaving the service. He participated in two professional boxing fights in 1950, losing both. He first came to Australia as a 32-year old during the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XVI Olympiad and officially branded as Melbourne 1956, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December ...

, accompanying the US boxing team as a chiropractor. He decided to stay, moving to

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

and working as a boxing coach. Mercurio was also an international boxing judge (refereeing a world title fight) and was also a well-known boxing promoter. Staying close to boxing, he judged 149 professional bouts and, starting in 1970 and until 1986, refereed 89 fights, including some world championship contests, such as the 1985 one between Barry Michael and Lester Ellis, which was a major sporting event in Australia. Mercurio was also a judge for several world title bouts including

Roy Jones Roy Levesta Jones Jr. (born January 16, 1969) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in four weight classes, including middleweight, super middleweight, light heavyweight and heavyweight. As an amateur he r ...

versus Clinton Woods,

Pernell Whitaker Pernell Whitaker Sr. (January 2, 1964 – July 14, 2019) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1984 to 2001, and subsequently worked as a boxing trainer. He was a four-weight world champion, having won titles at lightweight, ligh ...

versus Gary Jacobs (boxer),

Azumah Nelson Azumah Nelson (born 19 July 1958, affectionately known as the Professor) is a Ghanaian former professional boxer who competed from 1979 to 2008. He was a two-weight world champion, having held the WBC featherweight title from 1984 to 1987 and ...

versus

Juan LaPorte Juan Laporte, also known as Juan La Porte (born November 24, 1959) is a former boxer who was born in Guayama, Puerto Rico. In 1982, La Porte won the vacant WBC featherweight title, forcing undefeated Colombian Mario "Martillo" Miranda to quit ...

and

Rocky Mattioli Rocky Mattioli (born Rocco Mattioli, 20 September 1953) is an Italian-born Australian former boxer at junior middleweight, and former world champion. Rocky was the 2004 Inductee for the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame Moderns catego ...

versus Elisha Obed. Mercurio was a regular commentator on Channel 7's '' World of Sport,'' from 1976 until the programme's end in 1987. His appearance on the programme led him to be what the ''Sydney Morning Herald'' described as “one of the most recognised and loved faces in Australian television." He was also the movie host for Channel 10's ''Saturday Night with Gus Mercurio''. He later became the inaugural president of the

Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame The Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame is a sports hall of fame which was founded in 2001 and began inducting boxers into the Hall of Fame in 2003. Since then annual induction dinners have been held across Australia. Inductees are nominated ...

– into which he was inducted in 2008.

Acting career

He was successful at his first audition for an ABC radio play. His raspy voice, energetic personality and natural talents quickly came to the attention of Australian television production houses such as

Crawford Productions Crawford Productions is an Australian Media (communication), media production company, focused on radio and television production. Founded in Melbourne by Hector Crawford and his sister, actress and voice artist Dorothy Crawford, the company, a ...

. Mercurio appeared in several Australian TV series, including ''

Cash and Company ''Cash and Company'' is an Australian television period adventure series, set during the Victoria (Australia), Victorian Victorian gold rush, gold rush of the 1850s. It screened on the Seven Network in Australia in 1976 and on ITV (TV channel) ...

'' (1975), its follow-up ''

Tandarra ''Tandarra'' is an Australian television series which screened on the Seven Network in Australia in 1976 and on ITV (including the London Weekend Television and Anglia regions) in the UK. It was a follow-up series to ''Cash and Company'' which ...

'' (1976) and the miniseries ''Power Without Glory'' (1976). Additionally, he played many guest roles in Australian TV police series, including ''

Homicide Homicide is an act in which a person causes the death of another person. A homicide requires only a Volition (psychology), volitional act, or an omission, that causes the death of another, and thus a homicide may result from Accident, accidenta ...

'' (1964), ''

Division 4 ''Division 4'' is an Australian television police drama series broadcast by the Nine Network and created by Crawford Productions airing between 1969 and 1975 for 301 episodes. Synopsis The series was one of the first to follow up on the enor ...

'' (1969) and ''

Matlock Police ''Matlock Police'' is an Australian television police drama series made by Crawford Productions for The 0-10 Network (now known as Network 10) between 1971 and 1976. The series focused on the police station and crime in the Victorian town of Ma ...

'' (1971). His film appearances include '' The Blue Lagoon'' (1980), '' The Man from Snowy River'' (1982), '' Turkey Shoot'' (1982), ''

Crocodile Dundee II ''Crocodile Dundee II'' is a 1988 action comedy film and the second installment of the ''Crocodile Dundee'' film series. It is a sequel to '' Crocodile Dundee'' (1986) and was followed by ''Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles'' (2001). Actors Pau ...

'' (1988), ''

Return to the Blue Lagoon ''Return to the Blue Lagoon'' is a 1991 American South Seas romantic adventure film directed and produced by William A. Graham and starring Milla Jovovich and Brian Krause. The film is a sequel to '' The Blue Lagoon'' (1980). The screenplay b ...

'' (1991) and '' Doing Time for Patsy Cline'' (1997). He also wrote scripts for ''Matlock Police''.Dale Plummer, 'Mercurio: man who made good being a baddie' Sydney ''Sun-Herald'' 10 August 1975 p. 115

Personal life

Mercurio was married twice and fathered seven children, including dancer/actor

Paul Mercurio Paul Joseph Mercurio (born 31 March 1963) is an Australian actor, choreographer, dancer, TV presenter and politician. Mercurio is best known for his lead role in the 1992 film ''Strictly Ballroom'' and his role as a judge on TV series ''Danci ...

Death

He died on 7 December 2010 from complications during surgery for a chest

aneurysm An aneurysm is an outward :wikt:bulge, bulging, likened to a bubble or balloon, caused by a localized, abnormal, weak spot on a blood vessel wall. Aneurysms may be a result of a hereditary condition or an acquired disease. Aneurysms can also b ...

."Gus Mercurio dies aged 82"

ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

, 7 December 2010 He was 82 years old.

Filmography

Film

Television

Works

* Mercurio, G., ''Boxin' : all you wanted to know but didn't want to fight to ask'', Regus, (Kew), 1998. * Mercurio, G., ''Hang in There: Inspirational Gems to Empower You!'', Wilkinson Books, (Melbourne), 1994.

References

External links

*
Gus Mercurio biography at Aussie Box

Photo Gallery: Farewell Gus Mercurio

New Colonial Epic, ''Sydney Morning Herald TV Guide'', Monday, 2 February 1976.

* ttps://news.google.com/newspapers?id=X7ApAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s-YDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3846%2C7634772 Humphries, R. "Inside Sport: Gus Mercurio", ''Sydney Morning Herald'', Wednesday, 25 February 1976, p.25.
Paxinos, S., "A Contest in Black and White", ''The Age'', 18 May 2008.

* [http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/farewell-to-a-man-who-made-mistakes-x2026-and-amends-20101220-1937d.html Quinn, K., "Farewell to a man who made mistakes … and amends", ''The Age'', 21 December 2010.]
Stark, J., "Boxing history hits the canvas", ''The Age'',29 September 2005.

* ttp://www.theage.com.au/articles/2005/06/06/1117910238700.html Webb, C., "Celebrating dinky-di Americans", ''The Age'', 7 June 2005. {{DEFAULTSORT:Mercurio, Gus 1928 births 2010 deaths American male film actors Australian male film actors Australian male soap opera actors American emigrants to Australia American people of Italian descent Male actors from Milwaukee United States Marines Australian male boxers Boxers from Melbourne Boxing judges Australian boxing promoters Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Naturalised citizens of Australia Australian people of Italian descent People from West Bend, Wisconsin 20th-century Australian sportsmen