Samuel (Sam) Burmister (1897–1962) was a professional

wrestler Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves diffe ...

from

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

. He was also a trainer of wrestlers, and performed in

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

and

sideshow In North America, a sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus, traveling carnival, carnival, fair, or other such attraction. They historically featured human oddity exhibits (so-called “Freak show, freak shows”), pr ...

s as a

strongman Strongman is a competitive strength sport which tests athletes' physical strength and endurance through a variety of heavy lifts and events. Strongman competitions are known for their intensity, pushing athletes to their physical and mental limit ...

Early life

Burmister was born in Pärnu, Estonia on 5 January 1897 to a

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

family. Sam's obituary writer claimed he participated in the 1912 Olympics for Russia and served as a pilot in the

Imperial Russian Air Force The Imperial Russian Air Service () was an air force founded in 1912 for Imperial Russia."''12 августа 1912 года приказом по военному ведомству вопросы воздухоплавания и авиаци� ...

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. The writer confused Sam with August Kippasto, Russia's Estonian

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

wrestling representative at the

1912 Olympic Games The 1912 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the V Olympiad () and commonly known as Stockholm 1912, were an international multi-sport event held in Stockholm, Sweden, between 6 July and 22 July 1912. The opening ceremony was he ...

, who later migrated to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and wrestled professionally. Sam stated he served with the 432nd Company of the 180th Division of the Russian infantry during World War I. As the situation in Russia worsened for Jews after the war, Burmister left Russia on a world tour across

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and the

Pacific The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is bounded by the cont ...

and

America The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. His tour took him to

in 1925, and found the local wrestling scene so receptive that he decided to return permanently. Burmister emigrated to

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

in 1937.

Wrestling career

Burmister had an active career in professional wrestling from 1925 to 1934, including winning the 1929 Australian Heavyweight title. He was also World Jewish Wrestling Champion several times. The press described him as "a low-set, bull-necked, heavily torsoed fellow", and he was well-known and popular with audiences for his "vigorous methods" In addition to his professional wrestling career, Burmister was also a

performer and sideshow

, under the stage name "The Modern

Samson SAMSON (Software for Adaptive Modeling and Simulation Of Nanosystems) is a computer software platform for molecular design being developed bOneAngstromand previously by the NANO-D group at the French Institute for Research in Computer Science an ...

". Anecdotally, one of the highlights of his routine included driving nails into a pine board with his fists and allowing a motor car to be driven across his chest. He also had a small cameo role in the 1925 Australian film "Those Terrible Twins" Burmister switched from competitor to trainer in the late 1940s, training Australian

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...

and

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

star Bob McMaster when the latter made his foray into professional wrestling.

Death

He died unexpectedly on 4 October 1962 in Brisbane, and is buried in the Jewish section of the

Toowong Cemetery Toowong Cemetery is a heritage-listed cemetery on the corner of Frederick Street and Mt Coot-tha Road, Toowong, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It was established in 1866 and formally opened in 1875. It is Queensland, Queensland's lar ...

, Brisbane.

Championships and accomplishments

Professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

** Australian Catch-as-Catch-Can Championship (1 time) **Western Australian Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burmister, Samuel 1897 births 1962 deaths Australian male sport wrestlers Australian male professional wrestlers Burials at Toowong Cemetery Australian strength athletes Estonian expatriate sportspeople in Australia Vaudeville performers Jewish Australian sportspeople Wrestlers from the Russian Empire Soviet emigrants to Australia Estonian emigrants to Australia 20th-century Australian sportsmen