John’s Hungarian Register of Imports

May 24

Thanks again sbaranyi. Are you Stephen?

This is quite a story so far but I think there's more. Is Lorant Baranyi the same Lorant Baranyi competing in the Skyrac Athletic Club certainly as late as 2018. If so, tell us more.

May 24

Replying to

Yes it's the same person he competed in Hammer throw and won a gold medal in the mayers Yorkshire championship over 80's. Unfortunately the covid lockdowns put a stop to the training and he's not training anymore for it but still does a little bit of weight training in his garage gym

May 25

Replying to

Thanks for confirming that. What an incredible achievement to be competitive at that age.

May 24

Lorant Baranyi is now added to the listings:

1950's Greats
The Father of Wrestling
Living Greats in Age Order

May 24

Replying to

Thanks very much he'll be chuffed to hear this

May 24

Thank you, S. Lorant is therefore a contemporary of Tibor Szakacs. Probably the Hungarian with most tv matches (as Zoltan only transitioned to the tv promoter in 1966). Did Lorant know or work with Tibor?

Hack: please edit Lorant into the main list.

May 24

Replying to

I'm not sure about Tibor but he often did tag team matches partnering Laszlo Bajko

May 25

Replying to

By main list, I mean the opening post in this thread that you have created, Hack. Sorry if unclear.

May 22

Thank you so much, S, also for the photo. Sounds like Lorant had a great routine going with Shirley Crabtree.

Please share very best wishes with Lorant from all us fans of sixties wrestling at Wrestling Heritage. Tell him we are thoroughly enjoying his memories that you are sharing with us, and we shall continue to lap up whatever else he can recall.

If you are able, do share his date or at least month of birth for our charts.

May 23

Replying to

Thanks very much. He's still got a sharp memory for his age and likes to reminisce about his wrestling days, amateur and professional. His date of birth is 07.07.34 and he was born near Budapest

aaronicarusarrow

May 23

Replying to

Is he still speaking hungarian? As a fellow hungarian I’d like to send him an email or letter if there’s any possibility 🙏🏻

May 22

Yes my father still lives in Yorkshire. He came to the UK just after the Hungarian revolution in 1956 and had previously done amateur wrestling, freestyle and Greco-Roman in Hungary since 12 yrs old. He was in the army in Hungary for 2 yrs and was army champion. When he arrived in the UK he trained mostly with the Crabtree brothers at a gym in Halifax

aaronicarusarrow

May 22

Replying to

That’s amazing! Thank you for sharing his story with so much details!

May 22

Yes Lorant is my father and he said he only wrestled professional for about 4 years because when he got married his wife didn't like him doing all the travelling all the time up and down the country. He only went under the name Lorant Baranyi. It was quite a short career but he's got some great memories from his time in the ring

May 22

Replying to

That is great to hear. Are you all still in Yorkshire?, would it be possible to find out more about your fathers past?, things like when did he come to the UK, was he already a wrestler when he came here from Hungary, where did he train in the UK, which gyms, things like that?

Thanks anyway for the information, pictures and bill posters, so far.

May 22

Geof Portz was another formidable opponent

May 22

Stefan Bolla appears on one of the "Todmorden" bills that Ron has posted. Billed from Hungary.

Edited

May 21

So now we see Lorant sharing the dressing room with Kwango, Billy Joyce, Garfield, Portz, McManus, Breaks, Churchill and a whole host of top northerners. Clearly a very competent worker, would be good to understand his style.

Tell us if he is still alive, S Baranyi, and he can probably be included in our lists of living greats.

RON HISTORYO....Time Cop,

May 22

Replying to

He is still alive and will be 90 years old in July. He was a very athletic wrestler for a heavyweight and used to weigh in at around 16 stones and was a lot lighter than Shirley Crabtree who was 7 stones heavier. With Lorant having a successful amateur wrestling background he had a very big strong neck and did a lot of wrestles bridges in training. This was a crowd pleaser when Shirley Crabtree used to jump on him and he supported his weight with his neck. Max Crabtree promotions often organised events and Brian Crabtree, the youngest brother was a referee. Lorant also did tag team with Laszlo Bajko as a partner and they once wrestled at Caledonian Bath in London it was an international contest England v Hungary. He's got good memories of a lot of the different bouts and also wrestled against Geof Portz a few times

May 22

Replying to

So are we saying a very short career and for what reason or did Lorant go by a different name. He may well be our oldest surviving wrestler.

I take it you are talking about your father , and you can be very proud too of his fame , and even catching us out here on Heritage.

May 21

Thanks for joining us sbaranyi and sharing those posts, and Ron's additions too. As Anglo has said, please do share more information to give Lorant Baranyi his place in our Wrestling Heritage. Is he still with us?

Edited

RON HISTORYO....Time Cop,

May 21

S Baranyi - you have topped us all! Welcome and thank you for your sharing of those programmes. Yes, Lorant wrestled Shirley Crabtree before his Big Daddy days - when he was actually a more formidable opponent.

I am not in the family tree tracing class of our Ron, but do I detect you happen to share the same surname with Lorant?

We'll all keep chasing you for more information now, and a photo of Lorant will allow inclusion in the prestigious wrestling A to Z.

So please do tell us more about Lorant: which promoters employed him? Which wrestlers he was friendly with? Who trained him? Why his career was quite short - because in spite of your share today we just haven't seen him on other bills.

This is just the sort of find we all love on here. We hope we can also share with you, but on the subject of Lorant Baranyi it's going to be a tall task.

May 21

Replying to

An imaginative Variation, Settled in Leeds I believe, hence the Crabtree connection.

Edited

May 21

Googling Lorant Baranyi brings nothing, so can you kindly tell us more about this wrestler. Maybe he used another ring name? Most Big Daddy bouts are very well documented so you set us a head-scratcher to work out just who Lorant Baanyi was.

May 21

Replying to

Agreed. It is pretty rare that a top-of-the-bill wrestler appears on this forum, that none of us have heard of, so I also assume, like Anglo, that he used a ring name?

RON HISTORYO....Time Cop,

May 21

Replying to

Wrestling Crabtree as British champion would mean he worked for the independents.

May 21

Replying to

Edited

May 20

Lorant Baranyi was another Hungarian professional wrestler in England in the 1960's/70's. He had a background in Greco-Roman and Freestyle wrestling and took up pro Wrestling when he moved to England. He often wrestled top of the bill against the likes of Shirley Crabtree who was the British and European Champion and went on to become known as 'Big Daddy'

May 21

Replying to

Ah, wrestling on the independent circuit, looks like the 1960's?, where did he live in the UK? Just wondering if he travelled with the Crabtrees?