Jimmy Sharman
Encyclopedia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
troupe impresarios.
Born in Narellan, New South Wales
Narellan, New South Wales
Narellan is a suburb of the Macarthur Region of Sydney in the state of New South Wales, Australia in Camden Council.-History:The area now known as Narellan was probably originally home to the Tharawal people, based in the Illawarra region, although the Western Sydney-based Darug people and the...
Jimmy Sharman Sr had established a boxing tent in 1911 at Ardlethan
Ardlethan, New South Wales
Ardlethan is a small service town located in the Coolamon Shire in New South Wales, Australia. Ardlethan is located at the intersection of the Burley Griffin Way and Newell Highway...
near Temora
Temora, New South Wales
Temora is a town located in north east part of the Riverina area of New South Wales, south-west of the state capital, Sydney. At the 2006 census the population of Temora was 4,086.-History:...
. The tent visited 45 to 50 shows each year. His son, Jimmy Sharman Jr, took over the business in 1955. The tent formed part of the Australian Show landscape until 1971, when regulations barred boxers fighting more than once a week. Sharman then turned to dodgem cars in partnership with Reg Grundy
Reg Grundy
Reginald Roy "Reg" Grundy, AC, OBE is one of the most successful Australian entrepreneurs, and media and television moguls of his generation.He was the only child born to Roy Grundy and Lillian Lees...
.
Jimmy Sharman junior
Narrandera, New South Wales
-Transport:Narrandera is well served for transport. The Sturt Highway and the Newell Highways cross, just south of Narrandera. Greyhound buses pass daily - note that the destination can be listed as Jillenbah....
. He attended his first Sydney Royal Easter Show
Sydney Royal Easter Show
The Sydney Royal Easter Show, also known as the Royal Easter Show or simply The Show, is an annual show held in Sydney, Australia over two weeks around Easter.It is run by the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales and was first held in 1823...
in 1926 working in his father's tent.
Sharman junior played rugby league
Rugby league
Rugby league football, usually called rugby league, is a full contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular grass field. One of the two codes of rugby football, it originated in England in 1895 by a split from Rugby Football Union over paying players...
for Western Suburbs Magpies
Western Suburbs Magpies
The Western Suburbs Magpies are an Australian rugby league football club based in the western suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Formed in 1908, Wests, as they are commonly referred to, were one of the nine foundation clubs of the first New South Wales Rugby League competition in Australia...
. He was fullback in Western Suburbs' 1934 premiership win. In 1938 he became First Grade captain. He retired after 7 seasons in 1939 to become a journalist, taking over the boxing tent from his father in 1955. Sharman played 45 games between 1935 and 1939, scored 12 tries and kicked 11 goals. He was awarded life membership in 1998.
Jimmy Sharman's Boxing Tent
Many famous boxers worked in the Sharman tent, including:- Frank Burns (middleweightMiddleweightMiddleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...
champion) - Teddy Green (bantamweightBantamweightBantamweight is usually a class in boxing for boxers who weigh above 115 pounds and up to 118 pounds . However, in Mixed Martial Arts it is 134-136 pounds . Wrestling also has similar weight classes including bantamweight...
) - Harry Mack (featherweightFeatherweightFeatherweight is a weight class division in the sport of boxing. There are similarly named divisions under several Mixed Martial Arts organizations and in Greco-Roman wrestling.-Professional boxing:...
) - Mickey Miller (bantam and featherweight)
- George Cook (heavyweightHeavyweightHeavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
) - Jack Hassen (lightweightLightweightLight-weight is a class of athletes in a particular sport, based on their weight.-Professional boxing:The lightweight division is over 130 pounds and up to 135 pounds weight class in the sport of boxing....
) - Billy Grime (triple titleholder)
- Jackie Green (triple titleholder)
- Dave SandsDave SandsDave Sands, born David Ritchie, was an Australian Aborigine boxer. He established himself as a leading contender for the World Middleweight Title, only to die prematurely in a motor vehicle accident at the age of 26....
Aboriginal boxer - Greg McNamaraGreg McNamaraGreg McNamara was an Australian Boxer. He was born in Tamworth, New South Wales and was Australian Light-Heavyweight Boxing Champion.- External links :*...
(light-heavyweight)
Famous Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
to work in the tent include:
- George Bracken, Aboriginal lawyer
- Geoff ClarkGeoff ClarkGeoff Clark is an Australian Aboriginal politician and activist. Clark led the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission until it was effectively disbanded in 2004.- Personal :...
, former ATSIC chairperson - Douglas NichollsDouglas NichollsSir Douglas Ralph "Doug" Nicholls KCVO, OBE, was a prominent Aboriginal Australian from the Yorta Yorta people. He was a professional athlete, Churches of Christ pastor and church planter, ceremonial officer and a pioneering campaigner for reconciliation.Nicholls was the first Aboriginal person to...
, later Pastor with the Churches of Christ in AustraliaChurches of Christ in AustraliaThe Churches of Christ in Australia is a Christian movement in Australia. It is part of the Restoration Movement with historical influences from the United States of America and the United Kingdom....
and then Governor of South AustraliaGovernors of South AustraliaThe Governor of South Australia is the representative in the Australian state of South Australia of Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. The Governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the Governor-General of Australia at the national level.In... - Max StuartMax StuartRupert Maxwell Stuart is an Indigenous Australian who was convicted of murder in 1959. His conviction was subject to several appeals to higher courts, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, and a Royal Commission, all of which upheld the verdict. Newspapers campaigned successfully against...
, convicted murderer and Arrente elder
Some boxers came from the Cherbourg Aboriginal mission, near Nanango, Queensland
Nanango, Queensland
Nanango is a town in the South Burnett region of Queensland, Australia. It is the fourth oldest town in Queensland. At the 2006 census, Nanango had a population of 3,083. It is situated north-west of the state capital, Brisbane...
.
In 2003 the Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales
Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales
The Royal Agricultural Society of New South Wales is an Agricultural society based in New South Wales, Australia. They run many of the agricultural shows around New South Wales including the Sydney Royal Easter Show....
honoured Sharman Jr. with the title of "Show Legend".
In popular culture
- The Australian rock band Midnight OilMidnight OilMidnight Oil , were an Australian rock band from Sydney originally performing as Farm from 1972 with drummer Rob Hirst, bass guitarist Andrew James and keyboard player/lead guitarist Jim Moginie...
's 1984 album Red Sails in the SunsetRed Sails in the Sunset (album)Red Sails in the Sunset is an album by Midnight Oil that was released in 1984 under the Columbia Records label. This album was recorded and produced in Tokyo, Japan and is significant for becoming their first No. 1 album in Australia...
includes the song "Jimmy Sharman's Boxers" whose lyrics assert that Sharman exploited the aboriginal boxers he employed in his show. - The Australian rock band Cold ChiselCold ChiselCold Chisel is a rock band that originated in Adelaide, Australia. It is one of the most acclaimed Australian rock bands of all time, with a string of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s and huge sales that continue to this day, although its success and acclaim was almost completely restricted to...
's song "Yesterdays" has lyrics which refer to Jimmy Sharman's boxers http://www.coldchisel.com.au/l1_yesterdays.html. - The 2007 Peter Carstairs film September features its main characters - 15-year-old boys Ed and Paddy - setting up a boxing ring on Ed's family's wheatbelt property in anticipation of a visit by Sharman's boxing troupe. Paddy later joins the troupe.
- Jimmy Sharman Jr's son Jim SharmanJim SharmanJames "Jim" Sharman , the son of boxing tent entrepreneur Jimmy Sharman, is a director and writer for film and stage with over 70 productions to his credit...
became a theatre and film director known especially for the musicals HairHairHair is a filamentous biomaterial, that grows from follicles found in the dermis. Found exclusively in mammals, hair is one of the defining characteristics of the mammalian class....
, Jesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ SuperstarJesus Christ Superstar is a rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber, with lyrics by Tim Rice. The musical started off as a rock opera concept recording before its first staging on Broadway in 1971...
, The Rocky Horror ShowThe Rocky Horror ShowThe Rocky Horror Show is a long-running British horror comedy stage musical, which opened in London on 19 June 1973. It was written by Richard O'Brien, produced and directed by Jim Sharman. It came eighth in a BBC Radio 2 listener poll of the "Nation's Number One Essential Musicals"...
, and the movie version, The Rocky Horror Picture ShowThe Rocky Horror Picture ShowThe Rocky Horror Picture Show is the 1975 film adaptation of the British rock musical stageplay, The Rocky Horror Show, written by Richard O'Brien. The film is a parody of B-movie, science fiction and horror films of the late 1940s through early 1970s. Director Jim Sharman collaborated on the...
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External links
- Description of the boxing tent:
- Pictures:
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