Zarynoff Family of Grafton

The Zarynoffs lived on Carroll Road in 40s-50s? They were living on 100 acres that went up to the G&U RR in back. They had dammed the brook in back to make a pond. The two sons were Paul & Sergay. Both presently live in Atlanta, GA area & Paul is on the Internet. A photo (old) of Paul & also Sergay can also be seen in Cub Scouts section of this site.

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Sergay Zarynoff, #2 son of the Count! Was in Class of 57 at Wilbraham Academy 

Wrestling Photo of Count Zarynoff in 1930s 

1934 Article on George & Wrestling 

(Tom Carey, Worcester Telegram & Gazette, circa 1955)

I definitely cannot be classified an ardent grappling fan, but I always was an rooter for the colorful Count Zarynoff, one of the truly all-time greats of the grunt and ouch trade.

Grafton is proud of its Count, as he is erroneously called throughout the town. And, although the man who was involved in more than 2,500 matches in his career, still maintains he doesn't know his neighbors, he wants it to be known that he is a Ukrainian and not a Russian. Far more important, he proudly boasts he is an American citizen first, last and always.

Interviewing the fabulous Count inspired me to write a full-length column on the gentleman who has twice traveled the world.

One of the first questions I asked one of Worcester's most famous sports headliners was, "What do you think of present-day wrestling?"

(Count Zarynoff in his prime)

"I'm ashamed to watch wrestling on TV. It's worse than burlesque."

The way he went on about the Lone Eagle and his crowd had me chuckling out loud.

He continued, "Some of them are pretty good and I suppose they take all that physical punishment. But don't compare those hams to the good old mat days."

"Were you a Cossack, Mr. Zarynoff?"

"I sure was. All true Cossacks come from the Ukraine.  The feats of the Cossacks are too well known to need repetition. Everywhere in the world I was billed as the Russian Count."

"Are you of noble birth?" I inquired.

"Yes, but I am no longer a count. I am a plain American citizen. What I mind the most is to be called 'Russian.' I am a Ukrainian."

When you stop to reason that Count Zarynoff participated in thousands of wicked mat scraps and boasted an 89 percent winning rate, he just has to be one of the best that ever lived. George won the world's light-heavyweight crown in Melbourne, Australia, and quit the crown. Ran out of rivals, so he competed in the heavyweight division, and the rest is really national history.

The Count has faced them all. Strangler Lewis, Jim Browning, the late Gus Sonnenberg, Henri Deglane, Ed Don George, Joe Malcewicz, Nick Lutze, Stan Stasiak, Danno O'Mahoney, Steve Casey, Dan Koloff, Yvon Robert, Ray Steele, Dick Shikat, Jim Londos, Joe Stecher, Charlie Hanson, The Black Panther, Jumping Joe Savoldi, the Dusek Brothers and many others.

Outside of Sonnenberg, no other wrestler packed more box office dynamite than Grafton's idol. He is perhaps the only living mat hero who can boast that he has never been whipped in two straight falls. If you want to rile Mr. Zarynoff, just remind him that he was a great acrobatic wrestler. "Me no acrobatic," is his stock answer.

The experts called him a general practitioner. Speed and the ability to start and finish at the same burning pace helped him reach the top. As sensational a wrestler as Zarynoff was, he always respected his rival. When he was good, he always thought someone was a little better.

Millions of fans would look forward to watching the Count execute his famous flying head scissors to overcome a rival.

"I originated the flying head scissors myself, and what do you know, Tom, along comes that Ed Don George and copies it."

Naturally, the Cossack revealed astounding feats like the afternoon he lifted Paul Bowser's 1,100-pound horse off the ground and onto his shoulders.

"Why, that was nothing," he explained to this slightly bewildered listener.

"Right here in Worcester, over at Mechanics Hall, I held a 300-pound stone on my chest. They broke the stone with a sledgehammer and I showed little ill effects. A few minutes later I went on and easily defeated my worthy mat foe."

The greatest wrestler of all time? Strangler Lewis was the best he ever faced. The Count mentioned that noone in the sport ever had more stamina and brute strength. Once Lewis applied the headlock correctly you were a dead pigeon.

"Lewis always had trouble with me, because of my short neck and very high muscles. Oh, once in a while he'd catch me right and, like all the rest of his targets, I suppose I saw stars. Sure, I have beaten the great Strangler Lewis. Several times. My finest triumph over him happened in Boston. We were wrestling a 45-minute semifinal go and around the 43-minute mark he trapped me with a crushing headlock. It never happened to him before, but I picked him up and slammed him roughly to the floor. The old Strangler never got over it.

"When I had him in the air, he said, 'You are stronger than Henri Deglane.'"

"The late Gus Sonnenberg was a pretty rough hombre and especially when he hit you solidly with his flying tackle. But I won my share of bouts over him. We drew an all-time record gate at the Boston Garden, a record which still stands.

"Who won the battle?"

"He did, but not in two straight falls." I couldn't keep Zarynoff on a straight wrestling interview. It took this columnist but a few minutes that he lives for his family. Margaret is a wonderful wife. His six-foot, 205-pound son Paul is attending Wilbraham Academy and a member of the baseball team. He's a pretty good twirler with plenty of speed. The other boy, Sergei, is a very good writer. We hope he sticks to it.

Zarynoff is one of the world's greatest outdoor enthusiasts and is recognized as one of the top fishermen in New England. He showed me prize-killing fish after fish and jokingly reported he was lost in the Maine woods for five days a couple of years ago.

Was he worried? No. He slept in the daytime and stayed by his gun at night. As a matter of fact, his wife just recently learned that he was among the missing for five days.

Yes, Count Zarynoff is still as colorful as ever.
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