Background
He was born in Quirindi in New South Wales.
He was born in Quirindi in New South Wales.
He was Olympic bronze medalist in Freestyle wrestling in 1932, and also competed at the 1936 Olympics. He was the fourth child of Michael Eli Scarf and Amelia, née Zraysarty, who had both migrated from Lebanon. His victory came in spite of pulling a muscle in his right thigh during the preliminary rounds.
He had been training with American wrestlers, Ray Steele, Dean Detton, and Bobby Roberts.
He retained hs title the following year. In 1940, he famously beat Chief Little Wolf on points, using Little Wolf"s signature move, the Indian deathlock against him.
On 29 April 1941 Scarf enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force as a storekeeper. He served with the Parachute Training Unit from 1943 and in 1944 participated in an exhibition wrestling match with Jerry Visscher during a boxing tournament in Madang, New Guinea.
He was discharged from the R.A.A.F. on 7 February 1945.
In February 1938, Scarf won the wrestling gold medal at the Empire Games in Sydney in the light heavyweight division. In November that year he turned professional and moved up to the heavyweight class in order to compete in a competition sponsored by Stadiums Limited to determine the heavyweight professional champion of Australia. He was crowned professional champion by defeating Jim Bartlett of New Zealand one fall to nil in four rounds.
