Jerry Podjursky

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Jerry Podjursky (Jeremiah Daniel Podjursky) was a New Zealand wrestler born on 30 March 1912 in Turakina. He was 1.63 m tall and weighed 70 kg. He began wrestling at 18, coached by his older brother Manswell George Podjursky, who had won the national lightweight title in 1928. In 1932 he was selected for the national championships but could not compete after weighing in half a pound over his division.

In 1936 he won the Wanganui championship and reached the North Island final, where both wrestlers were injured in the fourth round. In 1937 he became the New Zealand welterweight champion at the national championships in Wellington, making the Podjursky brothers the first siblings to win national wrestling titles in New Zealand.

In 1938 he won the Wanganui and North Island titles again and earned a bronze medal for New Zealand in welterweight at the British Empire Games in Sydney. He married Elsie Muriel Williams on 29 May 1935 at Christ Church, Whanganui.

Podjursky died on 8 October 1947 in Patea, aged 35, and was buried in Aramoho Cemetery, Whanganui.