Ede Virág-Ébner

Ede Ébner started his sports career as a track and field athlete of MAC before switching to wrestling in 1931. One of his first coaches was Béla Varga, from whom he also got the name Virág. He primarily competed in freestyle in the half-heavyweight category, but in 1935 he was able to win national championships in both categories. At the international level, in Stockholm in 1934, he took second place in the European Championship in freestyle, and a year later he won the European Championship in Bruxelles.

After that he went to the Berlin Olympics with high hopes, where he was unfortunately unlucky with the draw. In the first round he still won against Lahti from Finland, but in the next two rounds, he had to wrestle first against Sweden’s Fridell, who later won the gold medal, and then against Estonian Neo, the silver medalist, and he was defeated and eliminated. Even before the Olympics he was lured into the world of professionals several times, so it is no wonder that after his disappointing Olympic appearance, he turned professional that year. He first wrestled in Europe, then in 1937 he moved to America, which offered greater opportunities where he continued his professional wrestling career.

He fought his first overseas professional match, now under the name Ed Don Virag, in 1937 and during his stay there he won the Midwest Championship several times, which was one of the most important professional titles in US at the time. In 1939 he unexpectedly appeared in Europe as he was asked to coach the Italian Olympic wrestling team. He continued his wrestling career after the war ended. He also took part in a European tour in 1951 during which he died in a car accident in Greece in October at the age of just 39.