The search for Siki’s real name

When I first started Charting the Territories, two of my biggest influences were the Freakonomics books (by Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner) and Sabermetrics, an analytic approach to managing and optimizing outcomes in baseball. In both cases, objective data is used to answer questions. In many cases, they disproved common misconceptions about their respective topics. Such an approach can be quite useful in professional wrestling, as wrestlers themselves tend to embellish, misremember, and, on some occasions, play fast and loose with the truth. In a field where it can hard to get to the truth by asking those involved, sometimes you must take a different path to answer simple questions.

For decades, the real name of Sweet Daddy Siki, who died on December 31, 2024, has been a secret. As for why the wrestler himself chose to keep it under wraps for all these years, that is a question only he knew the answer to. It’s likely that just a mere handful of people knew his real name (his family, business associates for whom contracts needed to be signed, etc.), and they weren’t talking. As part of doing research on Siki, my co-host Jon Boucher decided to see if he could find his real name using publicly available information. Additionally, it’s long been believed that the date of birth attributed to him in wrestling circles (June 16, 1940) was incorrect, so that was part of Jon’s mission as well.

While many states and locales required wrestlers to obtain licenses, only a small portion of those records still exist, and what is available is often not helpful. For example, the Alabama Boxing and Wrestling Commission issued licenses to wrestlers who worked in the state, but they weren’t too particular about verifying the names given to them. When applying for a license in Alabama in the 1970s, Ed Farhat listed his real name as “A. Sheik”. So for the purposes of this exercise, Jon decided to focus on sources outside of professional wrestling circles.

The first morsel of information came from an article about Siki on a website entitled “A Day in the Life…” written by Diane Walton. Deep in the comments section was what appeared to be a reference to his wife’s first name: “Siki and Ann would often come over and brought their son…”. From there, a little creative googling led Jon to an article on Siki’s wife on the website Eesti Elu, a Canadian publication dedicated to the Estonian community.

Even without the wrestling connection, the article is a worthwhile read (her family escaped from a Nazi concentration camp when Ann, born Anu Liis Koks, was an infant!). Where it becomes relevant to Jon’s mission is when it discusses Anu’s two sons. Much as Sweet Daddy Siki kept his real name a secret in wrestling circles, he was also very guarded when it came to his children. It is believed that he did not divulge their names to his contemporaries nor to others under the professional wrestling umbrella (promoters, historians, etc.). This article, however, reveals their names as Reg James and Justin James.

Other information given in the Eesti Elu article was also of assistance. It noted that Ann passed away on October 7, 2013. The date of their marriage was given as November 22, 1964. Making the reasonable assumption that Siki’s legal surname was in fact James (the last name of his two sons), and his wife’s first name was Ann or perhaps Anne (seemingly changed or simplified from Anu upon the family’s arrival in Canada a few years after their escape from Germany) Koks, there was now enough information to try and find a marriage announcement, which would likely include Siki’s real name.

The November 10, 1964 edition of The Buffalo News contained a list of all marriage licenses issued the previous day. Anne Koks and Elkin James, both from Toronto, were included in this list.

As a rule, both Jon and I like to get more than one piece of “proof” when solving wrestling history mysteries like this. So the next step was to find an obituary for Anne and see if it corroborated our findings. The Toronto Star, on October 10, 2013, contained a notice regarding Anne’s passing.

Anne’s legal name checks out with the information Jon had previously discovered, the names of her two sons are a match as well; thus, it’s quite clear that Sweet Daddy Siki’s legal name was indeed Elkin James.

From there, Jon looked through census records to see if he could find a birthdate for Siki. On a U.S. Census form dated May 8, 1940, an Elkin James was listed as one of six children of Willie and Lucille James, all of whom resided in Grimes County, Texas. Grimes County is right next to Montgomery County, which is where Siki is believed to have been born. Willie’s occupation is listed as farmer, which again matches up with information Siki had given about his upbringing. Elkin James was listed as being seven years old.

Siki also has said that while born in Texas, he did spend some of his younger years in Los Angeles due to his father being abusive. On a U.S. Census form dated April 12, 1950, 16-year old Elkin James was living (along with three of his siblings) with his uncle, Alfred James, in Los Angeles County.

While we don’t have an exact date of birth, we can narrow it down to a small window with this census information. If Siki was seven years old on May 8, 1940, and 16 years old on April 12, 1950, we believed his date of birth would have been between April 12 and May 8 of 1933. [Upon his passing, we learned it was June 16, 1933.]

As you can see, this wasn’t a simple process. It consisted of finding the smallest hints and clues and slowly putting together the larger puzzle. Professional wrestling’s historical record is incomplete (and inaccurate) at times. I’ve often likened the work I do with Charting the Territories to compiling “back-of-the-baseball-card” information and stats for professional wrestlers. The back of Sweet Daddy Siki’s card just got a little more complete.

— with files from Jon Boucher

TOP PHOTO: Sweet Daddy Siki heads to the ring when he was a trainer, and done wrestling. Photo by Mike Mastrandrea, https://www.instagram.com/mikemastrandrea_photography

RELATED LINKS

• Jan. 1, 2025: Sweet Daddy Siki dead at 91
• Jan. 1, 2025: Mat Matters: Siki did not trust easily
• Sweet Daddy Siki story archive
• Listen to the Charting the Territories podcast