Frank Ayerst is an interesting name from Toronto's wrestling history. He was the epitome of the writer types that Tunney kept close to the office and eventually went to work for Tunney as his publicist.
Ayerst had been the secretary for MLG's Marlboro's Athletic Organization when it was formed in 1937 and worked closely with Maple Leafs owner Conn Smythe. For a couple of years at the onset of the 1940's he had also worked at MLG tracking goals and assists during Leafs games.
He had written writeups in the programs of the wrestlers of the day as early as 1935. In the 1940's in his role as a sports writer for the Star, he would report the occasional wrestling results before joining the wrestling/boxing office in 1947. At the turn of the 1950's he would variously be referred to as Tunney's 'poll-taker', and the 'voice of Wrestling HQ' and would stay with Frank T for 17 years.
After long time ring announcer Bill Smith passed on in 1950 Ayerst would take over from 1950-1955. Later in the decade his weekly columns with bits about the upcoming cards (mostly for the purpose of advertising the card) including snippets from the wrestlers and other info were a regular entry on the sports pages.
He contributed to the wrestling programs into the mid 1960s. One of the pages was 'Grappling Gossip' written by Ayerst but sometimes credited to 'Matt Wise'. It would include real type info about the wrestlers and tidbits such as their hobbies or interests, family life, or recent trips and bouts. Fritz Von Erich flying his own plane around the country for instance.
Ayerst left the office in 1964 and later worked for the Provincial Department of Tourism.