Quick Bits: Terry Yorkston

Terry Yorkston was our eras reliable if not quick thinking (or thinking at all sometimes!) referee of note. A regular at MLG and on the circuit during the Mid-Atlantic years 1978-1984 he was part of most of the big bouts and feuds of the day. 

Main pic: exiting the ring after a Youngblood-Ninja strap match Apr 1982

As a wrestler he was often mid card or lower but frequently went under a mask so may have had some bigger bouts while El Santo or Assassin, or Masked Marvel, among others. He started back around 1960 showing up as a referee for Kasaboski's Northland while wrestling as a lightweight on the busy Indy circuit around Toronto. 

He went on to do several tours as a wrestler for Kasaboski who favored the lighter stars. While often billed as from Detroit or sometimes Hamilton, in later years he became Tough Terry from Hollywood. 

By the mid 60's he was appearing on Tunney's CBC TV Wrestling and occasionally on the Hamilton cards. His debut at MLG came in 1972. By the time of the Mid-Atlantic era he was a regular referee though he still wrestled up to 1979. I'm not sure if he promoted at all but was frequently found on the many lesser promoted Indy type cards held in those days.  

He had a softer look, even as a wrestler, but sported tattoos (not so common back then) on his beefy forearms and looked like he could go a round or two. 

A picture is worth a thousand words...

I remember a few notable bouts with Yorkston as ref. One was the highly anticipated Toronto debut of the East-West Connection Adonis & Ventura matched up against the similarly named Italian Connection of Tony Parisi & Domenic DeNucci. The veterans had Adonis & Ventura stumped at every turn until the bad guys started bending the rules. With Yorkston none the wiser Adonis pins DeNucci while holding the tights. As Adonis & Ventura celebrate their successful debut Paris & DeNucci protest to Yorkston who firmly slaps his head in a classic move now known as 'Doh.' See photo above.

You will note also the fans in front of me celebrating the bad guys big win. As I was too!

See also Indie show with Terry Yorkston, 1972: Gary Will's TWH
More on the Referees of Maple Leaf

-AC and photos by...

Indie show with Terry Yorkston, 1972: Gary Will's TWH

This poster went up for sale on eBay in early 2003. If it hadn't been for Terry Yorkston's name in the opening match, I might not have given it a thought. Yorkston was a prelim wrestler for Frank Tunney in the 1970s who went on to be a referee for Maple Leaf Wrestling. He had been wrestling for years before coming to the Gardens, including a good mid-card run in Quebec. He had just come off a stint in the Maritimes before arriving in Toronto in 1972.

(A few years later, he also worked under a hood for George Cannon. Somewhere in taped-over video heaven is a Cannon TV show with a scrawny teenager in the fourth row yelling "Hey! Terry Yorkston!" all through one of his matches. It took a couple of minutes to solve the puzzle, but I recognized him as someone I knew as soon as he came to the ring.)

 I don't know much about the show on the poster, but I was able to track it down. It was held on August 30, 1972 at the York Centre Ballroom -- south of Eglinton and east of Dufferin -- just a couple of months after Yorkston had made his Maple Leaf Gardens debut for Tunney (as a sub for Chris Colt).

Pat McMahon would go on to become Shillelagh O'Sullivan, who got a brief push at Maple Leaf Gardens in 1973. Andy Martin, from the main event, would make his first Gardens appearance in December. Pat Scott made it to Carlton Street for two matches in 1973. Ernie Schwaab (name misspelled on the poster) had done a job for Killer Kowalski at the Gardens in December 1971. There was a Golden Boy Apollo who wrestled at the Gardens in 1974, but I don't know if it's the same guy. The other names don't ring any bells.

I couldn't find any other shows at the Ballroom advertised in the Star, which is where the ad above is from.

-by Gary Will