At the height of his stardom, Whipper Billy Watson was often billed as “The Pride of East York” and even sponsored a four-team youth hockey league called Whipper Watson’s Whipper Pack. There was girl’s hockey too, in the 1950s.
For the uninitiated, East York is a former town / borough in what is now Toronto, located, naturally, in the east end of the city, with the Don River separating it on its west side from Toronto proper. Well-known neighborhoods include Leaside, Bennington Heights and Thorncliffe Park. A working-class area, in 1998, it became part of the “megacity” of Toronto.
An ad for more fun at the East York Memorial Arena
But this isn’t a history lesson about Toronto’s evolution, but instead another example of a small business paving the way and a big business coming in to have their way. In wrestling terms, we’ll call it a squash match.
Until the East York Arena was opened in time for the 1951-52 hockey season, it was hockey outdoors in the area.
Whipper Watson with a woman hockey player
As we have learned through the years, built it and they will come — including wrestlers.
But it wasn’t The Whip nor his boss/business partner Frank Tunney that started wrestling at the East York Arena.
Les Lyman
Nope, it was Les Lyman as the promoter and a whole lot of names that you are probably unfamiliar with.
There’s really not much on Lyman out there that I could find online, and I suspect that this 1950 show is his too, prior to the building of the East York Arena.
East York Collegiate Memorial Stadium in Toronto, July 11, 1950
Tuesday, July 11, 1950
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Collegiate Memorial Stadium
Jack Sibthorpe vs Les Lyman
Wild Bill Whitworth vs Jack Spring
The two major Toronto newspapers with online archives, the Toronto Star and the Globe & Mail, both ran ads and occasionally had results or previews. (The defunct Toronto Telegram does not exist in an online format.) Often, headlines would refer to “E.Y.” instead of spelling out “East York.”
1953
Two advertisements for wrestling — David vs Goliath — on May 13, 1953, as the Les Lyman show on May 13th competed against the Frank Tunney show at Maple Leaf Gardens in the next night.
Wednesday, May 13, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
(card unknown)
General admission 60 cents, ringside $1.00
Wednesday, June 3, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
(card unknown)
East York Arena in Toronto, July 1, 1953
Wednesday, July 1, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Black Jack Richards vs Gentleman Joe Scott
Black Panther vs Hugo Von Bruno
Paul Penchoff vs Pete Raimond
Special attraction: Judo Exhibition
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: No one else might find it interesting, but there seemed to be a pattern in 1953, where the IWA had an ad in the Toronto Star on the Tuesday, and then the Globe & Mail on Wednesday, the day of the card. It’s not tried and true all the way through, but a trained eye notices these things. And the Star seemed to never give the promotion any actual write-ups or results early on, but did by August.
East York Arena in Toronto, July 8, 1953
Wednesday, July 8, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Black Panther vs Gentleman Joe Scott
Rcd Mask vs Hugo Von Bruno
Paul Penchoff vs Pete Raimond
Black Jack Richards vs Les Lyman
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, July 15, 1953
Wednesday, July 15, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Black Panther & Black Jack Richards vs Gentleman Joe Scott & Les Lyman
Ivan Klimenko vs Ronnie Kopak
Red Mask vs Jack Sibthorpe
Paul Penchoff vs Hugo Von Bruno
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: “East York’s own Jack Sibthorpe” … And there was a Jack Sibthorpe on cards in the 1930s, who could be the same grappler or might be his father … There’s a Bill Sipthorne (note the slightly different spelling) who we find in cards around 1948 in southern Ontario.
East York Arena in Toronto, July 22, 1953
Wednesday, July 22, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Red Mask vs Les Lyman
Jack Sibthorpe vs Black Panther
Black Jack Richards vs “Golden Boy” Kenny Evans
Paul Penchoff vs Gentleman Joe Scott
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: No idea who the Red Mask is. When you follow these results, you often end up with the wrestler being unmasked, and then going back through the results you compiled and added that detail. I did that with Masked Marvel — Stew McCullough — further down.
East York Arena in Toronto, July 29, 1953
Wednesday, July 29, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Red Mask & Black Jack Richards vs Jack Sibthorpe & Les Lyman
The Zebra vs Little John
Paul Penchoff vs “Irish Whip” Tony Fairley
Gentleman Joe Scott vs Ivan Klimenko
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, August 5, 1953
Wednesday, August 5, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Jack Sibthorpe beat The Zebra by DQ
Les Lyman drew with Jimmy Szikeasy
Paul Penchoff beat Sandy Scott
Black Panther beat “Irish Whip” Tony Fairley
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: This is Sandy Scott, who would team with his brother George, and later be a key player behind the scenes in Jim Crockett Promotions.
East York Arena in Toronto, August 12, 1953
Wednesday, August 12, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Red Mask vs Les Lyman ended in a double DQ
Sandy Scott beat Paul Penchoff when Penchoff hurt his ankle
Gentleman Joe Scott beat Sir James Hartley
Black Jack Richards beat “Irish Whip” Tony Fairley
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: “Irish Whip” was one of Whipper Watson’s patented moves, so this is likely an attempt to create a little confusion in the marketplace.
East York Arena in Toronto, August 19, 1953
Wednesday, August 19, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Red Mask & Black Jack Richards beat Sandy Scott & Gentleman Joe Scott
Jack Sibthorpe beat vs Ivan Klimenko by countout
Les Lyman beat Black Panther by DQ
Little John beat Killer Conroy
George McKeag beat Wilf Jennings
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: No idea who this Black Panther is; it could be Jim Mitchell, but I seriously doubt it.
East York Arena in Toronto, August 26, 1953
Wednesday, August 26, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Red Mask vs Sandy Scott
Les Lyman vs Jack Sibthorpe
Black Jack Richards vs Gentleman Joe Scott
Ronnie Kopak vs “Irish Whip” Tony Fairley
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, September 2, 1953
Wednesday, September 2, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Sandy Scott & Gentleman Joe Scott beat Black Panther & Black Jack Richards
Jack Sibthorpe drew with “Irish Whip” Tony Fairley
Les Lyman beat Terrible Turk by DQ
Red Mask beat Ronnie Kopak
George & Bob McKeag beat Al Kendall & Wilf Jennings
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: Wilf Jennings was well known to fans later as a referee for “Bearman” Dave McKigney.
East York Arena in Toronto, September 9, 1953
Wednesday, September 9, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Sandy Scott vs “Bull” Paul Penchoff
Ivan Klimenko vs Les Lyman
Terrible Turk vs Ronnie Kopak
“Irish Whip” Tony Fairley vs Black Panther
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, September 14, 1953
Monday, September 14, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Gentleman Joe Scott vs Red Mask
Black Jack Richards vs Black Panther
Terrible Turk vs Sandy Scott
Ronnie Kopak vs Ivan Klimenko
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, September 23, 1953
Wednesday, September 23, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Sandy Scott & Gentleman Joe Scott beat Red Mask & Black Jack Richards
Les Lyman vs “Bull” Paul Penchoff
Killer Conroy vs Little Beaver
Terrible Turk vs Jack Sibthorpe
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: “The feuding Scott family had the best of it at East York arena last night. Gentleman Joe Scott and cousin Sandy claimed a decision over Jack Richards and the Red Mask in the main bout of the weekly wrestling card.” A Globe & Mail story, on another occasion, said the Scotts were “not related.” Joe Scott is NOT Angus “George” Scott, Sandy’s actual pro wrestling brother.
Wednesday, September 30, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Canadian Open Championship
Les Lyman vs Little Beaver
Jack Sibthorpe vs Little John
Killer Conroy vs “Bull” Paul Penchoff
Black Jack Richards vs Ivan Klimenko
Gentleman Joe Scott vs “Irish Whip” Tony Fairley
Ronnie Kopak vs Sandy Scott
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: It wasn’t exactly clear how the Canadian Open Championship tournament worked, but the finals followed the next week.
Wednesday, October 7, 1953
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Canadian Open Championship Finals
Terrible Turk vs Les Lyman
Gentleman Joe Scott vs Blackjack Richards
Jack Sibthorp vs Sandy Scott
Red Mask vs Bull Penchoff
“3 other elimination bouts to follow”
Promoter: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: Prices had gone up slightly on the ads, with ringside still a dollar, but general admission 75 cents and ladies only 50 cents.
1954
There was an announcement in the Globe and Mail on March 23, 1954, that “The International Wrestling Association which operated at East York Arena last season, has received a license for 1954 and will hold its first show May 12. This will be a Kiwanis charity show. The association’s season will run for 22 weeks.” It would be the last full year for the Lyman crew.
East York Arena in Toronto, May 12, 1954
Wednesday, May 12, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) beat Red Mask by DQ
Jack Sibthorpe drew with Ivan Klimenko
Oattem Fisher beat Hugo Von Bruno
Little John beat Ronnie Kopak
Sandy Scott & Gentleman Joe Scott drew with Black Jack Richards & Masked Marvel (Stew McCullough)
Special attraction: Rolie Lavalee—Mr. Ontario 1954 and the second and third place winners
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: Toronto Star, May 11, 1954: “Oattem Fisher, well known to Toronto sports fans as a lineman for Balmy Beach, makes his debut as a professional wrestler tomorrow night when he tackles Hugo Von Bruno on the East York Kiwanis benefit show at East York Arena.”
Toronto Star, May 13, 1954: “Oattem Fisher, 210-pound Balmy Beach football player last season and an all-star tackle, must have got his sports mixed up. In his debut last night in the professional wrestling card at East York arena Fisher used a flying tackle to polish off Hugo Von Bruno at the seven-minute mark of their tussle.”
Attendance: 1,200
Referee: Murray Debora
East York Arena in Toronto, May 19, 1954
Wednesday, May 19, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) vs Little John / Jean Robert
Oattem Fisher vs Ivan Klimenko
Black Jack Richards & Hugo Von Bruno vs Sandy Scott & Gentleman Jim Scott
Jack Sibthorpe vs Sylvain Richard
Jack Dennis vs “Bull” Paul Penchoff
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: Globe & Mail May 19, 1954: “The 265-lb. Nephew of Montreal wrestling Yvon Robert, Little Jean, will be in the feature bout at East York Arena tonight against Les Lyman. The younger Robert has a raft of clutches that he learned from his uncle to try out on Lyman.”
East York Arena in Toronto, May 26, 1954
Wednesday, May 26, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) beat Black Jack Richards by submission
Red Mask beat Sandy Scott
Oattem Fisher drew with “Bull” Paul Penchoff
Gentleman Joe Scott drew with Ivan Klimenko
Little Beaver beat Sylvain Richard
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: This is the full-size Little Beaver, not the little person.
East York Arena in Toronto, June 2, 1954
Wednesday, June 2, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Red Mask beat Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) by DQ
Black Jack Richards & Masked Marvel (Stew McCullough) beat Gentleman Joe Scott & Gentleman Jim Hawthorne
Oattem Fisher beat Little John
Jack Sibthorpe drew with Little Beaver
Jack Dennis beat Ivan Klimenko
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, June 9, 1954
Wednesday, June 9, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) beat “Bull” Paul Penchoff
Masked Marvel (Stew McCullough) beat Gentleman Joe Scott
Black Jack Richards drew with Oattem Fisher
Ivan Klimenko beat “White Eagle” Ronnie Kopak
Yvon Losier drew with Jack Sibthorpe
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: Yvon Losier would become Frenchy Roberre / Maurice Roberre and gain some prominence.
East York Arena in Toronto, June 16, 1954
Wednesday, June 16, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Masked Marvel (Stew McCullough) & Red Mask vs Jack Dennis & Yvon Losier
Oattem Fisher vs Fred Lamoreux
Bob Marshall vs Tom Slade
Black Jack Richards vs Gentleman Joe Scott
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: Pretty sure that Tom Slade was also Cowboy Will Slade, who you find on other shows in southern Ontario around the same time.
East York Arena in Toronto, June 23, 1954
Wednesday, June 23, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) beat Little John
Masked Marvel (Stew McCullough) & Red Mask beat Gentleman Jim Scott & Jim Hawthorne
“Bull” Paul Penchoff drew with Yvon Losier
Jack Sibthorpe beat Black Jack Richards by DQ
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, June 30, 1954
Wednesday, June 30, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) & Yvon Losier vs Ivan Klimenko & Red Mask
Jack Denis vs “Bull” Paul Penchoff
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, July 7, 1954
Wednesday, July 7, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Red Mask & Ivan Klimenko vs Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) & Yvon Losier
“Bull” Paul Penchoff vs Jack Sibthorpe
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, July 14, 1954
Wednesday, July 14, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Les Lyman & Jack Sibthorpe vs Red Mask & Ivan Klimenko
Ivan Klimenko vs Yvon Losier
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, July 21, 1954
Wednesday, July 21, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Red Mask vs Masked Marvel (Stew McCullough) (loser must unmask)
Battle Royal with six wrestlers
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: That I have found is that the idea of a battle royal with lots of people is not the case yet; instead, the same wrestlers would have singles matches after the battle royal, the lineup based on elimination.
East York Arena in Toronto, July 28, 1954
Wednesday, July 28, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) beat Stew McCullough (unmasked Masked Marvel)
Yvon Losier beat Black Jack Richards
Tony Barone drew with Jack Laskin
Gentleman Joe Scott drew with Bob Marshall
Ivan Klimenko beat Sylvain Richard
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: Jack Laskin doesn’t show up here often, but ended up having a decent career, and, to date, is the only wrestler to have pre-written his own obituary.
East York Arena in Toronto, August 4, 1954
Wednesday, August 4, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Jack Denis & Yvon Losier vs Ivan Klimenko & Tony Barone
Jack Sibthorpe vs Stew McCullough (unmasked Masked Marvel)
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, August 11, 1954
Wednesday, August 11, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Jack Denis & Yvon Losier vs Ivan Klimenko & Tony Barone
Jack Sibthorpe & Gentleman Joe Scott vs Ivan Klimenko & Black Jack Richards (South American Team Match, Elimination for Carling Trophy)
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) vs Red Mask
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, August 18, 1954
Wednesday, August 18, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Les Lyman & Gentleman Joe Scott vs Ivan Klimenko & Black Jack Richards (South American Team Match, Elimination for Carling Trophy)
Yvon Losier vs Stew McCullough (unmasked Masked Marvel)
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, August 25, 1954
Wednesday, August 25, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Ivan Klimenko & Black Jack Richards beat Jack Denis & Yvon Losier by DQ (South American Team Match, Elimination for Carling Trophy)
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) beat Little John
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, September 8, 1954
Wednesday, September 8, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Jack Denis & Yvon Losier vs Stew McCullough & Bob Marshall (South American Team Match, Carling Trophy Finals)
Ivan Klimenko & Black Jack Richards vs Les Lyman & Jack Sibthorpe
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
Wednesday, September 15, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Ivan Klimenko & Black Jack Richards (Carling Trophy winners) beat Paul Kostnee & Jack Sibthorpe by countout
Les Lyman beat Red Mask
Earl Fare beat Gentleman Joe Scott
Jack Denis beat Little John
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, September 20, 1954
Monday, September 20, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Ivan Klimenko & Black Jack Richards (Carling Trophy winners) vs Jack Denis & Yvon Losier
Les Lyman (Canadian Open Champion) vs Earl Fare
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
East York Arena in Toronto, September 29, 1954
Wednesday, September 29, 1954
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Ivan Klimenko & Black Jack Richards (Carling Trophy winners) beat Jack Sibthorpe & Les Lyman by countout in the second fall
Jack Denis drew with George Mason
Earl Fare vs Pierre Dempsey
Little John vs Gentleman Joe Scott
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
1955
East York Arena in Toronto, May 11, 1955
Wednesday, May 11, 1955
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
(Card unknown)
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: There was no listing of who was wrestling in either newspaper, kind of a weak return after the hockey season.
Wednesday, May 18, 1955
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Jack Sibthorpe & Gentleman Joe Scott beat Tony Barone & Killer Conroy by DQ
Black Jack Richards beat Harry Love
Martin Hutzler beat Tom Slade by countout
Canadian Saint beat Pat Murphy
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
NOTES: No idea who the Canadian Saint is; I don’t think Pat Murphy is the future “Skull” Murphy, though he would have been starting around this time. … Martin Hutlzer ran Martin’s Sportstown Grill in Hamilton for decades, a favorite places for wrestlers who loved their steaks.
East York Arena in Toronto, June 8, 1955
Wednesday, June 8, 1955
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Black Jack Richards & Tony Barone vs Tom Slade & ??? McDonald
Little John vs Jack Sibthorpe (Canadian title elimination)
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
Wednesday, June 22, 1955
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
(Card unknown)
Promotion: International Wrestling Association
Wednesday, June 29, 1955
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
(Card unknown)
It’s hard to say exactly what went down, but the Lyman-promoted shows stopped here — with one apparent exception below — and Tunney took over, with East York’s own, Whipper, on top.
East York Arena in Toronto, August 18, 1955
Steve York of the Globe & Mail noted that the big boys moved to the East York Arena “because of a convention holding sway at Maple Leaf Gardens.” Then later in the summer, it was the circus at MLG that moved the rasslers out of the way of the elephants.
East York Arena in Toronto, August 23, 1955
Tuesday, August 23, 1955
East York (Toronto), Ontario * East York Arena
Little Bev vs Big Inch (midgets)
“Plus 4 outstanding bouts”
NOTES: Neither of this little people are familiar to me. I suspect this is a Lyman-show, if only because the ads look similar, but it might not be.
The Star wrote about Tunney moving shows out of MLG on August 22, 1959, which sums all this up well. “In the past, when some Maple Leaf Gardens attractions forces the weekly wrestling matches to move elsewhere, promoter Frank Tunney has gone to some small arena like East York. In those cases, crowds have been small but Tunney didn’t mind since the main idea was to provide his one-a-week package for television.”
What a fascinating dive for me. From what I can tell, Sandy Scott and Yvon Losier (as Frenchy Roberre) were the only names on those East York Arena cards that went onto any real prominence. Many could be found on shows for another year in and around Toronto, like Les Lyman on MLG openers. A couple, like Martin Hutzler, became known for things beyond pro wrestling.
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