Terry Garvin
Encyclopedia
Terry Joyal, better known by his ring name
Terry Garvin, was a Canadian
professional wrestler. He is best known for his work with kayfabe
brother Ron Garvin
, with whom he won several tag team championships in the Southern United States
. He is also known for a case of sexual harassment in 1992 that led to the end of his employment with the World Wrestling Federation.
He held the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship
of Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling two times in 1964 with partner Chin Lee.
Beginning in 1965, Garvin began an approximately five year stint as the tag team partner of Ron Garvin
. In November 1967, he wrestled for Championship Wrestling from Florida and won the Florida version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship
with Ron Garvin, trading it with the team of Paul DeMarco and Lorenzo Parente.
Garvin then began teaming with Duke Myers. The pair's manager
was Jimmy Garvin
, the stepson of Ron Garvin. In 1972 in NWA Tri-State, the team won the NWA United States Tag Team Championship. By 1973, he was working in NWA Mid-America, where he won the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship
three times with Myers. Later in the year, he won the title two more times with Ron Garvin. The Garvins also held the Mid-America version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship
that year. He returned to the Gulf Coast in 1974, teaming once again with Ron Garvin, to win Southeastern Championship Wrestling's NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship
.
By the early 1980s Garvin retired from the ring and went on to book for Bob Geigel
in small towns in Missouri
. In 1985 Terry was approached by Pat Patterson and eventually was offered a job working for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) behind the scenes. One of his jobs with the WWF was to supervise ring boys, the boys hired to put up and take down the wrestling ring
between shows. His employment with WWF ceased on March 2, 1992.
discussed the incident on Larry King Live
. Fellow wrestler Barry Orton called into the show and claimed that Garvin accosted him in 1978.
He was good friends with fellow wrestler Pat Patterson. He knew Patterson, as well as tag team partner Ron Garvin
, when he was growing up in Montreal.
Garvin died on August 17, 1998 from cancer
.
Ring name
A ring name is a stage name used by a professional wrestler, martial artist, or boxer. While some ring names may have a fictitious first name and surname, others may simply be a nickname, such as The Undertaker.-Wrestling:...
Terry Garvin, was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
professional wrestler. He is best known for his work with kayfabe
Kayfabe
In professional wrestling, kayfabe is the portrayal of events within the industry as "real" or "true". Specifically, the portrayal of professional wrestling, in particular the competition and rivalries between participants, as being genuine or not of a worked nature...
brother Ron Garvin
Ron Garvin
Ron Garvin is a Canadian former professional wrestler and referee most known for his time in the National Wrestling Alliance.-Early career:...
, with whom he won several tag team championships in the Southern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He is also known for a case of sexual harassment in 1992 that led to the end of his employment with the World Wrestling Federation.
Professional wrestling career
Joyal grew up in Montreal, Quebec. He trained to become a professional wrestler at a gym in the Loisiers St. Jean de Baptiste church in Montreal. He made his wrestling debut in 1958 in Ontario.He held the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship
NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship
The NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship was the main tag team championship in Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling or NWA Gulf Coast. The Gulf Coast tag team championship is the successor for GCCW's version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship that was promoted in the Tennessee, Alabama, Florida...
of Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling two times in 1964 with partner Chin Lee.
Beginning in 1965, Garvin began an approximately five year stint as the tag team partner of Ron Garvin
Ron Garvin
Ron Garvin is a Canadian former professional wrestler and referee most known for his time in the National Wrestling Alliance.-Early career:...
. In November 1967, he wrestled for Championship Wrestling from Florida and won the Florida version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship
NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)
The Florida version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship existed from 1961 until 1969.-Title history:-See also:*National Wrestling Alliance*NWA World Tag Team Championship*Florida Championship Wrestling...
with Ron Garvin, trading it with the team of Paul DeMarco and Lorenzo Parente.
Garvin then began teaming with Duke Myers. The pair's manager
Manager (professional wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a manager is a secondary character paired with a wrestler for a variety of reasons. The manager is often either a non-wrestler, an occasional wrestler, an older wrestler who has retired or is nearing retirement or, in some cases, a new wrestler who is breaking into the...
was Jimmy Garvin
Jimmy Garvin
James Williams is a retired American professional wrestler. He is best known by his ring name "Gorgeous" Jimmy "Jam" Garvin and as a member of the legendary Fabulous Freebirds....
, the stepson of Ron Garvin. In 1972 in NWA Tri-State, the team won the NWA United States Tag Team Championship. By 1973, he was working in NWA Mid-America, where he won the NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship
NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship
The NWA Mid-America tag-team championship was a tag-team title promoted by the NWA Mid America promotion that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky from the 1940ties until 1980...
three times with Myers. Later in the year, he won the title two more times with Ron Garvin. The Garvins also held the Mid-America version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship
AWA Southern Tag Team Championship
The AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship from its inception through 1977, when it was renamed the AWA Southern...
that year. He returned to the Gulf Coast in 1974, teaming once again with Ron Garvin, to win Southeastern Championship Wrestling's NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship
NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship
The NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship was a secondary tag team title promoted as the name indeicates mainly in the Tennessee region from 1967 until 1977, first by Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling from 1967 to 1974 then by its successor Southeast Championship Wrestling from 1974 to 1977 when it...
.
By the early 1980s Garvin retired from the ring and went on to book for Bob Geigel
Bob Geigel
Robert "Bob" Geigel is a former American professional wrestling promoter and also a former professional wrestler. Geigel ran the NWA Central States promotion between 1963 and 1986, until it was bought out by Jim Crockett Promotions...
in small towns in Missouri
Missouri
Missouri is a US state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. With a 2010 population of 5,988,927, Missouri is the 18th most populous state in the nation and the fifth most populous in the Midwest. It...
. In 1985 Terry was approached by Pat Patterson and eventually was offered a job working for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) behind the scenes. One of his jobs with the WWF was to supervise ring boys, the boys hired to put up and take down the wrestling ring
Wrestling ring
A wrestling ring is the ring stage on which professional wrestlers wrestle.-Configuration and construction:The configuration and construction of the "traditional" ring is very similar to that of a boxing ring, though the wrestling version has three ring ropes...
between shows. His employment with WWF ceased on March 2, 1992.
Personal life
Garvin was openly homosexual. Allegedly, Garvin had an address book full of names and addresses of males that he hooked up with around the country as he traveled. He once accosted a 19-year-old, who later reached a settlement with the WWF. WWF owner Vince McMahonVince McMahon
Vincent Kennedy "Vince" McMahon is an American professional wrestling promoter, announcer, commentator, film producer, actor and former occasional professional wrestler. McMahon is the current Chairman, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Committee of professional wrestling promotion WWE...
discussed the incident on Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
. Fellow wrestler Barry Orton called into the show and claimed that Garvin accosted him in 1978.
He was good friends with fellow wrestler Pat Patterson. He knew Patterson, as well as tag team partner Ron Garvin
Ron Garvin
Ron Garvin is a Canadian former professional wrestler and referee most known for his time in the National Wrestling Alliance.-Early career:...
, when he was growing up in Montreal.
Garvin died on August 17, 1998 from cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
.
Championships and accomplishments
- Championship Wrestling from Florida
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)The Florida version of the NWA World Tag Team Championship existed from 1961 until 1969.-Title history:-See also:*National Wrestling Alliance*NWA World Tag Team Championship*Florida Championship Wrestling...
(1 time) - with Ron GarvinRon GarvinRon Garvin is a Canadian former professional wrestler and referee most known for his time in the National Wrestling Alliance.-Early career:...
- NWA World Tag Team Championship (Florida version)
- Continrental Wrestling Alliance
- CWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
- Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling/Southeastern Championship WrestlingContinental Championship WrestlingContinental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based out of Knoxville, Tennessee from 1974 until 1988 and Dothan, Alabama from 1978 to 1990, managed by Ron Fuller. When Fuller sold the promotion to David Woods, it changed name to the Continental Wrestling Federation...
- NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Gulf Coast version)NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Gulf Coast Tag Team Championship was the main tag team championship in Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling or NWA Gulf Coast. The Gulf Coast tag team championship is the successor for GCCW's version of the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship that was promoted in the Tennessee, Alabama, Florida...
(2 times) - with Chin Lee - NWA Tennessee Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Tennessee Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship was a secondary tag team title promoted as the name indeicates mainly in the Tennessee region from 1967 until 1977, first by Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling from 1967 to 1974 then by its successor Southeast Championship Wrestling from 1974 to 1977 when it...
(1 time) - with Ron Garvin
- NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Gulf Coast version)
- Mid-South Sports/Georgia Championship WrestlingGeorgia Championship WrestlingGeorgia Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion whose self-titled TV program aired in the 1970s and 1980s on Atlanta, U.S., superstation WTBS. Though based in Atlanta, the company also ran live wrestling shows throughout its geographic "territory" of Georgia Georgia...
- NWA Georgia Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Georgia Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship was the top tag team championship in Georgia Championship Wrestling from 1968 to 1980, when it was replaced with the NWA National Tag Team Championship....
(2 times) – with Ron Garvin - NWA Macon Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Macon Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Macon Tag Team Championship was a tag team professional wrestling championship in Georgia Championship Wrestling, defended exclusively on events held at the Macon City Auditorium and Macon Coliseum in Macon, Georgia. The title lasted from 1969 to 1975....
(1 time) – with Ron Garvin
- NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship
- NWA Mid-AmericaContinental Wrestling AssociationThe Continental Wrestling Association was a wrestling promotion managed by Jerry Jarrett. The CWA was the name of the "governing body" for the Championship Wrestling, Inc. promotion which was usually referred to as Mid-Southern Wrestling...
- NWA Mid-America Tag Team ChampionshipNWA Mid-America Tag Team ChampionshipThe NWA Mid-America tag-team championship was a tag-team title promoted by the NWA Mid America promotion that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky from the 1940ties until 1980...
(5 times) – with Ron Garvin (2), Duke Myers (3) - NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Mid-America version)AWA Southern Tag Team ChampionshipThe AWA Southern Tag Team Championship was a professional wrestling tag team title in the Tennessee area from the 1940s through the late 1980s. It was originally named the NWA Southern Tag Team Championship from its inception through 1977, when it was renamed the AWA Southern...
(1 time) – with Ron Garvin
- NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship
- NWA Tri-State
- NWA United States Tag Team Championship (Tri-State version) (1 time) - with Duke Myers
- Universal Wrestling Association
- UWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)