SLAM! Wrestling Canadian Hall of Fame: Yukon Eric
REAL NAME: Eric Holmback
BORN: Monroe, WA (near Seattle)
DIED: January 16, 1965 in Georgia
6'1", 285 pounds
Yukon Eric was one of wrestling's most colorful personalities ever.
His is also one of wrestling's saddest stories.
Yukon Eric is probably best known as the wrestler who lost part of his
ear during a 1952 match to
Wladek 'Killer' Kowalski. But there was much more
to his career than that one match.
In bare feet and blue jeans, 'Yuke' was an incredibly powerful man with
a massive 66 inch chest. His strongman talent led to finishing holds
like the Kodiak Krunch -- a backbreaker on the shoulder, or a bearhug.
For effect, he would whip his opponent into the ropes so that they would
bounce back into his huge chest. Yukon used a clothesline for a belt,
and always wore plaid wool shirts, worn open to show off his chest.
Yukon Eric wrestled all the big names, all around the world. In
southern Ontario, he was a regular, teaming with
Whipper Billy Watson.
His January 14, 1953 match against Killer Kowalski at the Montreal Forum
(not the ear match) was the first ever televised wrestling show in
Canada.
Primarily a babyface throughout his career, Eric was a quiet, gentle,
generous man outside the ring. He didn't drink, smoke or chase women.
When you talk to fans of his, they will always tell you about his
convertible, which he drove everywhere -- including Buffalo in the
winter!
Yukon Eric grew up in Aberdeen, near
Seattle, Washington, with three sisters. He attended
Washington State University (then known as Washington State College) and played football, lettering with the varsity team in 1938 as a sophomore.
During the his heyday in the 1950s, he lived in a trailer in Ridgeway,
Ontario. Joseph Lazar, who owned the Maroon Grill in
downtown Buffalo, was Eric's business manager, mentor and friend. His family adopted Eric, and Yuke was in many family afairs. Lazar's son, Spencer Lazar, contacted SLAM! Wrestling, and shared these
delightful memories of what he remembers of Yukon Eric:
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Yukon Eric. Photo courtesy Terry Dart.
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This is a true story, In 1950 my father who was a saloon keeper
had taken me to the wrestling matches. Eric was a spectator that
night and climbed into the ring to challenge one of the wrestlers.
He was promptly thrown out of the war memorial stadium. The next
day my father who looking out the window of the saloon saw Eric
walk by and invited him in for a drink. Eric didn't drink or smoke,
but did accept a glass of milk. This incident grew into fiction in
early wrestling magazines that credited him with beating up a saloon
full bullies who criticized him for being a milk drinker.
I was with Eric when he bought his first car, a 1960 Pontiac
convertible. He had a paper bag filled with crumpled bills and paid
for the car with cash. From then on he drove Cadillacs and Lincolns.
He was such a bad driver he could not even get insurance. One time
going to a match with Ray Dunkle and he lost control of the car and
killed a cow!
He was very popular and on television every Friday night and my
association with him made me very popular. One time the principal
of my grammer school called my parents and requested that Eric not
drive me to school anymore, because over 600 of the 800 students
were tardy from school that morning.
There was a local ice cream shop that had a ice cream sundae with
24 scoops of ice cream and it was free for anyone who could eat it.
I casually asked Eric if he would try it, they probably will still
talk about that 50 years later.
Another time I remember all of us and several other wrestlers, Sky Hi
Lee,
Sandor Kovacs went to a restaurant after the matches. Their special was
all the lobsters you could eat. The owner was pleased to have these
famous people (early TV stars) and asked for autographs. After Eric
ate 6 lobsters he was told he would always be an honored guest, but
no lobster specials for him anymore.
Eric had a boxer dog named Tex and Eric's trailer was next to a quarry
that was filled with water, it was winter time and the quarry was
frozen over. Tex had run out over the ice and fell through. Eric then
jump through the hole in the ice to try to save the dogs life. Eric
nearly drowned and was rescued by the fire department. Eric cried for
weeks over the death of Tex.
I remember many times when I was a kid, I would put an arm lock
on him while he was sitting in a chair and the patients he would
show by pretending he was wrestling me. I knew once I got that
arm lock on him, he would always give up. I can still hear him
say, "I give, I give". I grew up wanting to be a professional
wrestler but I was never going to grow big enough.
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Yukon Eric vs The Zebra, September 23, 1952.
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As a small kid I was asking Eric for things that an 8 year old
would foolishly ask for. I had mentioned the boat and motor
for my dad. I'm jewish and belonged to a cub scout pack at our
temple. They were having a father and son dinner. Unbeknown
to my dad I asked Eric to come with some wrestling friends. He asked
me who he should bring and I thought for a minute and then suggested
Farmer Don Marlin. The dinner was held about a month late, I had
forgotten that I even asked Eric. Well he didn't forget and during
the dinner Eric and Farmer Don showed up, and Farmer Don brought
along a little pig! (He always had a pig running around the ring.)
You should have seen the Rabbi's face with a pig in his temple.
The ultimate taboo. (Our father and son dinner was strictly kosher).
Nobody really seemed to care, not even the Rabbi, because this
dinner was now really a big event with Yukon Eric & Farmer
Don Marlin in attendance. That night 100 cubs scouts went home
with one of their happiest experience.
Eric was a loner and a introvert, he didn't have family in the
Buffalo area and I don't know how and why he ended up in Buffalo.
When he wasn't wrestling he spent his time at his camp site,
just fishing for blue gills and swimming in the quarry. Later in his
career he did hang out with another wrestler named Ray Dunkle. I
remember one Thanksgiving dinner where he and Ray ate a 20 lb.
turkey in one sitting!
The Yukon Eric story comes to a tragic end in January 1965.
Following divorce, Eric drove into a church parking lot in Georgia and committed suicide with a gun.
He left behind three children -- two daughters and a son.
Thanks to Erik Holmback (son of Yukon Eric) for the use of some of the family photos.
Memories
When I was a child growing up in Owen Sound, Ontario I went regularly to the matches at the old arena. One fall day I was walking down the main street
and saw Yukon going into a store wearing only his lumberman shirt -- no
jacket. It was a typical fall day up north -- cold and crisp. Also he drove his
car down the street with the top down!!!!
Joel Cadesky
I first remember seeing Yukon Eric in 1958 while living near
Indianapolis, Indiana. He was a real hero to this 11 year old kid. My
father took me to see Yukon Eric and Bobby Managoff team against Dick
the Bruiser and Angelo Poffo. Later Yukon Eric would team with the
Bruiser in trying to rid the area against the Shire Brothers. It is sad
to hear of his early demise.
Michael Copper
Thank-you for your Yukon Eric page, a kind tribute.
I met Yukon Eric in Daytona Beach, Florida in 1964.
It was a dismal winter day. I was strolling northward
on the beachside Broadwalk.
As a large figure approached from the opposite
direction, I realized immediately who he was. The ear
was confirmation.
I'd seen him wrestle many times on television, though
never in-person.
He seemed pleased at being recognized. He showed no
false bravado. We small-talked for a few minutes, no
more than three.
I came away from this chance-meeting thinking how
odd, this kind, gentle man being involved in such a
brutal sport.
Although he seemed melancholy that day, nothing
prepared me for a tabloid's front-page a month or two
later. The news of his self-imposed death in Georgia.
I didn't buy that paper, nor did I read the article.
The tragedy I know helped me grow up a little, I was
18 at the time.
R.I.P., Yukon Eric.
vaneyes@rocketmail.com
To this day Eric is the strongest wrestler I've seen,and that includes
Bruno Sammartino. My collection of wrestling magazines contains many
articles on him.
Barbara Forsythe
I always thought that Yukon Eric was the world's strongest wrestler
until he was matched against Canadian Doug Hepburn in Niagara Falls on
Nov.7,1955 and again on Nov.8 in Hamilton. Both men were equal in weight,
285 pounds, and chest size. Yukon was famous for submitting his opponents
with his mighty bear hug and Hepburn was defeating his opponents with an
upside-down bear hug, claiming he was the world's strongest man.
In their first match they wrestled to a draw, but in Hamilton Hepburn
surprised Eric by lifting him in the air using his upside-down bear hug and
defeated him before a packed house. Hepburn was tough on Eric throughout
their match, battering him wi;th his chest and breaking Eric's holds with
his powerful arms. Hepburn was a tough nut for Eric to crack and he became
frustrated at Hepburn's strength and chest butts in the corner. Eric began
slugging awy at Hepburn and thats when Hepburn applied his bear hug and beat
him.
I always wondered if they ever had a rematch after that!
Ed
I will be 59 years old tomorrow, and while I still have some of my wits
about me I wanted to tell you that I have the fondest memories of watching
Yukon Eric wrestle on TV. In his honour, ever since I was a teenager, I have
insisted on wearing my pants with the waist somewhere up around my armpits.
I was never so moved as when I read how that nut, Mr. K. Kowalski, bit off a
piece of Yukon's ear. To this date, I look for the missing piece wherever O
go, by always walking with my head down. And if I should ever meet up with
that Mr. Kowalski, well it will be lights out for him.
Some people have tried telling me that wrestling is fake. I believe that
they are right, but not in the old days, when giants such as Yukon Eric were
in their prime. I tried inviting Mr. Eric to make a guest appearance at one
of my philosophy classes, when I was a professor, but he never showed up.
Maybe he was busy at the time battling some evil bad guy.... Anyway, Plato,
Socrates, and the other students in my class really missed out, because I'm
sure the Yukon would have put all of them in a bear hug until they submitted
to his superior intellectual abilities.
Thank you very much for allowing me to share these memories with you.
The man formerly known as King Ahasueras
