Al Tomko

Al Tomko (November 22, 1931 – August 5, 2009) was a Canadian professional wrestler and wrestling promoter.
==Career==
Tomko started out as a wrestler in his hometown of Winnipeg in the 1950s with his own promotion, the Olympia Wrestling Club. After he shut down the Olympia Club to pursue non-wrestling ventures, he would join the larger Madison Wrestling Club in the 1960s and become one of that promotion's top heels; he would later buy the Madison Club in 1967 and merge it with the American Wrestling Association in 1968. He acted as the AWA's Winnipeg promoter from 1966 through to the mid-1970s, sometimes wrestling on the promotion's local shows as "Crazy Legs" Leroy Hirsch, and he was credited with launching the career of Roddy Piper.
Tomko later left Winnipeg and headed to Vancouver, where he bought Sandor Kovacs' ownership stake in NWA All-Star Wrestling in 1977. While promoting the Vancouver territory, he began pushing himself as All-Star's top star in the early-1980s (despite his age, being physically past his prime, and lacking wrestling skills) and gave himself almost all of All-Star's championships (including the Vancouver version of the NWA Canadian Heavyweight title) at various points. Under Tomko's leadership, All-Star went into decline (with co-owner Gene Kiniski selling his share of the company in 1985) and would be out of business by 1989.
Tomko died of pancreatic cancer at age 77 on August 5, 2009.Al Tomko -- a true original -- dies
==Championships and accomplishments==
*Madison Wrestling Club
:*Madison Wrestling Club Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Stan Mykietowich
*NWA All-Star Wrestling
:*NWA Canadian Heavyweight Championship (Vancouver version) (5 times)
:*NWA Canadian Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (2 times) - with Igor Volkoff (1) and Bob Brown (1)
:*NWA International Tag Team Championship (Vancouver version) (2 times) - with Moose Morowski (1) and Bob Brown (1)
:*UWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
*West Coast Championship Wrestling
:*WCCW Mid-Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
==Trivia==
Al Tomko is not the father of current TNA star Travis Tomko. He does have two sons who also wrestled - Todd Tomko (who used the ring name Rick Davis) and Terry Tomko (who competed as The Frog, first while wearing a mask, and later unmasked).
==References==
==External links==
* Profile
* Profile
Category:Canadian wrestlers
Category:Promoters
Category:Manitoba wrestlers
Category:1931 births
Category:1954 debuts
Category:1989 retirements
Category:2009 deaths
Category:Wrestlers who have died
Category:American Wrestling Association alumni
Category:Madison Wrestling Club alumni
Category:National Wrestling Alliance alumni
Category:NWA All-Star Wrestling alumni
Category:Stampede Wrestling alumni
Category:Male wrestlers