Terry Joyal (March 1, 1937 - August 17, 1998), better known by his

ring name A ring name is a type of stage name used by an athlete such as a professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, or boxer whose real name is considered unattractive, dull, difficult to pronounce or spell, amusing for the wrong reasons, or projecting ...

Terry Garvin, was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. He is best known for his work with

kayfabe In professional wrestling, kayfabe, as a noun, is the portrayal of staged events within the industry as "real" or "true", specifically the portrayal of competition, rivalries, and relationships between participants as being genuine and not staged. ...

brother

Ron Garvin Roger Barnes (born March 30, 1945) is a Canadian former professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, "Rugged" Ronnie Garvin. He is best known for his appearances with Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federatio ...

, with whom he won several tag team championships in the Southern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. 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 World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

Professional wrestling career

Joyal grew up in Montreal, Quebec. He trained to become a professional wrestler at a gym in the Loisirs St. Jean de Baptiste church in Montreal. He made his wrestling debut in 1958 in Ontario. He held the

NWA Southern Tag Team Championship The NWA Southern Tag Team Championship is any of a group of professional wrestling tag team championship titles in the National Wrestling Alliance. Specific titles include: * The NWA Southern Tag Team Championship (Florida version) * The NWA South ...

Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Dothan, Alabama from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller. The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship Wr ...

two times in 1964 with partner Chin Lee. Beginning in 1965, Garvin began an approximately five-year stint as the tag team partner of

. In November 1967, he wrestled for

Championship Wrestling from Florida Championship Wrestling from Florida (CWF) was the corporate and brand name of the Tampa, Florida wrestling office existing from 1961, when Eddie Graham first bought into the promotion, until 1987, when it closed down. It is also referred to as ...

and won the Florida version of the

NWA World Tag Team Championship The NWA World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling world tag team championship created by the National Wrestling Alliance. From 1948 to 1982, the NWA allowed member promotions to create their own territorial version of the "NWA World ...

with Ron Garvin, trading it with the team of

Paul DeMarco Paul J. DeMarco (born July 20, 1967) is an American lawyer and politician from the state of Alabama. He is a Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives, representing the 46th district since 2005. He ran in the United States H ...

and

Lorenzo Parente Lorenzo Parente "Martino" was an Italian professional wrestler who competed throughout the United States from 1958-1975. During his career he captured the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship on two occasions (both of which he won from Danny ...

. Garvin then began teaming with Duke Myers. The pair's

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

was

Jimmy Garvin James Williams (born September 25, 1952) is an American retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring names "Gorgeous Jimmy" Garvin and Jimmy "Jam" Garvin. A member of The Fabulous Freebirds, Garvin is best known for his appearances wit ...

, the stepson of Ron Garvin. In 1972 in NWA Tri-State, the team won the

NWA United States Tag Team Championship The NWA United States Tag Team Championship is a name used for several secondary tag team championship used by various National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) members since 1958. There are eleven different versions of the NWA United States Tag Team Champ ...

. By 1973, he was working in NWA Mid-America, where he won the

NWA Mid-America Tag Team Championship The NWA Mid-America Tag Team championship was a tag team title promoted by the American professional wrestling promotion NWA Mid-America that ran more or less exclusively in Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, United States, from the 1940s until 1 ...

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

that year. He returned to the Gulf Coast in 1974, teaming once again with Ron Garvin, to win

Southeastern Championship Wrestling Continental Championship Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion based in Knoxville, Tennessee, and Dothan, Alabama from 1985 until 1989, owned by Ron Fuller. The promotion evolved out of the NWA-affiliated Southeastern Championship Wr ...

NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship The NWA Tennessee Tag Team Championship was a secondary tag team title promoted as the name indicates mainly in the Tennessee region from 1967 until 1977, first by ''Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling'' and occasionally NWA Mid-America from 1967 to ...

. By the early 1980s Garvin retired from the ring and went on to book for

Bob Geigel Robert Frederick Geigel (October 1, 1924 – October 30, 2014) was an American professional wrestling promoter and professional wrestler. He operated the Kansas City, Missouri-based Heart of America Sports Attractions promotion from 1963 to 1986 ...

's NWA territory, Central States Wrestling, in

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more ...

. In 1985 Terry was approached by Pat Patterson and eventually was offered a job working for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) behind the scenes. His employment with WWF ceased on March 2, 1992 for allegations of molesting underage ringboys.

Personal life

Garvin was openly

homosexual Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

. He was good friends with fellow gay wrestler Pat Patterson. He knew Patterson, as well as tag team partner

, when he was growing up in Montreal. Garvin died on August 18, 1998 after suffering from cancer.

Ring boy scandal

In the 1990s Garvin was accused of sexually harassing an

underage In law, a minor is someone under a certain age, usually the age of majority, which demarcates an underage individual from legal adulthood. The age of majority depends upon jurisdiction and application, but it is commonly 18. ''Minor'' may also ...

ring boy, who was fired from his job after refusing Garvin's advances. He later reached a settlement with the WWF; Garvin, as well as Pat Patterson and ring announcer Mel Phillips, resigned after this incident. WWF owner

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the w ...

was interviewed on ''

Larry King Live ''Larry King Live'' was an American television talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was the channel's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly. Mainly aired from CNN's Los Angeles s ...

'' regarding the incident; during the broadcast, retired wrestler

Barry Orton Randal Berry Orton (May 28, 1958 – March 19, 2021) was an American professional wrestler and actor. He was the son of professional wrestler Bob Orton, brother of professional wrestler Bob Orton Jr., and uncle of professional wrestler Randy Or ...

called in and accused Garvin of sexually assaulting him in 1978 when he was 19. Orton also accuses Garvin of harming his wrestling career after the sexual advances were declined; Orton spent most of his life as a

jobber Jobber may refer to: Athletics * Job (professional wrestling) - A professional wrestler who routinely loses a match. * Wichita Jobbers, a minor league baseball team in the Western Association from 1905 to 1911 Commerce * A person or corporation ...

, despite being part of a famous wrestling family that included father

Bob Orton Robert Keith Orton Sr. (July 21, 1929 – July 16, 2006) was an American professional wrestler. The patriarch of the Orton wrestling family, his two sons Bob Orton Jr. and Barry Orton, and grandson Randy Orton, have all wrestled professionall ...

, brother

Bob Orton Jr. Robert Keith Orton Jr. (born November 10, 1950), better known by the ring name "Cowboy" Bob Orton, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is the son of professional wrestler Bob Orton Sr., the brother of professional wrestler Bar ...

, and nephew

Randy Orton Randal Keith Orton (born April 1, 1980) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor who is signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw (WWE brand), Raw brand but is currently out of action due to a back injury. H ...

Championships and accomplishments

** NWA World Tag Team Championship ''(Florida version)'' (1 time) - with

*Continental Wrestling Alliance **CWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time) * Gulf Coast Championship Wrestling/Southeastern Championship Wrestling ** NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Championship (1 time) ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Gulf Coast version)'' (2 times) - with Chin Lee **

(1 time) - with Ron Garvin * Mid-South Sports/Georgia Championship Wrestling **

NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship The 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. The title was revived in 1998 by Music City Wrestling ...

(2 times) – with Ron Garvin **

NWA Macon Tag Team Championship The 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 The Macon Coliseum is a multi-purpose ...

(1 time) – with Ron Garvin *

NWA Mid-America NWA Mid-America was a professional wrestling promotion territory under the umbrella of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) that promoted shows in Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama from the 1940s until 1981. The company was founded in the 1940s by N ...

(5 times) – with Ron Garvin (2), Duke Myers (3) ** NWA Southern Tag Team Championship ''(Mid-America version)'' (1 time) – with Ron Garvin *

NWA Tri-State The Universal Wrestling Federation was a 1986 re-branding of wrestler-turned-owner Bill Watts' Mid-South Wrestling promotion. Watts' goal was to elevate his promotion from a relatively smaller, regional-level business, to a national-level rival ...

** NWA United States Tag Team Championship ''(Tri-State version)'' (1 time) - with Duke Myers *''

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publish ...

'' **PWI ranked a totally different Terry Garvin #247 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American internationally sold professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishi ...

in 1991 *Universal Wrestling Association **UWA Heavyweight Championship (1 time)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garvin, Terry 1937 births 1998 deaths Canadian male professional wrestlers Deaths from cancer Gay sportsmen LGBT professional wrestlers Canadian LGBT sportspeople Sportspeople from Montreal 20th-century LGBT people Professional wrestlers from Montreal NWA World Tag Team Champions (Florida version) NWA Macon Tag Team Champions NWA Georgia Tag Team Champions