The Black Baron (Greg Valentine) – Brought in as a partner to Mr. D (Donnie Fargo), this man was unmasked by Cowboy Bob Kelly. Kelly had unmasked the suspended Fargo the previous week. After the two bullies were unmasked, they became Donnie and Johnny, the Fabulous Fargos. Johnny of course being a very young Greg "The Hammer" Valentine.

The Gladiator (Bob Griffin) – After being unmasked by Ronnie and Donnie Bass on television, Griffin defeated Ronnie Bass for the Gulf Coast title. He held the title for a couple of weeks in August of 1973 before leaving the area.

The Rugged Russian (Pedro Godoy) – One half of the Masked Russians tag team that wrestled in the WWWF in the early 70s, the Rugged Russian held the United states tag team titles with the Mighty Mongol in 1974.

Los Diablos (Tony Russo and Pepe Lopez) – This masked team briefly held the U.S. tag titles in 1974. Pepe Lopez went on to team with Frank Hester as the masked Dominos in Tennessee. They were killed in a car wreck along with Sam Bass in July of 1976.

The Patriots (Bobby Hart and Bob Griffin) – Although dressed in the patriotic colors, this tag team was hated by the fans. They defeated Mike Boyette and Ken Lucas for the Gulf Coast tag team titles in November of 1974 and held them for several months before losing them to Boyette and Bearcat Brown (Matt Jewel). They later moved on to Houston, Texas and held the Western States tag team titles there.

Mr. Wrestling (Ron Starr) – This masked man wore stars and stripes tights, boots and mask and was easily not the famous Tim "Mr. Wrestling" Woods (Tim Woodin). After voluntarily unmasking himself on television, Starr teamed quite a bit with Terry Lathan and challenged the Hell’s Angels (Chris Colt and Ron Dupree) unsuccessfully for the Gulf Coast tag team titles in early 1975. After a few months, he left the territory. Later became better known on the West Coast as "Rotten" Ron Starr.

The Golden Hawk (Tony Russo) – This masked man teamed with Steve Lawler (Steve Kyle) to form a rugged duo. Tony Russo (as himself) was a very capable wrestler who worked many places, including the Gulf Coast, Oklahoma, Georgia, Tennessee, Florida and the Carolinas.

The Intern (Jim Starr), with manager Dr. Ken Ramey. – Not to be confused with the early Gulf Coast version of the Interns (Bowman and Turner), Ken Ramey’s Interns (Starr and Tom Andrews) were one of the better known tag teams in the late sixties and early seventies. They held titles all across the country. In late 1976, the Intern and Ramey entered the Gulf Coast territory. The Intern and The Medic fought many times in the battle of the masked medical men. Since they both dressed identically in white, sometimes it was hard to tell them apart. The Intern also formed a tag team with Sweet Daddy Levi Banks.

The Super Assassin – This masked man formed an alliance with the Intern and Sweet Daddy Banks, but was only around during the final months of 1976.

Raven’s Raiders (Wayne Ferris and Larry Latham) – This masked teamed was managed by Lord Raven. After a few weeks, they unmasked, changed their names to the Ragin’ Cajuns and were managed by Billy Spears. Latham went on to fame as Moondog Spot and Ferris became The Honky Tonk Man.

And now to spotlight the best known masked men in the Gulf Coast:

The Blue Yankee (Curtis Smith) – Curtis Smith may well be the most traveled masked man in the sport. He has wrestled all over the country in various masked personas, but when he first came to the Gulf Coast in late 1969, it was as one half of the team of the Blue Yankees. Being the bigger of the two masked men, Curtis was known as the Big Blue Yankee. He challenged Cowboy Bob Kelly on several occasions for the Gulf Coast title. Each time it was a wild brawl, but the Yankee failed to win the title. Together, the Blue Yankees held the Gulf Coast tag team titles for several months. The Big Blue Yankee always wore a built up boot. He claimed that it was because he had one leg shorter than the other, but opponents claimed that he illegally loaded it to use against them. The smaller of the Yankees always seemed to have something hidden in his trunks to use as well. Finally after a yearlong reign of terror, the Yankees were forced into a match where they were to unmask if they lost. As an extra precaution, promoter Lee Fields sat at ringside to ensure that the Yankees followed the rules. Needless to say, they lost the match and their masks. The Blue Yankees were revealed as Curtis Smith and Billy Spears. They quickly left the area. Curtis did make one more appearance in December of 1971 as the "original" Blue Yankee.

Then in mid-1972, a new tag team entered the Gulf Coast. It consisted of a young Jerry Lawler and a masked man calling himself "The Spoiler". Now it was obvious that this man was not the well-known "Spoiler" (Don Jardine) that was making his reputation in Texas. This man was smaller and wore a built up boot. And though he now dressed all in black, the fans knew that this man was the Big Blue Yankee. They even taunted him and chanted "Yankee go home" at him during his matches. But he steadfastly denied that he was the Blue Yankee. Lawler soon departed and went on to begin his legendary career in his home area of Memphis, Tennessee. The Spoiler wrestled single for awhile, managing to win the Gulf Coast and Mississippi titles. The Spoiler also started teaming with another masked man, the Wrestling Pro. They vied for the U.S. tag team titles held by Bob Kelly and Mike Boyette on several occasions, yet failed to win them. The Spoiler also formed and alliance with Gorgeous George Jr., even going so far as to employ the services of GG’s valet, Frenchy. Soon there was a "Spoiler #2" on the scene. The Spoilers tried several times to win the U.S. titles, by now held by the California Hippies, Mike Boyette and Mickey Doyle. After several failed attempts, the Spoiler #1 went back to teaming with Gorgeous George Jr. In a tag team match against Arman Hussein and Cowboy Bob Kelly, the Spoiler turned on GG. He gave George several of his famous finishing hold, the spinning neckbreaker. GG now became a popular fan favorite. He teamed with Kelly and Hussein several times to go against the Spoilers and the Pro. It was during one of these six man battles that an interesting turn of events occurred, Cowboy Bob Kelly managed to remove the Spoiler’s built up boot. The following Saturday on television, Kelly was ordered by promoter Lee Fields to return the boot or face suspension. Kelly refused and was suspended. This left Arman Hussein in a quandary. He and Kelly were scheduled to face the Spoiler #1 and the Wrestling Pro in Mobile on Wednesday. Kelly assured Hussein that he would find him a partner. When Wednesday night arrived and it was time for the main event, the Spoiler and the Pro waited in the ring for their opponents. Who would Hussein have with him? Gorgeous George Jr. had already wrestled that night against Spoiler #2, so it wouldn’t be him. Kelly was suspended, so who would it be? They soon had their answer. Arman Hussein was accompanied to the ring by a masked man wearing a cowboy hat and the Spoiler’s built up boot. On top of that he was wearing a mask that looked very familiar to long time Gulf Coast fans. This man was introduced as "The Blue Yankee". The Spoiler went crazy! That couldn’t be the Blue Yankee, he yelled. He and the Pro claimed that it was Kelly in a Blue Yankee mask and refused to wrestle. Promoter Lee Fields then came out to the ring. He asked the Spoiler how he could be so sure that it was not the real Blue Yankee. Well, after all of this time of denying that he was the Yankee, what could the Spoiler do? And since this new man had a Blue Yankee mask (which Kelly had managed to remove during one of his many battles with the Big Blue Yankee) and since the Blue Yankee was known to wear a built up shoe, the Spoiler had no grounds for protest. The match proceeded. As did several more over the coming weeks. Finally the Spoiler regained his boot and Kelly’s suspension was lifted. And the Blue Yankee disappeared as Kelly came back! Around mid 1973, the Spoilers left the area. Curtis did come back in 1974. He had started teaming with his brother Rocky as one of The Infernos. Rocky Smith and Frankie Cain were the original Infernos managed by J.C. Dykes. Caine left the team in 1968 and became The Great Mephisto. Rocky carried on with various other partners, including his brother Curtis. Rocky and Curtis came in as the Infernos, along with J.C. Dykes to challenge Rocket and Flash Monroe for the U.S. tag titles, but failed to win them. The Infernos then moved on to California, where Curtis was replaced by Kurt Von Brauner (Doug Donovan) as an Inferno. However, his association with Dykes was not over.

In early 1975, J.C. Dykes entered the Gulf Coast area with his man, The Mighty Yankee. Again, the Yankee was Curtis Smith. The Yankee was soon joined by Yankee #2. However, there was a falling out and #2 unmasked himself to reveal Big Bad John. John feuded with Dykes and the Yankee. Dykes in turn brought in more Yankees, #3 (Mike McNally) and #4 (Jimmy Hyde). John teamed with Ken Lucas and Rip Tyler to face all 3 of the Yankees. Yankee # 4 was injured and left the area. This left the team of #1 and #3. By the end of the summer, Dykes and his Yankees were gone from the area.

Curtis would return in 1976 as one half of The Challengers tag team. The Challenger #2 was Mike McNally. The Challengers held the Gulf Coast tag team titles for several months and were managed by "Pa" Bass.

In early 1977, Curtis moved on to the Tennessee promotion of Nick Gulas where he wrestled as The Executioner. He held the Mid America championship for a while. By late summer of 1977, he was back in the Gulf Coast and back where he started. He was once again, The Blue Yankee.

The Blue Yankee formed a tag team with "Outlaw" Eddie Sullivan to become the Gulf Coast tag team champions. Sullivan was no stranger to masks himself. He and Frank Morrell were the original Mighty Yankees team in Tennessee in the late 60s. In 1970, he was the Wrestling Pro #2. He teamed again with Morrell (who was called "Dandy" Jack Morrell), as Eddie "The Masked Man" Sullivan. Oddly enough, the Blue Yankee / Sullivan team was managed by Billy Spears, who had been Curtis Smith original Blue Yankee partner.

Curtis stayed with the Gulf Coast promotion until it shut down on September 13, 1977. He wrestled sporadically after that. Today, Curtis Smith is retired and living in Carrollton, Georgia.

The Mysterious Medic (Tony Gonzales) – Beginning in 1962, Tony Gonzales teamed with Donald Lortie as the Mysterious Medics. They held many titles across the country including the Southern tag titles, the Gulf Coast tag titles, the Americas tag titles and the Tennessee version of the World’s tag team titles. Tony also worked solo as The Mysterious Medic in the Gulf Coast area in the late sixties. On July 1, 1970, the Medic, who was managed by Col. Beauregard Van Buren, wrestled Cowboy Bob Kelly for the Gulf Coast championship. The title had been held up, and the winner was to become the new champion. It was called a duration match. In other words, they would wrestle for 60 minutes and whoever had the most falls at the end of the time limit would be declared the winner and new champion. A precursor to the WWF’s "Iron Man" matches. Kelly won the match and became the Gulf Coast champion for the first time in his career. The Medic soon left the territory.

In 1972, popular Arman Hussein was having his troubles with the team of Rip Tyler and Eddie Sullivan. He had tried several tag team partners, but to no avail. Finally, someone suggested that he contact the Mysterious Medic, which he did. The Medic returned to the Gulf Coast after a long absence to team with Hussein. During the many battles the two had with Sullivan and Tyler, the Medic became one of the most popular wrestlers around. Quite a difference than the last time he had been in the area. He and Sullivan also became engaged in quite a feud on their own. They both used the Boston Crab hold as their finisher and so it was only natural that they disputed which of them had the better Boston Crab. Finally it led to a match that was stipulated that could only be won by having your opponent submit to the Boston Crab. During this match, Sullivan got the Medic in the hold. As the Medic struggled to the ropes to escape, Rip Tyler interfered and jumped on the Medic with a leg drop. This led to the Medic sustaining an injured back with which he was out for several weeks.

When the Medic returned to action, he immediately became involved with the Wrestling Pro as to which was the better masked man. Both dressed in white, the only difference being that the Medic did not wear a top with his outfit. "The Battle of the Masked Men" headlined the card in Pensacola for six straight weeks, with neither man gaining a clear-cut advantage over the other. Then the unthinkable happened.

The Pro and the Medic had one of their epic battles on Sunday night in Pensacola. The loser was to unmask. As it turned out, both men were disqualified and the match tossed out. When the Medic returned to his dressing room, he was approached by Monsieur Frenchy Bernard, who had at one time been the valet for Gorgeous George Jr. and the manager of the Spoilers. He brought the Medic and the Pro together and explained that it would be better for the two of them to team as opposed to trying to eliminate each other. They agreed, and on Wednesday night in Mobile, teamed for the first time. In their very first match, they defeated Rocket and Flash Monroe to win the U.S. tag team titles. The Medic began dressing identically as the Pro. They used this to their advantage. Since the referees couldn’t tell them apart, they were able to make illegal switches during their matches. They went on to hold the titles for several months during 1973 and 1974 before losing them Bob Kelly and Ken Lucas. The Pro and Medic continued to battle Lucas and Kelly, and finally regained the titles. They entered into a feud with the Hippies, Mike Boyette and Mickey Doyle and again dropped the titles. Upset over the loss, they fired their manager Bernard. On television, they attacked the 120 lb. Manager and beat him mercilessly. Bernard was saved by Boyette and became his manager. During a match between the Hippies and the masked men, Mickey Doyle was injured when he was suplexed on the concrete floor by the Pro. The Hippies had lost the titles to Rip Tyler and Eddie Sullivan. The Pro and the Medic decided that they did not want to challenge their friends, Sullivan and Tyler for the titles. Since they did not have a title to challenge for they split up amiably as a team. The Medic would then spend several weeks trying unsuccessfully to win the Gulf Coast title from Mike Boyette.

Boyette lost the title to Jerry "Duke" Miller in late 1975. One of the first wrestlers to challenge Miller was the Medic. Again, he failed to win the title, but his battles with Miller made the Medic popular with the fans again. Miller had organized his own group of wrestlers that he called "Murder, Inc." among these wrestler was the Wrestling Pro. This meant that the Medic again would come into conflict with the Pro. The two forgot about their great partnership and again took up their old feud. The difference this time was that the Pro managed to defeat the Medic in a "loser unmasks" match. The Medic unmasked and revealed himself as Tony Gonzales. He would continue to wrestle without the mask. He teamed with Mike Boyette, Sweet Daddy Watts, and Cowboy Bob Kelly to face Miller, the Pro, Billy Spears and Gorgeous George Jr. (Murder, Inc.) in a "California Rumble" match. Basically it was a street fight. This led to the destruction of "Murder, Inc." The Pro left for Tennessee. GG and Spears left the area as well. Left alone, Miller dropped the Gulf Coast tile to Nick Kozak. The Medic went into semi-retirement after that. He had gotten involved with stock cars (Many of the boys did. Promoter Lee Fields also owned the Mobile International Speedway. He, Kelly, Boyette and Gonzales all raced cars there).

In late 1976, the Medic laced up his mask and returned to the ring. He became involved in a tremendous feud with the Intern. The two masked medical men dressed in white had some tremendous battles. But by early 1977, the Medic retired for good.

Tony Gonzales is retired and lives in Orange Beach, Alabama.

The Wrestling Pro (Leon Baxter) – Leon Baxter had spent a couple of years in Oklahoma as "Tarzan" Baxter. He returned to his native Alabama and the Gulf Coast in 1970 as one half of The Wrestling Pros tag team. Managed by Joe Powell, these two masked men were a tough team. After a few months, however, they split up after Pro #2 unmasked himself as Eddie Sullivan. The remaining Pro carried on alone. He teamed with Mike "Hippie" Boyette to win the U.S. tag titles form The Great Ota and Mr. Koma, the Japanese Rising Suns, in 1971. The Pro turned on Boyette during a title match against Rip Tyler and Sullivan and it cost them the belts. The Pro went on to form a team with Tyler that was managed by Sullivan, who was unable to compete due to a broken leg. The trio was the most hated group of wrestlers in the area.

In 1972, it was announced that Dory Funk, Jr. was coming to the Gulf Coast to defend his NWA World’s Heavyweight title against the winner of a two-week tournament held in Mobile. The Wrestling Pro was the odds on favorite to win the tourney. He had just recently defeated Ken Lucas to win the Gulf Coast title. However, Donnie Fargo, who had been suspended, forced himself into the second week of the tournament as the masked "Mr. D." He defeated the Pro in the final match to win the tournament and the shot at Dory Funk, Jr. The Pro also dropped the Gulf Coast tile back to Ken Lucas.

Sore at Fargo for costing him his shot at the World title, the Pro changed his attitude. He started hearing the cheers of the fans that appreciated his tough, no nonsense style. This did not last for long though as he was soon teaming with the hated Spoiler and feuding with the fan favorites again.

Throughout much of 1973, the Wrestling Pro was engaged in an all out war with Cowboy Bob Kelly. Kelly had spent much of the last year in a war with Donnie Fargo over the Gulf Coast title, finally causing Fargo to leave the area. From there he went right into the battles with the Pro. The Pro managed to win both the Gulf Coast title and Mississippi title from Kelly using his famous suplex finisher. In fact, in order to get the Mississippi title shot, the Pro had ambushed Kelly on TV and had cut his hair. Kelly demanded the match and lost the title to the Pro. In their bloody matches over the Gulf Coast title, Kelly managed a couple of time to literally tear the mask from the Pro’s head. In both cases, the Pro managed to cover his face by ripping off the referee’s shirt and covering himself with it. After dropping both titles back to Kelly, the Pro got involved with a feud with the Medic which evolved into them forming a team and winning the U.S. tag team titles.

After dropping the titles in 1974, the Pro and Medic went there separate ways. The Pro was inactive for awhile but returned in early 1975. The Pro received a title match with NWA World’s Jr. Heavyweight champion Ken Mantell. During the match the Pro defeated Mantell and was awarded the title. However, the next day, Mantell protested the match and the NWA ordered the title returned to Mantell. The Pro and promoter Lee Fields refused. Fields issued a new title belt to the Pro and continued to recognize him as the World’s Jr. Heavyweight champion. The NWA was incensed. They sent in "bounty hunters" to try and defeat the Pro and deliver the title to them. Among those sent in was Stan Vachon and the legendary Lou Thesz, six time NWA World’s Heavyweight champion. The Wrestling Pro defeated each challenge. Finally, Mantell agreed to a rematch and defeated the Pro to "unify" the titles. Throughout all of this, the Pro was once again hearing the cheers of the fans. And once again, this would not last. By late 1975, the Pro was aligned with Duke Miller, Gorgeous George Jr. and Billy Spears as the infamous "Murder, Inc." Their main purpose was to keep Duke Miller from losing the Gulf Coast title. Much as in later years, the Four Horsemen protect Ric Flair’s NWA World title. However, in early 1976, "Murder, Inc." had dissolved. Spears and GG left the area. The Pro moved up to the Tennessee promotion of Nick Gulas. There he teamed with Dick Dunn as the Superstars, (Dunn Masked had wrestled in the area in the late sixties under a mask as The Red Shadow). They held the Tennessee version of the World’s tag team title.

By late 1976, the Pro was back in the Gulf Coast area. He defeated popular Terry Lathan to win the Gulf Coast title. He wrestled Rip Tyler, who held the Alabama title, in a series of title against title matches. Neither man gained a definitive victory, but the fans appreciated the matches these two veterans toughies put on. By the end of 1976, but men were hearing the cheers of the fans.

In April of 1977, the Pro defended the Gulf Coast title in a series of matches against old rival Ken Mantell. Mantell had lost the World’s Jr. title to Hiro Matsuda and was trying to use the Gulf Coast title as a stepping stone back to the world title. The Pro lost the Gulf Coast championship to Kurt Von Hess in late May of 1977.

After that loss, the Pro wrestled very infrequently. For years he had served as a Deputy Sheriff for Houston County in Dothan, Alabama. His last match for the Gulf Coast promotion was on July 5, 1977. He wrestled another veteran masked wrestler, the Blue Yankee.

When Ron Fuller bought out Lee Fields and opened Southeastern Championship Wrestling on the Gulf Coast in 1978, the Pro returned for a few matches. He teamed with another masked wrestler called The Super Pro. The Super Pro turned on the Pro. This lead to a loser unmasks match. The Wrestling Pro defeated the Super Pro to reveal Randy Rose (Randy Als). This was the final match that the Pro wrestled.

In 1987, old friend Rip Tyler started the World Organization Wrestling promotion in Pensacola. Leon Baxter trained his son Sean David Baxter, who started with the promotion. Today, Leon is still with the Houston County Sheriff’s department as a corrections officer. He lives in Dothan, Alabama.

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