By Dr. Mike Lano
wrealano@aol.com
Easily the greatest "big-man" wrestler of all time in terms of overall
ability; "The Mormon Giant" Don Leo Jonathan (nee Heaton) remains one of
the top legends in all of sports. Lou Thesz said it best in 1991: "Leo
was one of the greatest guys I ever faced. This guy was always
state-of-the-art with his mat and chain wrestling skills. You had to
really work whenever you were booked with him, and I liked that. And no
matter where we worked, we always drew money and that's the name of the
game. But more importantly, we were always proud of what we achieved in
the ring. Every match was something special. It was hard for people to
boo him because here you have a giant of a guy, some 6 foot 7 of him,
and he's doing kipups and dropkicks like a junior heavyweight. I have
the up most respect for him and he, Ray Stevens, Buddy Rogers, Dick
Hutton, Billy Robinson, Danny Hodge, Verne, those were the guys I
enjoyed working with." Don also had classics with Whipper Billy Watson,
Leapin' Larry Chene and The Sheik (Ed Farhut) thru out Canada.
Don rose to fame after his 40's debut and eventually became a huge attraction worldwide.
In the Los Angeles Cal Eaton territory, he had classics with Fred Blassie, Curtis Iaukea,
In Japan, his matches with Baba, Dory Funk Jr, Jack Brisco and our own Dick "Destroyer" Beyer are still talked about in hushed tones. In Houston, it was his series with Superstar Billy Graham and classics with Johnny Valentine as well as Bull Curry. In WWWF, the dream match of all time was soon after Bruno Sammartino reclaimed the world title from Stan Stasiak, a longtime friend of Leo's. "They put me with Ernie Roth who was The Grand Wizard in WWWF. I wasn't much of a talker, but they had Ernie being very colorful as my manager, and I at least tried to match with colorful robe and tights. He was the fashion plate as a manager. Well him and Fred (Blassie)!
Some of the guys I faced in the Pacific Northwest were as tough as in any territory. Dutch Savage, Stasiak, Lonnie Mayne, Tony Borne; I think we did our best for the fans. Luthor Lindsey who you know was a hooker type wrestler, he and I had some great, great matches too. And my great friend John Tolos. The matches we had!" Don said. "In Montreal and the Vachon Brothers Grand Prix promotion in the 70's, I was often asked to help Andre the Giant out when we called him Jean Ferre, which was a lumberjack fictional character. They had it so it looked like a battle of giant loggers and I did my best for him and think he took some of our lessons, me and Carpentier and the Vachons and Walter Kowalski; wherever in the world he went after that. We had some good matches, even though he was still very green and drew a lot of people there. I also wrestled Andre in WWWF and many other places, and he was always very appreciative of our many matches."
"I worked everywhere, every foreign country that had pro wrestling. In the Omaha AWA, I was champ twice and in the Minneapolis office, held the AWA tag titles (with Verne Gagne) in 1967. In the Chicago Fred Kohler days, I worked with nearly everyone too. Thesz, Gagne, Argentina Rocca, Yukon Eric, Crusher, you name them. I had fun wherever I worked and traveled the world many times thanks to wrestling."
Once his wrestling career ended in the late 70's, Don turned to his other passions of flying, mountain climbing, hiking and even scuba diving which he later turned into a career. A tremendous documentary first screened two years ago at Cauliflower Alley showed Don risking danger with his deep sea excavating and building company which is in high demand not just in his native Vancouver, but many other Canadian provinces and U.S. states. He and wife Rose are also highly regarded for their help with conservation and recycling. "My great love has been my wife and kids. That's always first and foremost in my life. The wrestling and other things I've tried have been fun and have kept me busy; but family always has to be your top priority," the soft-spoken Mormon Giant told me in 1991.
Our own Dean Silverstone got Leo to start coming to his own Seattle-based reunions annually, which finally led to him coming to Cauliflower Alley nearly every year which is an honor for us. When he was honored on-stage last, he brought his entire family with him and their love for him is always moving.
Don Leo Jonathan receives one of CAC's highest honors this April in Las Vegas
Don rose to fame after his 40's debut and eventually became a huge attraction worldwide.
In the Los Angeles Cal Eaton territory, he had classics with Fred Blassie, Curtis Iaukea,
In Japan, his matches with Baba, Dory Funk Jr, Jack Brisco and our own Dick "Destroyer" Beyer are still talked about in hushed tones. In Houston, it was his series with Superstar Billy Graham and classics with Johnny Valentine as well as Bull Curry. In WWWF, the dream match of all time was soon after Bruno Sammartino reclaimed the world title from Stan Stasiak, a longtime friend of Leo's. "They put me with Ernie Roth who was The Grand Wizard in WWWF. I wasn't much of a talker, but they had Ernie being very colorful as my manager, and I at least tried to match with colorful robe and tights. He was the fashion plate as a manager. Well him and Fred (Blassie)!
Some of the guys I faced in the Pacific Northwest were as tough as in any territory. Dutch Savage, Stasiak, Lonnie Mayne, Tony Borne; I think we did our best for the fans. Luthor Lindsey who you know was a hooker type wrestler, he and I had some great, great matches too. And my great friend John Tolos. The matches we had!" Don said. "In Montreal and the Vachon Brothers Grand Prix promotion in the 70's, I was often asked to help Andre the Giant out when we called him Jean Ferre, which was a lumberjack fictional character. They had it so it looked like a battle of giant loggers and I did my best for him and think he took some of our lessons, me and Carpentier and the Vachons and Walter Kowalski; wherever in the world he went after that. We had some good matches, even though he was still very green and drew a lot of people there. I also wrestled Andre in WWWF and many other places, and he was always very appreciative of our many matches."
"I worked everywhere, every foreign country that had pro wrestling. In the Omaha AWA, I was champ twice and in the Minneapolis office, held the AWA tag titles (with Verne Gagne) in 1967. In the Chicago Fred Kohler days, I worked with nearly everyone too. Thesz, Gagne, Argentina Rocca, Yukon Eric, Crusher, you name them. I had fun wherever I worked and traveled the world many times thanks to wrestling."
Once his wrestling career ended in the late 70's, Don turned to his other passions of flying, mountain climbing, hiking and even scuba diving which he later turned into a career. A tremendous documentary first screened two years ago at Cauliflower Alley showed Don risking danger with his deep sea excavating and building company which is in high demand not just in his native Vancouver, but many other Canadian provinces and U.S. states. He and wife Rose are also highly regarded for their help with conservation and recycling. "My great love has been my wife and kids. That's always first and foremost in my life. The wrestling and other things I've tried have been fun and have kept me busy; but family always has to be your top priority," the soft-spoken Mormon Giant told me in 1991.
Our own Dean Silverstone got Leo to start coming to his own Seattle-based reunions annually, which finally led to him coming to Cauliflower Alley nearly every year which is an honor for us. When he was honored on-stage last, he brought his entire family with him and their love for him is always moving.
Don Leo Jonathan receives one of CAC's highest honors this April in Las Vegas
Congratulations to Don Leo Jonathan for
being the 2007 CAC Iron Mike Mazurki recipient.
