Russ Barker

Russ Barker died in 1992 in Phoenix, after a lifelong battle with a rampant diabetic condition finally took its toll on him. By then he was a double amputee in a wheelchair.

During his better days, he was one of the finest referees in the history of the state.

Even after losing both legs to the diabetic problem, he still could not stay away from .He ended up working as a "commissioner" in Phoenix and caused a riot when The Lumberjacks overturned him in his wheel chair. The incident was, by the way, reportedly his idea.

Throughout the 1970s, Barker was one of the top refs at the old Pheonix Madison Square Garden and afterward when Barry Bernsten opened the "New Madison Square Garden" on 40th and Van Buren following the closure of the original building. He continued to work into the 1980s, where the riot-provoking episode took place at a different arena on Lincoln Avenue, logn after he was wheelchair -bound.

Aside from wrestling, Barker had a longtime love for playing billiards.

Sadly, a referee never gets much credit in wrestling, but when he died the whole of Phoenix's grappling family mourned.

He was considered one of the best ever as an official in the squared circle.

When once confronted by a fan who asked why he let some of the rulebreakers get by with cheating instead of disqualifying them, he offered one of the best answers ever.

"The fans get mad if I don't disqulaify someone every time a  punch is thrown, but they would be just as mad or madder if I stopped every match the minute there was a slight infraction and madder  still, if I disqualified their favorites. What I do is let a little bit of rulebreaking sldie on both sides, until or unless it gets blatant or out of hand and then the bell rings. Otherwise, you would have nothing but one minute matches out there. The poeple also forget that in the ring one has to be on his toes, but vision is limtied. They sometimes see things I do not see because they are at a different vantage point. Being a referee is harder than some people think."