Dick Hrstich (10 August 1920 – 12 February 2000) was a Yugoslavian/New Zealand professional wrestler, known by his ring names Ray Hrstich and Ray Gordon, who competed in the former Yugoslavia (his native country), New Zealand, Canada, and the United States during the late 1950s and 60s. He was among the first New Zealanders to travel to the US and, like his fellow countrymen Pat O'Connor and Abe Jacobs, became a major star with the National Wrestling Alliance during the Television-era.
He won the NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Championship in 1958 and, later in the US, held the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship, NWA Iowa Heavyweight Championship, and the NWA Americas 6-Man Tag Team Championship with Apache Bull Ramos and Mike Riker. Hrstich is credited, along with Bobby Graham and "Killer" Buddy Austin, as the trainer of 8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion Harley Race. In 2009, Fight Times Magazine ranked Hrstich No. 10 in a top ten list of New Zealand's greatest wrestlers.
Professional career
Start with the Dominion Wrestling Union
Dick Hrstich was born in the former Yugoslavia, in the city now known as Drasnice, Croatia and emigrated with his family to New Zealand at a young age. He held an "outstanding record" as a champion amateur wrestler before turning pro during the mid-1950s. Trained by Anton Koolmann, Hrstich soon established himself as one of the country's up and coming stars. One of his most memorable bouts was against "The Zebra Kid" George Bollas and promoter Al Karasick speculated to the press that Hrstich would become a great drawing card. In April 1958, Wrestling Review wrote that Hrstich "appears to be another Lofty Blomfield". Two months later, on 11 June, he defeated Fred Wright in Christchurch for the then vacant NWA New Zealand Heavyweight Championship. Later that year, he travelled overseas to wrestle in NWA Hawaii and Stampede Wrestling; he lost to Stan Kowalski in Honolulu on 19 October and went to a draw with Reggie Parks in Edmonton, Alberta on 4 November 1958.
Moving to the United States
Hrstich returned to the US a year later, this time farther east in Kansas City, Kansas for Central States Wrestling, where he defeated "Butcher Boy" Lee Henning at Memorial Hall on 23 April 1959. While competing in the United States, Hrstich was billed as Dick or Ray Gordon, so as to make his name more easy for announcers to pronounce, and kept the ringname for the remainder of his career. In the fall of that year, in the American Wrestling Association, he faced such opponents as Jack Terry, Billy Goelz, Aldo Bogni, Don McClarty and Frank Townsend in the Minneapolis – Saint Paul area. On 24 October, he and Henning teamed together in a tag team match against Butch Levy & Bob Rasmussen in St. Paul. It was during this latest tour that Hrstich decided to wrestle in the US full-time and vacated the NWA New Zealand title.
Spending the rest of the year in Kansas City, Hrstich made several more appearances at Memorial Hall wrestling Stanley Lisowski and Chick Garibaldi in singles matches as well as taking part in a few tag team matches. On 19 November, he and Thor Hagen beat Chick Garibaldi & Kinji Shibuya and teamed with Tommy O’Toole in a 6-team championship tournament a month later. Other teams included Rip Hawk & Rock Hunter, Thor Hagen & Sonny Myers, Bob Geigel & Otto Von Krupp, Bill Cole & Chick Garibaldi, and Jerry Gordett & Joe Hamilton. On 10 December 1959, Hrstich and Krupp defeated Tarzan "Killer" Kowalski in a handicap match at Memorial Hall; Kowalski took the first fall, however Krupp was awarded the second when Kowalski was disqualified. During his time in central Missouri, he along with Bobby Graham and "Killer" Buddy Austin helped train Harley Race, a future 8-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, while the young rookie was starting his career working for St. Joseph wrestling promoter Gust Karras.
Hrstich then headed south where he worked for Texas promoter Pat O’Dowdy in Odessa wrestling Ed Sharpe and Dick Hutton at the Floyd Gwin Auditorium in early 1960. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, for promoters Morris Siegel and Ed McLemore, he also faced Paul "Butcher" Vachon, Marquis de Paree, Duke Keomuka, and Joe Pizza during October–November 1960. On 16 December 1961, he won the vacant NWA Iowa Heavyweight Championship in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. By 1962, Hrstich was back in the Central States territory and, on 9 February, he captured the NWA Central States Heavyweight Championship from Buddy Austin in St. Joseph. Hrstich held the title for two months before dropping the belt to his old rival Lee Henning on 5 May 1962.