Researcher Tim Hornbaker offers his services to individuals seeking information on historical sports figures and events.  This is not limited to professional wrestling, but can involve other athletics, professional and amateur, and areas of genealogy.

No job is too big or too small.  There is no charge for limited research, while larger projects that will involve traveling, photocopying, and detailed research, will be done at a fee.  This fee will be adjusted per the specific request.

Tim Hornbaker specializes in areas of genealogy, sports research (wrestling, boxing), obtaining rare documentation and court cases - to include information at the National Archive or state depositories, military records, hunting articles in old newspapers, and piecing together biographical data on hard-to-locate individuals.

People searching for information on family members, old sports heroes...etc., can contact Tim at the following e-mail address for more information: tim@legacyofwrestling.com


Testimonials:

What I know about boxing and wrestling is close to zero, but I do know that Tim Hornbaker is a first rate researcher.  I'm editing an anthology of columns by Long Beach Independent sports editor Art Cohn, who met an untimely death in the 1958 crash of Mike Todd's plane.  I needed to make contact with Cohn's sons, Ted and Ian, but none of the Internet white page searches that I ran turned up any likely leads.  But Hornbaker had written a brilliant chapter on the wrestling/boxing scandals in the Lou Duro era in Los Angeles during the 1920s and '30s.  Turns out that Cohn had written several columns about the same subject back in 1945, so I wrote to Hornbaker to see what information he had about Cohn - who admitted, perhaps bragged would be a better verb, that he was one of the sports writers on the take from promoters during that era.  What I was really looking for was an unpublished manuscript that Cohn left behind when he died that chronicled his life as a sports writer/editor.  Did Ted, Art's oldest son, have it?  Hornbaker instantly sent me Ted's address and within a week I had a call from Ted, who gave me a wealth of information I would never have found had it not been for the fabulous file of names and facts that Hornbaker has collected.  Unfortunately, the Cohn manuscript is still missing.

Hornbaker may not have a ph. d. in history - perhaps he does, I don't know - but he certainly has the research talents of a scholar and his writing is first rate.  If you haven't read his chapter on the Daro brothers check out the online site where it's posted.

And if you know anything about Art Cohn, send me an e-mail: reshaffer@csupomona.edu

Ralph E. Shaffer
Professor Emeritus, History
Cal Poly Pomona
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I have been trying to do some research on my great grandfather, Frank Robinson, and his wrestling history. I was not able to find much information, but I did come across Tim's website www.legacyofwrestling.com  and asked him if he had any information. Within 24 hours, he responded to me with the information that Frank Robinson was a professional wrestler and a talented one at that, actually becoming the lightweight champion of America in 1877. Frank Robinson was from Lawrence, Massachusetts, and that he became champion in 1877 and lost his "title" to Owen McCarthy in 1880 in a match at Philadelphia.  He weighed around 130 pounds and was called the New England champion prior to 1877, which means that he was successful for a good period of time.  Tim also gave me information re/  birthdate, marriage, etc.

Therefore, I am giving a strong recommendation that one should contact Tim for help with wrestling history.

Joan
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