Larry Barnhizer – an early member of the LOF Glass Plant staff – began his independent coverage of regional wrestling matches at the Uptown Arena in Modesto over 40 years ago and has had many of his thousands of photographs published in wrestling magazines.The Manteca resident, who grew up in Riverbank and Modesto, began his career at ringside as a young amateur photographer becoming an integral part of Northern California’s 100-year history of the entertaining sport. He had his first article published as a correspondent’s report for Northern California including the details of a Pat Patterson vs. Ray Stevens “Death Match” at the Cow Palace printed in the 1970 issue of “Inside Wrestling” leading to the purchase of his first new 35mm camera to begin photographing the matches at Modesto’s Uptown Arena.Barnhizer said it took some six months of shooting to create his style of capturing the ringside action that appealed to many magazine publishers.
Wrestling photographer recalls 40 years of action
