born in larne, northern ireland, the son of nathaniel turk and mary o'lynn, turk came to canada with his family in 1910 and was educated at lord selkirk school. in 1931, he married annie owens. he was a wrestling promoter and president of the giants baseball club and was known in politics as a charismatic showman. some credit him with introducing modern professional wrestling to manitoba in 1946 with his company, the nwa-affiliated alex turk promotions. in his later years, he would promote verne gagne, pat o'connor, stu hart, bruno sammartino, haystacks calhoun, lou thesz and others in the region. in 1961 and 1962, he promoted wrestling events for the american wrestling association. in 1963, he left the awa and ran shows in competition with the awa for several years. he was eventually pushed out of business by competition from the american wrestling association.