Eric debuted for the American Wrestling Association (AWA) on March 13, 1976 in Davenport, Iowa, going to a time limit draw with Ricky Steamboat. He mainly wrestled preliminary matches until June 1976, when he left the AWA.
In early 1978, he debuted in the World Wide Wrestling Federation on March 14, 1978, as one half of The Yukon Lumberjacks, where he was teamed with Yukon Pierre. Soon after debuting, The Lumberjacks wrestled against Dino Bravo and Dominic DeNucci for the WWF Tag Team Championship on June 2, but the match ended in a double disqualification. The Lumberjacks continued their feud with Bravo and DeNucci, and after several unsuccessful title rematches, the Lumberjacks finally defeated them for the titles on June 26.
The Lumberjacks continued their success by retaining their title in several matches over the next several months against the likes of Bravo and DeNucci, Gorilla Monsoon and S.D. Jones, and Haystacks Calhoun and Tony Garea. On November 21, The Lumberjacks lost their titles to Garea and Larry Zbyszko. After the title loss, Pierre retired from wrestling and Eric left the WWWF.
Eric returned to the American Wrestling Association in mid-1985, where he and his brother Bill Irwin (as The Long Riders) lost their debut match to the Road Warriors for the Warriors' AWA Tag Team Championships on July 14. On September 28, the Riders and Harley Race lost to Genichiro Tenryu, Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta in a six-man tag team match at SuperClash. The Riders continued in the AWA until April 20, 1986, where they lost a tag team title match to Curt Hennig and Scott Hall at WrestleRock.
On September 5, 1987, Eric passed away.