Zadro first began boxing under Jimmy Sharman in 1972 at Mareeba, North Queensland, and started Judo under the Kodakan Judo Association in 1973 to 1975.
Tills moved to the Atherton Tableland and established a sawmill at Redlynch, eight miles from Cairns, on the Cairns-Mareeba railway line, with Charles Michael, Robert Warren and three times Mayor of Cairns, Louis Severin.