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Wrestling Patriarch Passes...
10-16-03
Stu Hart,
one of Canada's greatest wrestling legends and the patriarch
of the famous Hart family, passed away today at the age of
88. Hart had taken a nasty fall a couple of weeks ago and
took a turn for the worst over the last couple of days.
Stu was
an outstanding amatuer in Saskatoon and was thought to be
of Olympic caliber, but WWII prevented the Olympics and sent
Stu heavy into football. He played for the Edmonton Eskimos
of the CFL before coming to pro graps under Toots Mondt. He
quickly learned the promotion side as well and began running
in Edmonton. He made a killing in a real estate boom that
followed the war and he bought into Stampede Wrestling out
of Calgary.
The promotion
was a huge hit, touring all the major cities in Alberta, drawing
sometimes huge money for Stu, and sometimes much leaner days.
He launched his sons as stars, eight of them working for Stampede
and the daughters all marrying wrestlers. Helen, Stu's wife
who passed away in 2001, was not a fan of wrestling and did
not want her children involved, though she later realized
that it had kept the family together even in the rough times.
Stu survived
two of his sons, Dean, who passed away in 1990, and Owen,
whose death in 1999 is considered to be one of the darkest
days in wrestling.
Stu is
probably best remembered for The Dungeon, the basement of
his house where he would stretch trainees as a part of their
wrestling education. More great stars, including Chris Jericho,
Lance Storm, and Chris Benoit, started out with Stu than any
other trainer this century.
Stampede
also gave the first breaks to such future stars as Junkyard
Dog and Jake "The Snake" Roberts.
Stu passed
away from complications due to pneumonia and diabetes.
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