Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Wrestling-Titles.com or its related websites.

Like his native Mounties, this grappler usually gets his man

Stu Hart has been following wrestling ever since his early childhood.

While still a schoolboy he thought nothing of engaging in a rugged after- school football game and then immediately walking five miles to the YMCA where he would go through an entirely different program of vigorous exercises, in addition to wrestling anyone who happened to be there, including such regulars as Johnny Demchuck, Gil Knutson, Emile Van Velzen, Pat Meehan, and the great Jack Taylor.

They welcomed working out with the eager young Hart, who served as an excellent guinea pig for their experiments. Stu admits humbly that for the first two years he was never able to get up off the mat, being continually either on his back or face while the others manipulated his body strenuously and with great glee.

After two years of this gruelling apprenticeship, Stu had absorbed sufficient knowledge and skill to win the Alberta welterweight champi- onships in his first amateur meet at the age of fifteen; going on to win the Dominion middleweight due in 1937 and icmauiing undefeated until he outgrew the class. He then won the light-heavyweight championship in Vancouver in May of 1940, thus qualifying for a berth on the 1940 Canadian Olympic wrestling team. The Olympic Games, scheduled to be held at Helsinki, Finland, were, however, called off on account of the war. Stu then enlisted in the Canadian Navy, where he was champion of the Canadian Fleet, holding the title until he was honorably discharged in 1946.

Stu had had the good fortune in 1945, while on leave, to meet the noted "Toots" Mondt, known as "Mr. Wrestling." "Toots" took a keen interest in Stu and predicted a bright future for him in professional wrestling. Mondt arranged for Hart to come to New York immediately after his Navy discharge. Stu met with instant success. Since then he has wrestled in most of the large cities in the United States and Canada and has become a fan favorite, not only because of his ability, but because of his great sportsmanship and clean wrestling.

While Stu was in New York he had the opportunity of training regularly at George Bothner's famous gymnasium, learning many valuable professional points from such greats as George Bothner himself and Milo Steinbom, which helped him to climb more rapidly to the top. Hart is an all-around athlete. He played football with the Edmonton Eskimos, and baseball and hockey with some of the best teams in Western Canada.

Stu has a lovely wife and three handsome sons. Smith, age 3; Bruce, age 2; and Keith, age 4 months. His wife is the former Helen Smith, daughter of Harry J. Smith, one-time champion distance runner of the United States, three years' all-America in track, and team-mate of Jim Thorpe on the 1912 Olympic Team. It is only natural, therefore, thathelen and Stu hope for bright athletic futures for their boys. Hart now weighs 225 pounds, and having wrestled nearly all the leading wrestlers in North America today, including world's champion Lou Thesz, Frank Sexton, Veme Gagne, Earl McCready, "Whipper" Watson, The Great Togo, and Mr. America, to mention a few, feels he is capable of relieving Al Mills of his Canadian heavyweight title and then go on to battle for the world's championship.

Stu Hart is entirely wrapped up in wrestling. He was a great amateur long before he turned professional and soon after joining up with the pros he made his way to the top and stayed there.

He loves to develop youngsters eager to wrestle. If they show any sign of promise, Stu teaches them the art of wrestling and gives them their start. He first trained Sandor Kovacs, now a topnotcher and it was through Hart's efforts that Sandor broke through the major clubs in the East. Stu looks a long way into the future. He knows a time will come when, like all wrestlers, he must quit the game. When that day comes he doesn't intend to be looking in from the outside. With this in mind he took a hand in promotion in his home town of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. He made such a success of it that it is now, for its size, one of the best wrestling centres in the Dominion.