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International News Title: Bruno Sammartino dies at age 82 Bruno Sammartino, who died at the age of 82, spent almost his entire life fighting. His first opponents were starvation, disease and the German Army when it was marching through the hills of Italy in World War II. Then, after immigrating to the United States at the age of 15, he battled the world’s best professional wrestlers to become the World Wide Wrestling Federation heavyweight champion and one of the sport’s most popular performers. “He was sort of a humble guy, a gentle man to talk to,” Ace Freeman, a professional wrestler for 40 years, once said. Mr. Sammartino, born Oct. 15, 1935, lived with his family on Cato Street in the Panther Hollow section of Oakland after arriving from Pizzoferrato, Italy. He was an 87-pound weakling who spoke little English. “We lived off the land in Italy,” Mr. Sammartino once said. “I became a weakling due to the war. We lived in the mountains for 14 months without much food. People were dying from starvation.” Mr. Sammartino’s father, Alfonso, immigrated to the United States and, several years later, in 1950, the family followed. But the younger Sammartino’s reception in the United States was not a good one. “My brother [Paul] and I were getting beat up every day for being different,” he once said. “So we joined the Young Men’s Hebrew Association, where we took up weightlifting and wrestling.” Mr. Sammartino, a 1955 graduate of Schenley High School, played high school football for two years. “They used to line up two guys in front of me, but I knocked them on their cans and creamed the quarterback,” Mr. Sammartino once said. “At Schenley, all the guys used to say, ‘Don’t mess with Sam.’ I came out of Schenley a 225-pound, good-looking athlete.” He became a carpenter’s apprentice and helped construct many of the buildings in Gateway Center. Eventually he turned to weightlifting and appeared on Bob Prince’s show on KDKA-TV in 1955. A wrestling promoter spotted him and Mr. Sammartino got his first match, defeating Jack The Neck Vansky in Aliquippa. Mr. Sammartino won the WWWF (now WWF) wrestling title in 1963, using the backbreaker in a 48-second bout against Buddy Rogers. “Give up or I’ll break your back!” he screamed at Mr. Rogers over the roar of the crowd in Madison Square Garden in New York City. He held the title for eight years before losing it to Ivan Koloff. He regained it in 1973 but lost it to Superstar Billy Graham in 1977. Mr. Sammartino’s reputation spread around the world. He sold out Madison Square Garden more times than any sports celebrity (187 out of 211 appearances). He wrestled in every state of the union and on every continent. He was especially popular in Japan. His average yearly salary was $250,000 when he retired in 1981. He once offered to meet heavyweight boxing champion Cassius Clay for $250,000 in the ring. Mr. Sammartino had several serious injuries, including broken wrists, elbows, ankles, fingers and collarbone. His nose was broken 11 times. In 1976, Mr. Sammartino’s neck was broken when he was slammed to the canvas by 357-pound Stan Hensen. One doctor said Mr. Sammartino would not wrestle again; another said he came within a millimeter of being paralyzed permanently from the neck down. But Mr. Sammartino trained rigorously in his basement gym in Ross and returned to wrestling four months later. He always insisted professional wrestling, often criticized for being more show business than sport, was legitimate. “My broken neck is for real. When I bleed, it’s my blood and it’s real. Anybody who sees me in person will see the worst cauliflower ears I think you have ever seen. When newspapermen would criticize [wrestling], I’d say get your toughest football player and I’ll show you how quickly I will demolish him.” Mr. Sammartino built his reputation by avoiding the glitz and showmanship that became a large part of professional wrestling in the 1980s and 1990s. He was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013. In 2016, the City of Pittsburgh added Mr. Sammartino’s name to Dan Marino’s and Andy Warhol’s on a sign welcoming visitors to South Oakland. Mayor Bill Peduto, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald and Mr. Marino were among those who attended the ceremony. Mr. Marino said his dad, a friend of Mr. Sammartino, would ride by the sign and say “Why the hell is Bruno’s name not on that sign?” “I don’t want to sound ungrateful for everything else because I’m deeply grateful for everything that’s happened in my life, but [the sign dedication], for me, I’m very deeply touched by it and very grateful that they thought me worthy of this honor with these other guys,” Mr. Sammartino said at the time. “Everything happened from here for me.” Mr. Fitzgerald released a statement on Mr. Sammartino’s death Wednesday morning. “We are saddened by the loss of Bruno Sammartino, a Pittsburgh legend and iconic figure,” Mr. Fitzgerald said. “He came to Pittsburgh as a young man and through hard work and perseverance gained national and international acclaim. He has always made us proud. He embodied Pittsburgh and served as one of the greatest ambassadors for this region. “This is a great loss for those of us who are of a certain age who remember his accomplishments and achievements in the ring. Growing up, Bruno always made us proud that he was from Pittsburgh and made us prouder to be from Pittsburgh too. “In the last few years, I’ve had the privilege to get to know Bruno as a man who was extremely proud of his Pittsburgh roots and heritage. “Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends at this time. We hope that it provides some comfort to them to know how lucky we feel that Pittsburgh became home to him and his family, and that we had him as a Pittsburgher for as long as we did.” Mr. Sammartino is survived by his wife, Carol, son David, a former professional wrestler with whom he briefly formed a tag team, and twin sons Danny and Darryl. Poster Comment: RIP Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Willie Green (#0)
He was a big star on Saturday TV when I was a kid. RIP Bruno.
Rest In peace, Bruno. You and Antonino Rocca were my heroes, growing up in the Bronx in the late '50's and early '60s.
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