Stewart Edward (Stu) Hart (born May 3, 1915 in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; died October 16, 2003 in Calgary, Alberta) was a Canadian wrestler and wrestling trainer.

Hart had played football for the Edmonton Eskimos and been a champion wrestler, but was better known for his work behind the scenes in wrestling. In 1948 Hart founded Stampede Wrestling, a Calgary-based regional circuit. A number of top stars trained with Stu Hart, including Superstar Billy Graham, Abdullah the Butcher, Junkyard Dog, Brian Pillman, Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho and Keichi Yamada, later known as Jushin 'Thunder' Liger.

In 1948 he married Helen Smith; she died in 2001. Together they had twelve children:

• Smith (1949-)
• Bruce (1950-)
• Keith (1951-)
• Wayne (1953-)
• Dean (1954-1990) who died of kidney failure
• Ellie (1955-), who was married to the wrestler Jim Neidhart
• Georgia (1956-)
• Bret (1957-)
• Allison (1959-)
• Ross (1961-)
• Diana (1963-), who was married to the wrestler British Bulldog Davey Boy Smith. She wrote a book entitled Under the Mat about life in the Hart family; it was removed from bookstores only weeks after its release in November 2001, following a lawsuit by Owen Hart's widow Martha over the contents.
• Owen (1965-1999), a WWE wrestler who died when a wrestling stunt went wrong

Family life with Stu Hart was colourful, including having André the Giant as a babysitter and a wrestling grizzly bear sleeping under the front porch.

External links