Post by Stu-E Price on Jul 23, 2007 15:21:59 GMT -5
I was seldom allowed to go to the arenas to watch wrestling. My dad was adamant that none of his daughters would get involved in the business. We weren't even allowed to go down into "the dungeon," the training ring in the basement of our house, until the "fresh" smell from the wrestlers had dissipated. I also didn't know anything about "predetermined matches," (a match where the outcome is decided ahead of time) or the terms "heel" (bad guy) and "baby face" (good guy). My dad got really mad at me once because I asked Owen in the car ride home from school, "What's a heel? What's a baby face?"
My dad growled, "I don't want you two discussing that. Do you understand?" He had too much respect for wrestling. He wanted everyone to believe in it, not just wrestling fans and not just the people who paid to see it. He wanted his family to believe it too.
I inherited my dad's passion for wrestling, as did my brother Bret. This led to the only fistfight I've ever had in my adult life – me against my 230-pound brother, who was in peak condition.
My mom and dad had 12 kids. Smith Stewart Hart was born November 28, 1948. Bruce Ambrose Edwardious was born January 13, 1951. Keith William was born August 21, 1952. Wayne Curtis Michael was born November 19, 1953. Dean Harry Anthony was born January 3, 1955. Elizabeth Patricia was born February 4, 1956. Georgia Louise was born May 21, 1957. Bret Sergeant was born July 2, 1958. Alison Joan (Joan for my mother's sister,) born December 7, 1959. Ross Lindsay, honoring one of my dad's Negro friends Luther Lindsay, was born January 3, 1961. I, Diana Joyce Hart, was born October 8, 1963. And Owen James Hart was born May 7, 1965.
All the boys except Owen had single-syllable names. My mom wanted it to be that way. She thought it sounded better with Hart. My dad had liked the name Owen and my mom liked James because it was her father's second name. Ellie was named for her grandmother. Many of the girls' names came from my mom's favorite writers, Kathleen Norris and Edna Ferber the woman who authored So Big and Showboat. Smith was my mom's maiden name.
Smith was the first grandchild and he was a big boy. He had blue eyes like the shoe buttons women wore at the beginning of the century. His nickname became Shoe-y. My mom's mother just adored him. Actually Mom's parents, Harry and Ellie, raised Smith. Mom was expecting Bruce and was in a car accident in Montana. A woman had escaped from a mental institution in a stolen car and was making her getaway when she ran through a stop sign. She hit my mother's car while Mom was getting driving lessons from my dad.
Mom went right through the teak dashboard. She was in her seventh month of pregnancy and every bone in her face was broken. There was a flat of jars full of strawberry jam in the back seat. The flat hit my mom in the back of the head but she refused painkillers at the hospital because she didn't want to hurt her baby.
To this day she is devoted to Bruce because she worried so much about him from that day, two months before he was even born. While she was in the hospital recovering, she had to have her jaw wired shut and her face reconstructed. They were concerned that she would lose Bruce.
At the same time, my dad was trying to get his wrestling company going. So they all thought the best thing was to have Smith go live with Gaga (Ellie) and Harry. When the time came for my mom and dad to get their son back, my mom's mother didn't want to give Smith up. She said, "No, no, we're attached to him, we can't give him back." And she was serious about it.
So there was a tug-of-war over Smith. I don't think Ellie ever forgave Mom for insisting she give him back. As I said before, she was a little bit saucy. It was either her way or the highway, and she would criticize you forever if you didn't go along.
My dad growled, "I don't want you two discussing that. Do you understand?" He had too much respect for wrestling. He wanted everyone to believe in it, not just wrestling fans and not just the people who paid to see it. He wanted his family to believe it too.
I inherited my dad's passion for wrestling, as did my brother Bret. This led to the only fistfight I've ever had in my adult life – me against my 230-pound brother, who was in peak condition.
My mom and dad had 12 kids. Smith Stewart Hart was born November 28, 1948. Bruce Ambrose Edwardious was born January 13, 1951. Keith William was born August 21, 1952. Wayne Curtis Michael was born November 19, 1953. Dean Harry Anthony was born January 3, 1955. Elizabeth Patricia was born February 4, 1956. Georgia Louise was born May 21, 1957. Bret Sergeant was born July 2, 1958. Alison Joan (Joan for my mother's sister,) born December 7, 1959. Ross Lindsay, honoring one of my dad's Negro friends Luther Lindsay, was born January 3, 1961. I, Diana Joyce Hart, was born October 8, 1963. And Owen James Hart was born May 7, 1965.
All the boys except Owen had single-syllable names. My mom wanted it to be that way. She thought it sounded better with Hart. My dad had liked the name Owen and my mom liked James because it was her father's second name. Ellie was named for her grandmother. Many of the girls' names came from my mom's favorite writers, Kathleen Norris and Edna Ferber the woman who authored So Big and Showboat. Smith was my mom's maiden name.
Smith was the first grandchild and he was a big boy. He had blue eyes like the shoe buttons women wore at the beginning of the century. His nickname became Shoe-y. My mom's mother just adored him. Actually Mom's parents, Harry and Ellie, raised Smith. Mom was expecting Bruce and was in a car accident in Montana. A woman had escaped from a mental institution in a stolen car and was making her getaway when she ran through a stop sign. She hit my mother's car while Mom was getting driving lessons from my dad.
Mom went right through the teak dashboard. She was in her seventh month of pregnancy and every bone in her face was broken. There was a flat of jars full of strawberry jam in the back seat. The flat hit my mom in the back of the head but she refused painkillers at the hospital because she didn't want to hurt her baby.
To this day she is devoted to Bruce because she worried so much about him from that day, two months before he was even born. While she was in the hospital recovering, she had to have her jaw wired shut and her face reconstructed. They were concerned that she would lose Bruce.
At the same time, my dad was trying to get his wrestling company going. So they all thought the best thing was to have Smith go live with Gaga (Ellie) and Harry. When the time came for my mom and dad to get their son back, my mom's mother didn't want to give Smith up. She said, "No, no, we're attached to him, we can't give him back." And she was serious about it.
So there was a tug-of-war over Smith. I don't think Ellie ever forgave Mom for insisting she give him back. As I said before, she was a little bit saucy. It was either her way or the highway, and she would criticize you forever if you didn't go along.