Gary Hart

Gary Hart was an American professional wrestler/manager/booker/promoter from the 1960s to the 1990s. He wrestled primarily around the U.S. with some appearances in Canada and Australia. As a wrestler, he held the NWA American (World Class in Dallas) Tag Team Titles twice, both times with The Spoiler (Don Jardine). He was one of the wrestlers in the infamous February 20, 1975 plane crash that killed wrestler Bobby Shane. Despite suffering several injuries, Hart was able to rescue Austin Idol and Buddy Colt, but failed to save Shane. His first charge as a manager was The Student (George 'The Animal' Steele). He built a stable called Gary Hart's Army, which included Abdullah the Butcher, Mark Lewin, Robert Roop, Beau James (Jimmy 'Jam' Garvin), The One Man Gang (George Gray), Dusty Rhodes, King Curtis Iaukea, Dory Funk Jr., Dingo Warrior (Jim Hellwig), Giant Baba, Pak Song (Song Pak), Al Perez, Dick Slater, Dick Murdoch, Professor Toru Tanaka, The Great Kabuki (Akihisa Mera) and Kendo Nagasaki (Kazuo Sakurada). His last major run as a manager was in the NWA/WCW in 1989-1990, as the leader of The J-Tex Corporation, which comprised The Great Muta (Keiji Mutô), Terry Funk, Sawyer, Slater and The Dragon Master (Nagasaki). His last match was Sting (Steve Borden) defeating him at a house show (non-televised event) at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, Georgia on October 8, 1989. He made a surprise return to wrestling at "MLW Reloaded Tour 2004 Night 2", Tabu Nightclub, Orlando, FL, January 10, 2004, sending Homicide (Nelson Erazo) and Low Ki to attack Terry Funk after Funk had lost a barbed-wire match to MLW World Heavyweight Champion Steve Corino. This was meant as Hart's retribution against Funk for having lost the "I Quit" match to NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair at Clash of the Champions IX: New York Knockout (1989). This never led to anything because of MLW closing soon after, and the promotion didn't return until 2017, and Hart passed away in 2008. Hart's son Chad wrestled for a while in Texas during the 1990s, winning the World Class II Texas Tag Team Title, the TAP Television Title and the EPW Texas Title. Fellow manager Sir Oliver Humperdink was the best man at Hart's 2005 wedding. His autobiography, "My Life In Wrestling...With A Little Help From My Friends" was published posthumously in 2009. He was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2014, the NWA Hall of Fame in 2016, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame in 2018 and the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020.