He was one of the preeminent men in his business. As a manager he counted among his charges such superstars as Chris Adams, Brute Bernard, the Great Kabuki, the Great Muta, Don “the Spoiler” Jardine, the Missouri Mauler, Bob Orton, Jr, Roddy Piper, Dusty Rhodes, Dick Slater, and Larry Zbyszko. As a booker, he is credited with creating the success of World Class Championship Wrestling during the early 1980s. He was a dominant force wherever he worked, and his death at the young age of 66 only serves as another reminder of our great loss as wrestling fans of an integral part of wrestling history and lore.

.

.

Gary Hart was born Gary Richard Williams in Chicago on January 24, 1942. Growing up in a rough area of the city, Hart had an out in the person of Billy Gales, who was booking for Fred Kohler and was Gary’s uncle. Gales helped his nephew secure a position in the Marigold Arena. For the young Hart, this was not just another job, but, as he later saw it, an opportunity to learn the wrestling business, which he did in short order as a grappler who could fill in on a moment’s notice in case of a no-show.

His debut as a wrestler came against Sailor White in Beloit, Wisconsin in 1960. He later stated that his surname was adopted as a tribute to the man who saved the life of his uncle during the Korean War. But fate stepped in to curtail Hart’s career as a singles wrestler. Angelo Poffo was left in the lurch when his manager, Bronco Lubich, left for the Carolinas. Needing a second, Poffo took a chance with the young Hart. The chemistry between them was so good that a few weeks later, Hart became Poffo’s tag team partner and later fronted him as a manager.

It was while working with Poffo that Hart came up with the “Playboy” persona. He based it on Bobby Davis, the manager of Buddy Rogers and a person Hart greatly admired. Davis had taken the time to give the young Hart tips on speaking for his charge and raising heat. Hart never forget those lessons, or the kindness involved.

.

.

After Chicago, Hart traveled to Detroit, working for Bert Ruby, and later, the Sheik (Ed Farhat), who bought the promotion from Ruby. The Sheik didn’t pay much, but it was a good territory to develop his character. During his tenure there, Hart fronted many heels, including a masked man called “The Student.” Under the mask was Jim Myers, later to gain fame as George “the Animal” Steele. The gimmick behind the red mask was that Myers was a student of the game and Hart defended his charge’s lack of scientific wrestling by repeatedly stating that he was still a student.

But as with many others who toiled for The Sheik, Hart soon tired of being low-balled in the pay department and set sail for Texas, where he found work for Ed McLemore. Hart himself was quite a student of the game and had a mind full of ideas and angles. When Fritz Von Erich bought out the promotion, Hart moved into the booker’s office. Booking talent led to a meeting with Jim Barnett, who at the time was running Georgia, Florida and Australia. The two hit it off to the extent where Hart split his time between Australia and Texas.

Hart worked off-and-on in Australia for seven years, coming back and forth to Texas. He befriended Don Jardine in Australia, which led to a great gimmick when Hart and Jardine returned to Texas. Hart is credited with placing Jardine under a hood and billing him as the Masked Spoiler. The gimmick was so popular that Smasher Sloan was brought in as Jardine’s tag partner, Spoiler No. 2. Hart would also hold the area’s American Tag title with Jardine on three occasions.

Another wrestler Hart is credited with helping is Virgil Runnels. The way Hart tells it, Runnels had just left football and come to work in Dallas. Hart saw great potential as a heel, but was not convinced that “Virgil Runnels” was a good name to work under. Hart claimed that he had recently seen Elia Kazan’s movie, A Face In the Crowd, and loved the name of its main character, Lonesome Rhodes (played by Andy Griffith). This inspired Hart to give Runnels the new moniker of “Dusty Rhodes,” and the rest, as they say, is history.

.

.

Later, when Rhodes was working Florida, Hart came in with his charge Pak Song Nam. Pak Song and Rhodes formed a tag team under Hart’s management. In 1974, Rhodes turned on Pak Song and Gary Hart during a match against Eddie and Mike Graham. Now a babyface, Rhodes went on to a string of sellouts against Pak Song. Hart later claimed he christened Rhodes with the nickname “The American Dream,” and said the he was more proud of what Dusty accomplished in Florida than anything else in his career.

On February 20, 1975, Hart was involved in one of wrestling’s most famous tragedies. Flying back after a match in Miami, Hart, Bobby Shane, Mike McCord (later Austin Idol), and pilot Buddy Colt hit bad weather over Tampa that caused the plane (a Cessna owned and piloted by Buddy Colt) to crash into Tampa Bay. Everyone survived the crash except for Bobby Shane, who was unable to free himself from the rear seat.

Returning to Dallas after his Florida run, Hart cemented his place in wrestling history as booker for the Von Erich’s World Class Championship Wrestling becoming their booker in 1979. He created such box office feuds as the Freebirds versus the Von Erichs, and Chris Adams versus Kevin and Kerry Von Erich. He also took a WWF television jobber named Chris Canyon and turned him into superstar King Kong Bundy. Hart always maintained that his booking philosophy was based on avoiding shoving a wrestler down the fan’s throats, but there were times when he didn’t want to let a cherished idea die.

Such an idea came to Hart while toiling in Houston. He created a character named Moon Man and brought him to the ring with his head covered with a sack. Hart lifted the sack, showing the fans his latest bizarre creation, but the problem was that the Moon Man was just too bizarre for their tastes and, combined with the character’s average ability, doomed him to the Land of Bad Gimmicks. But Hart was undeterred, being of the opinion that the idea was ahead of its time, and with the right person and a little tweaking, the formula would be a hit.

He got his chance in World Class, when he took an undersized Japanese wrestler by the name of Akihisa Takachiho, whose gimmick was to spew green mist, placed a Kabuki wig on his head and covered his face with a wooden mask that would be removed right before the match, displaying a bizarrely painted face. (Reportedly, Hart was so enthralled with this gimmick that he dipped into his own pocket for the wig and other accouterments.) He named his new creation The Great Kabuki, and Hart’s idea was finally vindicated as Kabuki sold out show after show.

Hart’s reputation as a booker and his success with The Great Kabuki earned him the slot of booker in charge of the first Starrcade in 1983. (Kabuki faced off against Jimmy Valiant and Ric Flair defeated Harley Race for the NWA title.) This began a serious relationship with Crockett that paid off when World Class imploded. Hart left his booker’s position in 1987 and moved over to Crockett, where he weathered the change to Turner Sports and WCW. He managed Al Perez and Larry Zbyszko, and later fronted the J-Tex Corporation (Terry Funk, Dick Slater, Buzz Sawyer, The Dragonmaster, and The Great Muta). He recycled The Great Kabuki gimmick using Kenji Mutoh, a wrestler who had caught Hart’s eye while at WCCW. Thus the Great Muta was born. He, too, spit out green mist, but unlike Kabuki, Muta was an excellent young wrestler known for working a fast paced match and thus far more believable in the role. Muta was such a hit that Hart said he was approached by the WWF to take his protégé and jump ship. But as Turner Sports held the sponsorship of Muta’s visa, that scenario was quickly laid by the wayside.

The politics of the new organization wore on Hart’s nerves. He chafed under the new corporate politics, in which people with no wrestling experience bumped ahead of those who paid their dues in the business. Finally, it reached the point where Hart felt he had to go, and he left WCW in 1990. He worked with the Global Wrestling Federation in Dallas, and when that died, he partnered with Chris Adams in trying to get an independent promotion up and running. His nadir in the game involved his attempt with Adams to revive WCCW. Billed as “World Class II: The Next Generation,” it attempted to recapture the magic of the original, even going so far as to book the Dallas Sportatorium, but failed miserably.

Hart retired in 1999, but made a comeback in January of 2004 for his nephew Court Bauer’s promotion, Major League Wrestling. (Hart’s son Chad debuted in the promotion shortly after his father’s arrival.) Unfortunately, this venture was also doomed to failure, folding a month later. Though he would occasionally come out to promote a local show for charity, Hart’s days in the business were essentially finished. He made frequent appearances at fanfests and Cauliflower Alley reunions. Most of his time was spent with his sons enjoying the fruits of his retirement.

Hart had made an appearance on Saturday, March 16 in Allentown, Pennsylvania and had flown back to his home in Euless, Texas, where his body was found on Sunday night by son Jason, who had visited him just hours before. Hart was only 66 years old.

We’ll hear more from Gary Hart, though, later in the year. He had collaborated with Philip Varriale in writing an autobiography. The book is scheduled to be published later this year, and if it’s like anything else in Gary Hart’s all too short life, it will make for most interesting reading.

– The Phantom of the Ring

r.i.p.gh