Book on Stampede Wrestling
Writing a history of Stampede Wrestling, the legendary Western Canadian promotion founded by Stu Hart, is a major undertaking because of the complexity of the story. But Heath McCoy, a reporter with the Calgary Herald, has done an excellent job of telling that story in his new book "Pain and Passion: The History of Stampede Wrestling" (CanWest Books).
Part of the difficulty in telling the story is that the history of the company is so tightly interwoven with the history of the Hart family, but to his credit McCoy focuses as much as possible on the company and avoids travelling over the Hart family history that has been relatively well described in other sources. And it's quite the company story, including tours that ranged from tiny recreation centres and school gyms in tiny Western Canadian towns to big arena events, being flush with cash to being near-bankrupt, major TV attractions to playing shows for 50 audience members (most of them non-paying) and being surprise TV stars in Antigua through the broadcast of bootleg tapes.
McCoy is clearly respectful of the importance of wrestling and the Hart family for Calgary, and when he has conflicting versions of events he resists taking sides but instead presents all the versions of the "truth" and lets the reader assess them. He recounts some of his experiences in reporting on the Hart family conflicts after Owen Hart's death, and it's clear from the way he writes about them that he has a great deal of admiration for the third-generation stars (e.g. Nattie Neidhart and Harry Smith) who are trying to keep the promotion going.
McCoy has done a lot of original interviews and research for the book, including many visits to the Hart family archives in the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. The book is also greatly enriched by the wonderful black and white photographs of Bob Leonard, who was the official Stampede Wrestling photographer for three decades.
This book is well worth tracking down (ISBN 0-9736719-8 if that helps your local bookstore find it).
Part of the difficulty in telling the story is that the history of the company is so tightly interwoven with the history of the Hart family, but to his credit McCoy focuses as much as possible on the company and avoids travelling over the Hart family history that has been relatively well described in other sources. And it's quite the company story, including tours that ranged from tiny recreation centres and school gyms in tiny Western Canadian towns to big arena events, being flush with cash to being near-bankrupt, major TV attractions to playing shows for 50 audience members (most of them non-paying) and being surprise TV stars in Antigua through the broadcast of bootleg tapes.
McCoy is clearly respectful of the importance of wrestling and the Hart family for Calgary, and when he has conflicting versions of events he resists taking sides but instead presents all the versions of the "truth" and lets the reader assess them. He recounts some of his experiences in reporting on the Hart family conflicts after Owen Hart's death, and it's clear from the way he writes about them that he has a great deal of admiration for the third-generation stars (e.g. Nattie Neidhart and Harry Smith) who are trying to keep the promotion going.
McCoy has done a lot of original interviews and research for the book, including many visits to the Hart family archives in the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. The book is also greatly enriched by the wonderful black and white photographs of Bob Leonard, who was the official Stampede Wrestling photographer for three decades.
This book is well worth tracking down (ISBN 0-9736719-8 if that helps your local bookstore find it).
posted by abbalene at 2:40 PM
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