Remembering Gary Hart- and a Word About My Life So Far- orig. post 03/24/08

Gary Hart (born Gary Richard Williams) died last Monday of a heart attack at the age of 66, and now another link to my youth is gone. "Playboy" Gary Hart is on the short list of the greatest managers in the history of professional wrestling (Jim Cornette, Jimmy Hart [no relation], and Bobby Heenan would be the others). Behind-the-scenes, he was a great booker and a creative "ideas" man. He can take a good deal of credit for developing many regional promotions, including the Florida territory, plus the careers of Dusty Rhodes, the Spoiler, the Great Muta, the Great Kabuki, and countless others. Most important to me, Hart was a pivotal figure in the emergence of World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), bringing the Freebirds into the Dallas territory, setting up the Von Erich-Freebird feud that caused that region to explode. Later, Hart helped to develop Gentleman Chris Adams’s heel persona (my alter ego), elevating my hero from mid-card to main-event status. For all this, and for being a great friend to so many wrestlers and fans alike, I salute him.

On Saturday nights as a teenager (1984-1986), while so many of my peers were either getting laid or getting drunk, or getting their partners drunk so as to get laid, I stayed at home and watched World Class Championship Wrestling on MSG Network in New York. I used to be a HUGE wrestling fan, and I loved WCCW more than any other promotion, including the WWF. I became huge fans of Stratford-on-Avon’s Gentleman Chris Adams and the Handsome Half-Breed, Gorgeous Gino Hernandez, two guys with charisma galore. I liked them because they were talented in the ring (Chris especially), great on the mike (Gino’s forte), and not your typical heels, being handsome, clean-cut, and relatively realistic. They were nicknamed the Dynamic Duo. I wanted to be just like Gentleman Chris Adams and, in some ways, still do. Although, off-camera, Chris and Gino led self-destructive lives that ended in horrible deaths, following their exploits during my formulative years kept me out of trouble and, for that, I will always be grateful. I am also grateful to Gary Hart for his role in their lives.

Although Gary Hart’s death was nowhere near as upsetting as the recent deaths of Bobby Fischer or the DC5’s Mike Smith, it has made me think a bit about my life so far. I’m not sure why- maybe because WCCW inspired me to dream as a youngster and, with each passing day, I have fewer and fewer dreams. What Phil Ochs wrote, "The days grow longer/For smaller prizes/I feel a stranger/To all surprises," could aptly sum up my life right now. My life is passing me by, and I am yearning for a purpose in life, for a soulmate, for laughter, for DIRECTION!!!!!!