Little-known fact: The late Owen Hart was a legitimate wrestler before going pro 13 years ago.
In fact, he wrestled for the Dinosaurs while attending the University of Calgary in the early 1980s, but you wouldn’t know it.
Nowhere on the internet does it indicate that Hart went to the U of C. He did confess in an interview that he went to university for three years, but didn’t specify which one. On the U of C Athletics home page, there is a list of the “most famous” former Dinosaurs. The list includes an interminable number of CFL players, a variety of Olympic swimmers, and a couple of guys who went on to play hockey in Europe, but no Owen. An evaluation of the list of athletes indicates that Hart would be, internationally-speaking, the best-known former Dino.
U of C Sports Information Director Jack Neumann can remember that Hart attended the U of C, but can’t recall any meets that Hart participated in. (“If Jack doesn’t know it, no one does,” said one of his colleagues.) Forgivable, considering it was about 15 years ago. Neumann’s records indicate that Hart never made the top three in the conference in his weight class. Hart’s major is a mystery, too.
This was supposed to be a brief article about Owen Hart’s time and accomplishments at the U of C, but it seems that they have been forgotten. Our university has honoured other former students who reached the pinnacles of their professions, so why not Hart? I was glad, though, that the Athletics Department didn’t jump on the bandwagon and send out a press release this week saying how proud they were of an accomplished former Dinosaur, now that he’s passed on.
I’m not a professional wrestling fan. I’ve never seen the Blue Blazer in action. I think it’s unfortunate that someone who appears to have been one of the “good guys” of the scene died so tragically (and I don’t mean just which side he took).