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WHEREAS, It was 41 years ago - May 17, 1963 when Bruno Sammartino first won the World Wrestling Championship; and,
WHEREAS, when Sammartino first won the WWWF title, he was a 26 year old Italian immigrant who had survived a near-death experience when German soldiers lined his family up against a wall in his hometown of Pizzoferrato, Italy to shoot them; and,
WHEREAS, he escaped the firing squad, living in the mountains for 14 months, surviving on only frozen snow and dandelions. After a bout with rheumatic fever, he came to the United States at age 14 weighing only 85 pounds; and,
WHEREAS, Bruno has done tours in Japan, where is considered to be a god; he has also wrestled in every place imaginable from a bullfighting ring in Caracas, Venezuela to New Guinea, where he wrestled an oversized pygmy; and
WHEREAS, Bruno has sold out Madison Square Garden 187 times and appeared there 211 times, he also holds the attendance record in Australia for selling out sizeable venues 21 nights in a row; and,
WHEREAS, Bruno held the WWWF title for a record 12 years, and authorities in the wrestling world define his birth date, October 6, 1936, as the day wrestling was born; and,
WHEREAS, Bruno Sammartino lives in Pittsburgh with his wife and still runs over six a day. The possibility of him returning to the ring and body slamming Vince McMahon cannot be eliminated.
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NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby congratulate Bruno Sammartino on his success in and out of the wrestling ring; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council of the City of Pittsburgh does hereby declare Tuesday May 18, 2004 as, "Bruno Sammartino Day", here in the City of Pittsburgh.