Park To Be Renamed After Legendary Wrestler Bruno Sammartino

ROSS TOWNSHIP, PA — The township is about to rename Sangree Park after the late Pittsburgh wrestling legend Bruno Sammartino, a Ross resident for nearly six decades.

The renaming will occur Friday, with a new sign being unveiled for the park. Ross commissioners president Dan DeMarco and Sammartino family members will speak at the event.

Sammartino died in 2018 at the age of 82. He was the longest reigning champion in WWE history and a WWW Hall of Famer.

According to his WWW biography, Sammartino's passion for lifting weights led him to become one of the strongest men on the planet. He set a world bench pressing record of 565 pounds in 1959, which attracted the attention of wrestling promoter Vince McMahon.

By 1963, when Sammartino defeated Buddy Rogers in just 48 seconds, he became the second-ever WWE champion. He held the championship for nearly eight years, a record for any professional wrestling organization, besting other WWE Hall of Famers such as Killer Kowalski, Gorilla Monsoon and George "The Animal" Steele.

He lost the title to Ivan Koloff in 1971, but regained the title in 1973 to become WWE's first two-time champion. He wouldn't relinquish the title again for more than three years.

At New York City's Shea Stadium in 1980, Mr. Sammartino defeated protege Larry Zbyszko in a steel cage before more than 35,000 fans, shattering box office record records for wrestling events. He retired in 1981, but returned to WWE in the mid-80s, broadcasting matches with McMahon.