Bruno Sammartino On Mother: She Was Absolutely My Hero
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Sunday is Mother's Day, a day when we salute our mothers and the sacrifices they have made for us. But, few people have a Mother's Day story to tell like professional wrestling great Bruno Sammartino, who was born in Italy, but for all of his adult life, has made his home in Pittsburgh.
Sammartino grew up in the small town of Pizzoferrato. Life for him, his brother and sister changed dramatically when Nazi SS troops invaded their town during World War II.
Watch Larry Richert's uncut interview with Bruno Sammartino here:
Sammartino's father had already moved to Pittsburgh for work, leaving him cut off from the family, and Sammartino's mother, Amelia, to literally save the lives of their children. She moved them into hiding in the mountains above their village.
NewsRadio 1020 KDKA's Larry Richert accompanied Sammartino two years ago on his first return to that mountain region since the family moved to the United States.
Now, on the eve of the release of "Bruno Sammartino: La Mia Mama," a documentary made during that visit, Larry once again caught up with Bruno for his remembrances of his late mother.
"She was absolutely my hero," Sammartino said. "She would do without if she could help somebody else. The sacrifices she made were incredible. My mom showed the courage of the lion to keep her kids alive and the sacrifices she made were incredible. I don't know if I would have been man enough to do what she did."
For 14 months before the end of the war, Sammartino remembers, his mother would sneak into their village in search of food, while her children waited and wondered if they'd see her again.
"She was captured one time and escaped. She was shot one time and made it back up there into the mountains," he said.
Sammartino said he's looking forward to the debut of the documentary because it's important to him for the rest of the world to know about his mother's courage and sacrifice. The fact that the premiere is occurring on Mother's Day is especially poignant to him, given that he thinks about his mother every day and regularly visits her grave, speaking to her in her native Italian.
"I always tell mom I hope she knows how much I loved her and I hope she knows how much we appreciated everything she did for us," he said.
He's also proud that his parents lived long enough to enjoy his wrestling accomplishments.
"My mom just gleamed," he said.
He remembered that she would say, "he wasn't supposed to live and now everybody knows him," recalling the starvation and deprivation in Italy that left him small and weak. This was before he and the rest of his family were able to move to the United States and he began body building.
"You can never pay your mom back for what they do for us, but to be able to do something for her to enjoy because all she ever knew was hardship and sacrifices," he said.
The "Living Legend" joined "The KDKA Morning News" to talk about "La Mia Mama" and said that the documentary has been, "seven or eight years" in the making.
Sammartino talked about his trip up the mountain his mother hid her family in and how difficult it was.
"I had swore that I would never, never go near because the memories were horrifying as a kid being up there," he said.
He also discussed what it means to him to be an American.
"It's great to be an American, it's great to be living in this country. When (my family) came over here, the main thing we felt [was], 'Now we're safe.' That was a great feeling."
The documentary will air on KDKA-TV Sunday, May 10 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
It will also air on Pittsburgh's CW Sunday, May 10 from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.
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