

Bruno Leopoldo Francesco Sammartino was born on Oct. 6, 1935, in central Italy, in the town of Pizzoferrato. He was the youngest of seven children of Alfonso and Emilia Sammartino. Four siblings did not survive childhood.
After the father left for America in 1939, the remaining family fled invading German forces during World War II and hid in the mountains of Abruzzo for 14 months, subsisting on little food. After the war, they immigrated to the United States and were reunited with the father in Pittsburgh.
Bruno, a sickly 90-pounder who spoke little English, was a target of bullies at Schenley High School and resolved to build his physique with weight lifting and wrestling. He weighed 225 at graduation in 1953.
He went on to work out with the University of Pittsburgh wrestling coach, Rex Peery, competed in locally televised amateur matches, and narrowly lost a spot on the 1956 Olympic weight-lifting team to Paul Anderson, who won the heavyweight gold medal in Melbourne, Australia.
Sammartino married Carol Teyssier in 1959 and had three children with her: David and the twins Daniel and Darryl. All survive him. David Sammartino, a former professional wrestler, had briefly lured his father out of retirement to form a tag team.