Has it really been a year since the bright shining light has gone out? It seems like only yesterday I heard the horrible news. Our neighbor from down the hall knocked on our door with tears in her eyes. "Owen is dead," she choked out when I answered the door. If she had punched me in the stomach she wouldn't have gotten a more profound effect. I suddenly felt very dizzy and disconnected from my body. 'How could Owen be gone?' I thought to myself. 'He is indestructable, unstopable, the Blue Balzer. How on Earth could that happen to him?'

I still catch myself watching wrestling half expecting to hear his entrance theme blast the crowd and see that smiling face come bounding down the entrance ramp, or the Balzer to come swooping from the rafters to save the day. Then it hits me, it isn't going to happen. Owen has left us behind, gone to a better place. And it is like hearing the news all over again. Eventhough I never met him personally, I felt like I knew him and lost a very close friend.

I remember one fan writing shortly after his death, 'God needed a hero, and selected Owen.' Well if anyone in the world or outside of the world of professional wrestling fit that description it was Owen James Hart. As the Blue Blazer, he told all the kids to drink their milk, take their vitamins and listen to mom and dad. Good advice for us all, not just the little ones.

I think Mick Foley summed it up best when he said he hopes his son grows up to be a man like Owen. A more fitting or touching tribute couldn't be given. I think if we all aspire to be just a little bit like him, the world would be a much better place.

He was loved by his fans and his contemporaries alike. That was apparent when the following Monday's 'Raw is War' devoted an entire two hours to a tribute to our fallen hero. Seeing the wrestlers out of character, bearing their souls, sharing their memories of Owen, and saying farewell to him in front of the entire world was probably one of the most moving things I have ever seen. Even the rival WCW 'Nitro' had a lot to say about him.

It proved what an incredible man he was. He was not just a fine athlete, there is no denying his in ring abilities, but there was so much more to Owen. He was a husband, a father, a brother, a son. He was a human being, so he was not perfect. But his good qualities far outweighed the bad. If he had any, I never saw them exhibited when he was in the ring, professionalism is a word that comes to my mind when I hear his name. Entertaining and exciting are other good words to describe Owen.

He was a shooting star. He brightened our lives and our world for an all too brief moment as he passed by, and left us all breathless and in awe. He left us all so many wonderful memories. Where ever you are Owen, know this, we miss you and we love you. I know you have a big smile on your face, up to no good, keeping everyone's spirit's up and laughing, you wouldn't have it any other way, and neither would we. God speed to you Sir.

- The Laughingman - 5/23/00