It was announced today that former WWF World Tag Team Champion, Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart passed away today at the age of 63. According to Ross Hart the cause was a seizure, which was brought on by complications from Alzheimer’s Disease.

Neidhart was a shotput specialist on the national level and played football and was good enough to be invited to both the Dallas Cowboys and Oakland Raiders pre-season camps, though he failed to make either team.

Like many football players, Neidhart got into professional wrestling and trained under Stu Hart in Calgary, where he would work for the promotion for four years. He would earn the nickname of “The Anvil” for entering an anvil toss contest at the Calgary Stampede. Neidhart would begin working for other promotions (Georgia Championship Wrestling, Mid South, Championship Wrestling from Florida, New Japan) and he would join the World Wrestling Federation in 1985 after Stampede was sold to Vince McMahon and he was part of that deal.

Neidhart began his WWF run as a single under the management of Mr. Fuji but that would quickly change when his contract was sold to Jimmy Hart and he would later be paired with Bret Hart to form the Hart Foundation. The tandem would wrestle in the mid card for two years until they won the Tag Team Championships from the British Bulldogs in early 1987. They would hold it until November of that year until they lost it to Strike Force (Rick Martel & Tito Santana) and for the period between Wrestlemania IV and Wrestlemania VI they would continue to team up though they both pursued solo careers at the same time. They would regain the Tag Titles at Summer Slam 1990 and would lose it to the Nasty Boys at Wrestlemania VII and shortly after the team split for good with Bret Hart embarking on a successful solo career and Neidhart going on a different path.

The Anvil would try his hand at commentary, which was not really his forte and he would return to form a tag team with Owen Hart as the “New Foundation”. The new tag team didn’t go far as he was fired for unprofessional conduct. Neidhart would work in the indies and briefly in WCW and would return in 1994 again at the side of Owen during his feud with his brother Bret. Neidhart would receive World Heavyweight Title shots against Bret in ’94 was he was fired shortly after for no-showing events.

He would return in 1996 for a brief run as the masked “Who”, but in 1997 he was back on the roster with the five man Hart Foundation, though following Bret’s departure to WCW, Neidhart and Davey Boy Smith would follow their brother-in-law to Atlanta, though Neidhart was basically used as enhancement talent.

Neidhart would suffer from drug addiction in his later years and would be in and out of rehab. He would also make appearances on Total Divas with his daughter Natalya, who has been with the WWE for the last ten years.

We here at Notinalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the family, friends and fans of Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart.

Barry Bonds had his #25 retired by the San Francisco Giants today and while that is news to us, the bigger deal by far is the public endorsement he received for the Baseball Hall of Fame by Willie Mays, who was on hand to honor Bonds had this to say during the ceremony:

“Give somebody honor that deserves to be in the Hall of Fame…When you get there you’ll say ‘Man, how did I get here?’ And I want him to have that honor. On behalf of all the people in San Francisco and the country, vote this guy in!”

His decree was meant by a huge ovation at AT&T Park.

Mays was with the Giants for the best run of his first ballot Hall of Fame career and is the godfather to Bonds. Bonds’ Hall of Fame momentum is gaining as he received 56.4% of the ballot last year, well up from the 36.2% he had on his first year of eligibility, which was in 2013. He has four more years on the ballot.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate Barry Bonds on receiving this honor and for what it is worth we agree with Willie Mays.

The U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame has announced their Class of 2018 and while this is not exactly a class that is “star-studded” this is group of five who all deserve their place in Eveleth, Minnesota.

Let’s look at the new members shall we?

Red Berenson: From Canada, Red Berenson played in the NHL for seventeen seasons and would become a coach immediately after his playing career ended. Berenson won the Jack Adams Award in 1981 while coaching the St. Louis Blues, but he would return to his alma mater, the University of Michigan where he would become their head coach in 1984 and would stay until 2017. He would win 848 Games in NCAA competition and two NCAA Titles (1996 & 1998)

Natalie Darwitz: Darwitz played for the United States on three Olympic Teams (2002, 2006 & 2010) and was on three IIHF World Women’s Championship Teams (2005, 2008 & 2009).

Leland Harrington: Harrington played for the Boston Bruins for two seasons in the 1920’s and played 32 Games with the Montreal Canadiens in the 30’s. He will be inducted posthumously as he passed away in 1959.

David Poile: Poile is the all-time record holder in Wins for a General Manager with 1,333 Wins. Poile served as the Washington Capitals GM for 15 years and took over the same role for the expansion Nashville Predators in 1997, a position he still holds today. He also served as the General Manager for the U.S. World Hockey Championship teams of 1988 and 1999 and the U.S. Olympic Team in 2014.

Paul Stewart: Stewart played 21 Games for the Quebec Nordiques in the 1979-80 season but he would later become a referee in the NHL for seventeen seasons. Stewart is the only American to have played and refereed in the NHL.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to congratulate the newest members of the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame.

This is a very sad day in the world of hockey and the city of Chicago as it was announced that Stan Mikita passed away at the age of 78 following a long battle with Dementia.

Born in the former Czechoslovakia and raised in Canada, Mikita first debuted in the National Hockey League in the 1958-59 season with the Chicago Blackhawks, the team in which he would play for during his entire professional career.

Mikita would help Chicago win the 1961 Stanley Cup but while this was the only Cup he would win, his career would actually be more productive after that title. After greatly reducing his penalty minutes, Mikita would become a more balanced player and the Centre would win the Art Ross Trophy four times over a five year period (1963-64 to 1967-68) while also leading the NHL in Assists three times. Mikita would go back-to-back winning both the MVP and Lady Byng (1966-67 & 1967-68) becoming the first player to ever to do so. Over his career he would be a nine time All Star, a six time First Team All Star, a two time Second Team All Star and he would enter the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1983. He would score 1,467 Points over his career, which again was all with the Chicago Blackhawks.

There were few players who competed at the level of Stan Mikita.

On this dark day, we feel the need to take a road trip to Aurora, Illinois and visit Stan Mikita’s Doughnuts.

We here at Notinhalloffame.com would like to extend our condolences to the friends and family of Stan Mikita.