ABOUT
JEFF RUSSO
Jeff attended his first live wrestling card around the age of 7 at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens in the mid 70’s, and it was the beginning of a life changing impact on his personal development and the career path he chose.
As Canada’s leading fitness business consultant, he has worked with hundreds of fitness clubs throughout North America over the last 25 years with his brand Pro Fitness Program. In addition, along with his wife Stacy of 24 years, he co-founded Crown Production Co, a music promotion and production company that produces shows and music festivals. His greatest success has been the ability to turn his three major passions, fitness, music and wrestling into his life’s work, and to have the freedom to spend the best part of his days and years with his daughter, son and wife.
CLICK HERE for the rest of his story on mapleleafwrestling.com.
CONOR HEFFERNAN
Conor is a Lecturer in the Sociology of Sport at Ulster University. He was previously Assistant Professor of Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin.
Prior to this, Conor attained his Ph.D. at University College Dublin under the supervision of Dr. Paul Rouse on ‘Physical Culture in Ireland from 1893 to 1939. Conor holds an undergraduate degree in History and Political Science from Trinity College Dublin and an MPhil in History Studies from Cambridge University.
In 2021, Palgrave MacMillan published my first book, The History of Physical Culture in Ireland. This book is the first of its kind to examine the birth and growth of gym cultures in the island of Ireland from the late nineteenth-century to the mid-twentieth-century. Exploring the connection between the fit body and broader societal ideas related to gender, politics, education and nationalism, the book moves across sporting and social histories.