George Emile Stipich (April 13, 1937 – June 19, 1997) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Stan "the Man" Stasiak.

He also wrestled at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto which included a match with Gino Morella, who was later known as Gorilla Monsoon.

In late 1963, he had a stint with the Amarillo, Texas–based Western States Sports promotion, where he challenged NWA World Heavyweight Champion Lou Thesz.

[3][5][7] In 1965, Stasiak began appearing regularly with Pacific Northwest Wrestling, where he adopted the fictional "Buzzard Creek, Oregon" as his hometown.

[3][4][5][8] In April and May 1969, Stasiak toured Japan with the International Wrestling Enterprise promotion as part of its "World Selection Series".

On April 12, 1969, a two-out-of-three-falls match pitting Stasiak and Morgan against Thunder Sugiyama and Toyonobori for the Trans-World Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Championship ended in a controversial manner, resulting in the titles being vacated; on April 20, Sugiyama and Rusher Kimura defeated Morgan and Stasiak to win the vacant titles.

Stasiak wrestled his final match with IWE on May 5, 1969, teaming with Dixon and Morgan in a loss to Sugiyama, Toyonobori, and the Great Kusatsu.

[1][3][13] In August 1971, Stasiak debuted in the northeastern United States–based World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).

Over the following months, he faced opponents such as Gorilla Monsoon, Arnold Skaaland, Víctor Rivera, and Chief Jay Strongbow throughout the northeastern United States.

His reign lasted until October 1972 when he lost to José Lothario in a cage match in the San Antonio Municipal Auditorium.

Stasiak considered this a formality as he had been having the same discussion, nearly verbatim, in every major city on the Eastern Seaboard for the past two months.

[1][14][17][18] During his brief reign, Stasiak had a single successful title defense, wrestling Chief Jay Strongbow to a no contest on December 7, 1973.

On the first day of the tournament, he wrestled Antonio Inoki to a time limit draw in an exhibition match held in Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

Stasiak left St. Louis in December 1975, with his final match being a loss to Terry Funk in the Kiel Auditorium.

In September 1976, Stasiak and Killer Brooks unsuccessfully challenged The Black Bombers for the NWA Georgia Tag Team Championship.

[23] On September 13, 1975, Stasiak wrestled Bruno Sammartino who was WWWF Heavyweight Champion to a double disqualification in Steubenville, Ohio.

In his first match back, he challenged WWWF Heavyweight Champion Bruno Sammartino in Madison Square Garden, winning by count-out.

During the remainder of 1977 and early 1978, Stasiak's regular opponents included Gorilla Monsoon, Ivan Putski, Larry Zbyszko, and Peter Maivia.

[14] In April 1978, Stasiak unsuccessfully challenged Bob Backlund, who had recently won the WWWF Heavyweight Championship.

During the tour, Stasiak faced opponents such as Antonio Inoki, Riki Choshu, Seiji Sakaguchi, and Tatsumi Fujinami.

In the latter half of 1980, Stasiak competed in Texas once more, appearing with Big Time Wrestling and Western States Sports.

Early in his career he used the nicknames "Crusher" and "the Assassin of Arvida" and a bear hug for a finishing move.

Later, he adopted the nickname "The Man" and began using the heart punch - "a stiff shot to his opponent's chest, sold as if it could stop the organ from pumping were Stasiak to land his fist just right" - as his finishing move.

Fellow wrestler Tony Borne gave the eulogy at his funeral, describing him as "a very good natured-individual" and "a real trooper" [sic].