IGH1994 04 V03n03-Complete

Iron Game History
VOLUME 3 N UMB ER 3 Apr i l 1994
Another Big Man Gone

Two weeks ago, we got the news of the death of Matt Dimel, not been for kidney dialysis and the miracles of modern surgery, a
a superheavyweight powerlifter. Matt was only thirty-three, and his similar fate would have befallen the legendary Paul Anderson in
passing at such a young age brought to mind how many of our supers his late forties.
have left us too early. Too early. Within the last decade or so, we What are we to make of this seemingly contrary situation,
have lost, among others, Iceland’s thirty-two-year old Jon Pall Sig- in which so many of our largest and strongest men die so young?
marsson, who won many world championships in “strongman” com- Would not their phenomenal strength provide protection against
petitions; Gary Aprahamian, the four hundred pounder from New the ills which beset normal men? In the world of fantasy, perhaps it
York who wanted so desperately to be massive would. In the real world, however, the apparent
and strong yet who died in his twenties; Chuck answer is no. Apparently, the very obsession
Braxton, the popular Master’s lifter who suffered which drove these men to exceed the size they
a fatal heart attack at the age of fifty-three in the were genetically programmed to be—added to
warm-up room just before a meet; and O. D. Wil- the fact that they were all programmed to be far
son, the enormous powerlifter/strongman who more massive than an average man—made them
was near the top of both of his favorite sports when vulnerable to the sorts of physical problems which
he suddenly expired. brought them down-strokes, heart attacks, kid-
None of these giants died accidentally, ney disease and so on.
in the manner of Dave Pasanella, who was killed In the old days, of course, the overeat-
in a car crash. All died of what are sometimes ing which helped to produce the abnormal size of
called “natural causes,” yet it seems all too clear giants like Cyr and Barre was sufficient by itself
that most, if not all, of these men died earlier than to create premature problems. Now, however,
they otherwise might have died had they not had those obsessed with ultimate size and strength
such a passionate love for size and the strength have another, equally deadly tool at their dispos-
size confers. Deaths of this sort are not unprece- al—anabolic/androgenic steroids. And the com-
dented in the Iron Game, of course. Louis Cyr, bination of habitual overeating and anabolic/andro-
the 5’9”, 320 pound marvel of strength from Quebec was only forty- genic steroids is particularly deadly. It would, in fact, be fair to say
nine when he died which was three years older than the age at death that a very real occupational hazard for a steroid-using superheavy-
of his former stage partner and companion-at-table, Horace Barre. weight is an early death. All of which makes the term “natural death”
Their lesser known contemporary, the splendid backlifter Henry Holt- ring with such grim irony when it is (mis) applied to some of our late
grewe, was just a few years older, fifty-four, when he was laid to rest. brothers.
Another leviathan who failed to even approach the biblical promise It has been argued that those who took such risks did so
of three score years and ten was the renowned Austrian Karl Swo- knowingly, and that they died doing what they loved. That—to
boda, who died at the age of fifty. Nor should we forget that had it paraphrase the song Billy Joel wrote for Frank Sinatra—” they did
IRON GAME HISTORY VOLUME 3 NUMBER 3
it their way.” Therefore—those who make this argument say—we to speak to his family. I had travelled to Germany with Wayne in
should not pity these men. 1982—the year he won the national powerlifting championship as a
However, even though I understand these arguments and superheavyweight—to attend the World Championships, and he told
even though I heard and succumbed for a time to the same siren song me how upset his father was because he had admitted to his father
which proved to be the undoing of these big men, I still pity them. I that he used steroids. “I hated to tell him, but he and my mother were
pity them because of the things they missed, many of which perhaps, really worried about my weird behavior and aggressiveness. They
they hadn’t lived quite long enough to fully appreciate. Simple thought I was going crazy.” On my trip to Michigan to see the Bou-
things like the fellowship of friends and family: or good music; or viers, Wayne’s father told me that on the night he died, Wayne had
the majesty of a storm: or physical passion; or the thrill of sports; or come home late from the gym with a bag of cheeseburgers, sat down
even a favorite food. Not that the men didn’t experience these things, on the living room floor, complained of a splitting headache and then
only that their experience was so much more limited than it might gradually began losing the power of movement, and of speech. “He
have been. Had they lived longer, nature would probably have blessed went so quickly,” his father said. “I held him til the ambulance
them with more wisdom, wisdom which would have helped them to arrived, but I think he was dead before he reached the hospital.”
place a truer value on things, to realize that there is a time for maxi- Wayne was only twenty-nine when he died in his father’s arms.
mum strength and size and a time to move on. Mr. Bouvier gave me Wayne’s lifting belt, and it has a
I’m also saddened by the deaths, because I knew most of prominent place in our collection. I see it every day and every day it
these men and now they are lost to me, lost to the Game. I went once reminds me that obsession has a price.
to the home of Wayne Bouvier, who had died some months earlier, —Terry Todd
2
IRON GAME HISTORY VOL. 3 NO. 3 FELLOWSHIP

TABLE OF CONTENTS April 1994
PATRON S UBSCRIBERS
Page: ANONYMOUS
1. Another Big Man Gone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry Todd S UBSCRIBERS MIKE BON DURANT
3. Sandow’s First Triumph. . . . . . . . . . . . David Chapman ANONYMOUS [IN MEM- BERNARD BRAND
9. John Carrol Grimek: The Nonpareil. . . . Jim Murray ORY OF SIEG KLEIN] MASSIMO CAPOCCIONI
14. Pro Golf's Travelling Gym . . . . . . . . . . .Terry Todd G ORDON A NDERSON AL CHRISTENSEN
20. Grapevine: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IGH Staff JOHN BALIK BILL CLARK
D EAN C AMENARES JIM CLARK
Co-Editors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Terry and Jan Todd
M ICHAEL D ENNIS DR. GERALD COLES
Executive Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy J. Lovett
SALVATORE FRANCHINO MARTHA DEAL
Creative Consultant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steve Bittick
Business Manager. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kim Beckwith SAMUEL GALAGAZA LUCIO DONCEL
Editorial Board. . . . . . . . . . . John Balik (Santa Monica, D R . P ETER G EORGE MARVIN EDER
CA), Jack Berryman (U. of Washington-Seattle), Vic Boff E D G LOD STEPHEN GALYA
(Fort Meyers, FL). John Fair (Auburn University- MIKE GRAHAM JAMES GRAY
Montgomery, AL) William H. Goetzmann (U. of Texas- NORMAN KOMICH HOWARD HAVENER
Austin), John Grimek (York, PA), John Hoberman (U. of J ACK L ANO DYKES HEWETT
Texas-Austin), Joe Roark (St. Joseph, IL), Al Thomas J AMES LORIMER
(Kutztown Univ.), Dave Webster (Irvine, Scotland). ANGELO IUSPA
DON MCEACHREN SOL LIPSKY
Iron Game History is published by the McLean Sport History Fellow- D R . W ALTER
ship at the University of Texas at Austin. Address: Terry and Jan Todd, The Todd- DR. JOHN LONG
McLean Collection, Room 217, Gregory Gymnasium, The University of Texas MARCYAN RICHARD MARZULLI
at Austin, 78712. Telephone: 512-471-4890. Fax: 512-443-0381 DR. CHARLES Moss DR. SPENCER MAXCY
U.S. Subscription rate: $20.00* per six issues, $35.00* for twelve issues, J UANITA P EOPLES LOUIS MEZZANOTE
$50.00 for twelve issue McLean Fellowship membership, $l00.00 per twelve R ICHARD R ESSLER BILL NICHOLSON
issue McLean Fellowship’s subscription (Additional information can be
found on page 24.) Address all subscription requests to: IGH Subscriptions, Room HARRY SCHWARTZ KEVIN O'ROURKE
217, Gregory Gym, The University of Texas, Austin, Texas, 78712. G ERALD S MITH JOE PONDER
*Canada and other foreign subscriptions add $5.00 (U.S.) per six issue
FRANK STRANAHAN JOSEPH PULEO
subscription. Back issues: $4.00 each. F RANK T IRELLI DR. KEN “LEO” ROSA
J OE W EIDER JOHN T. RYAN
Iron Came History is a non profit enterprise. Postmaster: Please send
address corrections to: Iron Game History, Room 217, Gregory Gymnasium, The FRED YALE PUDGY AND LES STOCKTON
University of Texas, Austin, Texas 78712. (ISSN 1069-7276) H AROLD Z INKIN LOU TORTORELLI
2
APRIL 1994 IRON GAME HISTORY
David Chapman
David Chapman
SANDOW'S FIRST
TRIUMPH
Excerpted from:
David Chapman, Sandow the Magnificent:
Eugen Sandow and the Beginnings of Bodybuilding
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1994)
la, who
had by
this time
t gives us great pleasure to present started
to our readers this chapter from his own
David Chapman’s new biography physical
of Eugen Sandow. Those of you culture
who have read David’s series of his- studio in
torical articles in Iron Man know, Blooms-
already, that he is a fine bury,
researcher, a skillful writer, and Samp-
a dedicated student of the histo- son’s
ry of the Iron Game. A school offer was
teacher in Seattle, Washington, too good to pass up. He sent for Sandow who was then in Italy,
Chapman has worked on this encouraging him to come to London and take up the challenge.
biography of Sandow’s life in his spare time for the past decade. As Attila well knew, it was a common tactic for vaudeville
His decision to use an academic publishing house like the Uni- strongmen to issue dares from the stage for anyone to come up and
versity of Illinois Press meant several extra years of work for attempt to duplicate their feats. This was a fairly safe offer, for most
Chapman, as he had to go back and document all his sources and strongmen had devised tricks that were nearly impossible for unini-
quotations. However, the book which he and the University of tiated amateurs (and professionals too, for that matter) to perform.
Illinois Press have subsequently published is a real boon for the These feats often included tricks of dexterity, strength, and acrobat-
Game. Now, for the first time, we have a documented history of ics that would foil even the mightiest athlete if he were unused to the
the life of Eugen Sandow at our disposal. Copies of Sandow materials or lacked a carefully tuned sense of balance.1
The Magnificent may be ordered for $26.95 through your local Their opponent in this case, Charles A. Sampson, was a
bookstore or by contacting the University of Illinois Press at 1325 man who was even more slippery than the average professional
South Oak Street, Champaign, Illinois, 61820; Tel: 217-333-0950. Hercules. He was born on April 16, 1859 in the French city of Metz
in Lorraine. Eventually, he emigrated to America where he took
up residence in Detroit, Michigan. The strongman was well formed
Appearing at the music hall attached to the Royal Aquari- and muscular, but obviously not so powerful as he tried to make his
um in Westminster were two outrageous athletic charlatans: Samp- credulous fans believe. Sampson once reported that his great strength
son and Cyclops. They had put together a popular act involving feats came about as a very literal bolt from the blue. At the tender age of
of strength and trickery. To make their performance seem more cred- fourteen he was struck by a tremendous flash of lightning. The boy
ible, Sampson, the brains of the partnership, loudly announced each languished on his sickbed for six months, and when he eventually
night that he would pay anyone foolish enough to try it one hun- recovered Sampson found that he had acquired an almost superhu-
dred pounds sterling if he could duplicate the feats of his “pupil” man strength.2
Cyclops, and £500 if anyone could duplicate his own feats. To Atti- His appearance at the Royal Aquarium, however, was not
3
THIS CARTOON OF THE SAMPSON / SANDOW MATCH APPEARED IN A PROMINENT BRITISH NEWSPAPER IN 1890, AND WAS REPRINTED IN HEALTH
AND STRENGTH ON DECEMBER 3, 1938.
his first venture upon the boards of the British music hall. Prior to a reputation for harness lifting, and one of his first efforts at this
this he had appeared at the Canterbury Theatre of Varieties where involved lifting an elephant. The ponderous creature was put on a
he claimed to lift overhead a barbell boldly marked 2,240 Pounds— large wooden platform over which a sturdy scaffolding had been con-
one imperial ton! The bell rested on two large barrels. As a gesture structed. The strongman then dramatically mounted the scaffold and
of his honesty, Sampson invited several members of the audience to placed a leather harness over his head connected by chains to the plat-
come up and try to lift the enormous weight—all unsuccessfully. form below. After much grunting and theatrics, the platform was
After this, Sampson’s manager gave a long, flowery speech explain- slowly raised six or seven inches above the floor. Sampson would
ing the great degree of difficulty involved in this trick. Then fol- then collapse, letting the platform and pachyderm plummet the few
lowing a long drumroll and suitable grimaces and false starts, the inches to the stage as attendants rushed to give the strongman a few
strongman slowly and painfully raised the bell higher and higher whiffs of sal volatile. One night though, Sampson collapsed, but the
until he held it at arm’s length above his head. platform mysteriously remained suspended in mid-air. The man-
When he returned the weight to the barrels, he was always agement thought best to ring down the curtain unceremoniously.
greeted with a thunderous ovation. He might have gotten away with In 1891, two years after his fateful match with Sandow,
this ruse, except one night someone tried to lift the barbell alter Samp- Sampson had apparently improved his harness apparatus, for he suc-
son had finished, not before when they were invited to. It seems that ceeded in convincing some important people who should have known
while the manager was giving his long introductory speech, two better that he lifted two large bay horses and two accompanying
secret holes were opened in the weight and the heavy sand inside hostlers whose combined weight added up to 3,809 pounds. Sev-
was drained into the barrels on which it rested.3 eral weeks later he claimed to have lifted an astonishing 4,008 pounds.
Despite this brush with exposure, Sampson did not retreat Despite the best efforts of many people (Sandow included), no one
from the theatrical scene; he merely regrouped his efforts and came could say for sure how the wily Sampson engineered these feats of
up with new “feats of strength.” Throughout his career, he had gained legerdemain—for they certainly had nothing to do with real strength.4
4
Several years earlier, Sampson had met and hired a strap- at their boisterous assemblies prevented the magistrates from having
ping young Polish wrestler who called himself “Cyclops”. His real them all imprisoned.
name was Franz Bienkowski, and he looked every inch the oldtime Despite the antics of the royal reprobate, the society’s more
vaudeville strongman. He was heavyset reputable members gradually attempted to
with a thick, bull neck. He shaved his turn boxing into a respectable sport.
head and had gracefully curling mus- Thus, the organization was official-
taches. His greatest claim to fame ly founded in 1891 with this purpose
was the supposed ability to tear in view. It enforced the rules of its
coins in two. There are many who most famous member, the Marquis
believe this was another sleight of of Queensberry, stamped out fixed
hand and that no one could man- fights, and by the turn of the centu-
gle coins the way Cyclops claimed ry awarded the Lonsdale Belts to
he could.5 Whatever the case, he fighters of merit. Perhaps appropri-
was a perfect foil for the clever and ately, the club’s headquarters are still
volatile Sampson: he was strong on the boulevard named after their
looking and not too bright. So with erstwhile protector, Regent Street.6
these colorful and unusual charac- With Attila acting as his inter-
ters poised to attack it is little won- preter, Sandow arrived at the Nation-
der that the ensuing battle attracted al Sporting Club and asked to pre-
unusual attention both in the close sent his case before the director, Mr.
circle of performing strongmen and John Fleming. The members of the
in the public at large. club greeted the two courteously but
As soon as he had made without enthusiasm. No one could
the channel crossing, Sandow con- quite believe that Sandow had the
tacted his old master, Attila, who strength to defeat such well-known
immediately started preparing him strongmen as Sampson and Cyclops.
for the upcoming contest. One of Fortunately, Sandow was able to per-
the first stops Sandow had in Lon- form one of his most convincing (and
don was at the prestigious National most frequently used) acts of
Sporting Club. Attila knew that strength: he spied one of the mem-
since his young charge was virtual- bers who displayed the greatest girth
ly unknown in England, it would be and then lifted him bodily from the
necessary to obtain a few creden- floor and gently placed him on a
tials before scoring his future victo- nearby table. Fleming was pleased
ries. That way he would have a lit- with the display, but became even
tle moral and political backing more fervent when the young East
should the need arise. Prussian stripped off his clothing and
By the time Sandow and his magnificent physique became
Attila attempted to gain allies there, apparent to al1.7
the venerable NSC had been in exis- After attending several of
tence as an informal body for many Sampson’s performances, Attila and
years. The Club came into being Sandow were ready to make their
when prize fighting was one of Lon- move. On the evening of October 29,
don’s most popular sports. The 1889, Fleming and other members of
Prince Regent was a member of a the National Sporting Club took a box
rowdy NSC coterie called “The SANDOW'S MENTOR, PROFESSOR ATTILA (LOUIS DURLACH- at the Aquarium and waited until the
Fancy” which often came afoul of ER), IN AN ILLUSTRATION FROM THE NATIONAL POLICE GAZETTE Frenchman made his nightly chal-
the law, but the Prince’s attendance IN 1893. lenge. Apparently, Sampson was no
5
less amazed than the audience when Attila arose and announced sandals. To make his appearance seem even more debonair, he also
that he had a challenger who was ready to take on Sampson imme- donned a stylish monocle. Keeping this bothersome item in its prop-
diately. No doubt seeing little bank notes rapidly flying away, Samp- er position is said to have caused him more trouble than he was to
son attempted to squirm out of his predicament. He did not know experience in his contest with Cyclops.
who this young man was, and how dare he take on “The Strongest As he came on stage, thanks to the monocle, Sandow tripped
Man on Earth”? Sandow would have to beat Cyclops first, only over some of the weights and other properties on stage causing a great
then would he submit to a contest. But just to show that his heart deal of derisive laughter to come from the hall. The mood of the audi-
was in the right place, Sampson handed over £l00 to the manager ence quickly changed, however, when he finally got rid of the pesky
of the theater, Captain Molesworth, for safe keeping. This was not eyepiece, ripped off his foppish evening dress, and revealed a beau-
at all satisfactory to Sandow, Attila announced. He had come all tiful, well-formed, athletic physique. Sampson and Cyclops were
the way from Italy for the £500, and for nothing less. Sampson pro- also visibly moved by this revelation.
claimed that he was in the right and refused to budge from his Finally the contest began in earnest. Cyclops picked up a
position. There the situation might have remained had it not been 150 pound dumbell and then another weighing 100 pounds and pressed
for a hastily arranged compromise between Fleming and them both above his head. Sandow responded by lifting the 150
Molesworth. Sandow would compete against Cyclops first, then pounds once and the 100 pounds twice over his head. The challenger
if he was victorious he had thus won round
would go against his one almost effort-
master at a later lessly.
date. Reluctantly, Test two was
Sandow and Attila presented again by
agreed. Cyclops who jerked
With the stipu- a 220 pound barbell
lations finally set- overhead using both
tled, Attila, Flem- hands. Much to the
ing, and the entire delight of the audi-
NSC group troop- ence, b y n o w
ed onto the stage switching their alle-
along with their giance to the young
man, Sandow. The underdog, Sandow
audience by now was able to press
was getting impa- the same weight as
tient with all these his rival using only
claims and counter- one hand.
claims. It cannot be The third test
said that Sandow was a “press on
had the sympathy of back.” Cyclops got
the galleries; this down on the stage
was soon to change, floor on his back
however. Sandow and slowly lifted a
came on the stage barbell weighing
dressed in a fine suit 250 pounds into the
of evening clothes air. Sandow was
specially prepared able to duplicate
to be ripped off at this feat easily.
once. Underneath he Since the last test had
wore an athletic cos- been successfully
tume complete with T HIS RETOUCHED PHOTOGRAPH , FROM HIS BOOK , STRENGTH , SHOWS C HARLES S AMPSON SUP - completed and since
tights and Roman POSEDLY BREAKING A SOLID-LINKED STEEL CHAIN BY FLEXING HIS BICEPS. Sampson and his
6
pupil did not seem able to think up any new stunts, Fleming and the By all accounts
other NSC members concluded that the contest was over and that the scene at the Aquari-
Sampson must pay his debt. Not so, complained the fiery-tempered um on the night of Satur-
showman. Sampson explained loudly that before a true test of strength day, November 2, was
was complete it had to include a measure of endurance. Therefore, something akin to a mad-
all the stunts had to be performed over and over again until only house. The news had
one man remained. The audience, however, had different ideas; they spread throughout the
had no desire to sit in their seats and be bored to death waiting for one sporting world of Lon-
of the men to collapse. It seemed obvious to them that Sandow was don that something big
certainly the equal, and probably the superior of Cyclops.8 was in the making.
“Cries and counter-cries were heard” reported a witness, Large groups of people
“and a soldier made himself conspicuous in the gallery by the ani- crowded around, trying to get in to see the con-
mated manner in which he took the part of the newcomer, and by test between Sampson, the self-proclaimed “Strongest Man on Earth,”
taunting Sampson with having lost his money.”9 While all the com- and the young, virtually unknown German lad. It was reported later
motion was going on, Sandow quietly sat down to rest. that tickets were being sold from £1 to £5—one source even put the
The turmoil was finally calmed by Molesworth who top price at 50 guineas.12 “The beauty of the turnstile system was
announced that since he was the stakeholder, he would make sure well illustrated,” remarked the reporter from the Daily News, “for
that justice was done. Could Sampson name some final test that would without these revolving barriers of iron the eager multitude would
decide the issue once and for all? Sampson agreed reluctantly. Cyclops probably have carried the place by storm.”13
stepped forward and picked up a dumbell marked 150 pounds in Finally, the curtain rose. Sampson came to the footlights,
his right hand and a kettlebell weighing 100 pounds in his left. He dapper, radiant in medals, tights, and dainty boots, and smiling with
slowly lifted the dumbell overhead twice, then let it crash dramati- confidence. He made a little speech, the first of an unforgivable series
cally to the floor of the platform. delivered or attempted before the evening ended. He wanted fair
Shouts of “Don’t do it; don’t try it; you have already won play; he offered £500 to anyone who would come on the stage and
your money!” greeted the young athlete as he came forward and perform the feats he performed. Never mind where such a man
felt the weight of the ponderous dumbell.10 He smiled suavely in came from; let him appear. But to Sampson’s relief and the audi-
response to the warnings as he poised the heavy bell in the right hand ence’s amazement, no one came forward. Where was Sandow?
and grasped the other in his left. Then, almost effortlessly, Sandow Sampson paced nervously back and forth across the stage waiting for
raised and lowered the bell not twice but seven times amid thunders his adversary, but no one appeared. Sampson again made a short
of applause. speech stating that he did not want the challenge money, that he would
Once more Sampson flew into a paroxysm of indignation donate it to charity, and besides he was cold, there was a draft in the
and chagrin but to no avail. The £l00 prize money was handed over hall. Again he paced back and forth.14 Finally, he swung his cape
to the young German with the promise of another meeting to deter- around with a flourish and was about to skulk off stage when a great
mine whether Sandow was superior to Sampson or not. Sandow had commotion arose caused by a group of men vaulting over the side-
been victorious in the first battle, but the war was far from won. box onto the stage. It was the National Sporting Club group again,
After their triumph over Cyclops, Sandow and Attila retired led by Fleming. They had been trying to gain entrance into the the-
home in order to plot their next moves. Because they had seen sev- ater all the while, but because of the huge throng outside and a door-
eral of Sampson’s performances, they knew that one of his favorite man who stubbornly refused to open the stage door for anyone, they
tricks was the breaking of chains which he would wrap around his had been delayed. If it had not been for Sandow who broke down
arm and then burst by muscle contraction. In order for this feat to be the door, they might still be waiting outside.15
accomplished well, it was necessary to have trick chains that fit per- At last Sandow entered. There was general cheering at see-
fectly. So after nosing around for a while, they found the maker of ing the young German. The two judges for the evening were both
Sampson’s chains in a little street off Leicester Square. Not only were peers of the realm: the Marquis of Queensberry, the originator of the
they able to get chains that were perfectly molded to Sandow’s arm, rules of boxing and the nemesis of Oscar Wilde, and Lord de Clif-
but they also arranged for the maker to be present in the audience at ford, an avid sportsman of the day. It can only be imagined what sort
the Aquarium on the night of the contest in order to verify that these of mental state Sandow was in—he had just barely missed the entire
chains were exactly the same kind and quality as the ones Sampson action. Yet he never gave the impression of being perturbed in the
used in his act.11 slightest. “Phlegmatic” was how he was described.16
7
“A beginning might never deck, and generally cavorted around.”

have been made,” remarked a reporter, But all this was to no avail, for Sandow
“but for the judges, who decided that was able to break his chain as easily
Sampson must do the feats of strength as Sampson.
he was in the habit of doing every Sampson was clearly outraged
night.” As a result of this move to get that his rival had so easily beaten him
things rolling, some wag in the front at his own game. He ranted and raved
stalls shouted out. “Ah, I always said to the audience until they shouted him
the House of Lords was a useful insti- down. Then he turned his attentions
tution.” to the judges, but with equal success.
Sampson began the exhibi- Finally, amid much hubbub, the judges
tion with iron pipe bending. He used said that they would declare Sandow
his chest, leg, and arms to bend the the winner of the contest if the Ger-
pipe and then straighten it back again man would perform some further
by blows. He did the work graceful- proofs of strength on his own. Accord-
ly and swiftly. Sandow labored more, ingly, he first lifted a stiffened and
was clumsy, and took more time, but upright man from the ground and then
eventually he performed the task. did some crowd-pleasing feats with
Upon completion of this first feat, an improbably large dumbell weigh-
Sampson made a few loud and dis- ing 150 pounds.
paraging remarks about his opponent’s All this time Sampson was
apparent difficulty in performing the throwing one of his frequent connip-
job. But the audience remained firm- tion fits. Someone shouted from the
ly on the side of the challenger— stalls offering Sampson £50 if he could
besides, as Molesworth announced, duplicate any of Sandow’s feats. But
Sandow had never done the trick before IN THIS ILLUSTRATION FROM SANDOW'S SYSTEM OF PHYS- by this time he had had enough. Samp-
in his life. ICAL TRAINING (1894), SANDOW'S IMPRESSIVE MUSCU- son grabbed his cape and stalked off the
Then came the feat of break- LARITY IS READILY APPARENT. stage in a frightful huff. Finally, the only
ing a wire rope fastened around the chest. one left was Sandow. The judges duly
Sampson performed it with the ease of one accustomed to the trick named him the winner. He said a few words of thanks in German,
of twisting the ends of the wire strands together. Sandow was obvi- and the eventful evening was over.
ously unacquainted with the knack, and it was only after the audience Unfortunately for the vanquished strongman, there was a
shouted a few instructions and several fruitless tries that he succeed- clause in Sampson’s contract which stated that if he were ever defeat-
ed. “It was a splendid effort of strength. The man seemed like to ed after one of his nightly challenges, then his contract with the the-
burst in his effort to obtain the requisite expansion of chest.” When ater would become null and void. 19 It is no wonder then that Samp-
at last he was able to break the iron rope, most of the audience leaped son carried his protests of unfairness off the stage and into the press.
17
to its feet and cheered raucously. As it turned out, however, there were other reasons for Samp-
Perhaps a little overconfident, Sampson next proceeded son’s vociferous outbursts, but they were not destined to be revealed
to his forte: chain breaking. He put one on his own forearm and cool- for another five years. For now he had to be content with writing to
ly offered another to Sandow. It was obviously too small for the Ger- every newspaper he could think of pleading for another chance,
man, and he rejected it with a gesture of contempt. To everyone’s another match with the upstart German. However, the theater-going
surprise, Sandow brought out a chain of his own from his pocket and, public was beginning to wonder if Sampson really was “The Strongest
true to his word, the chain maker was in the audience and was happy Man on Earth” or not.
to verify that the chains were exactly the same as those used by Samp- Sampson had another reason for acting the role of the slight-
son. In order to verify the strength of his chains even further, Sandow ed hero: there was still the matter of the £500 prize. This had never
passed them to members of the audience, taking them back at last been paid to Sandow, despite the ruling of the judges. For a man who
from a pretty woman who sat conveniently near the stage.18 The often resorted to lawsuits on the flimsiest pretexts, Sandow strange-
spectators may have been satisfied, but not the explosive Frenchman ly declined to press the matter in the courts. He meekly settled for an
“The unfortunate Sampson protested, gesticulated, argued trod the award of £350 paid to him by the Aquarium management. But all
8
thought of litigation was put aside in the excitement of the moment. Notes:
Sandow was victorious. That was all that mattered.
Shortly after this, Sampson quietly left town. With the cheek 1 Even with these precautions,
of the professional charlatan he took up his strongman act in various many a stage Hercules was
cities in the United States and Europe. In 1893 he turned up in Michi- occasionally caught unawares.
gan, where among other things, he claimed to have lifted the heavy Later in his career, Sandow,
cannon in front of the Detroit City Hall.20 In 1895 he published a himself, fell victim to this tac-
self-serving book called Strength in which he made many extrava- tic. In 1893 he offered a prize
gant claims of Herculean power. of $1,000 to anyone who could
During the year 1898 he surfaced again in the Russian cap- duplicate his lifting feats.
ital, St. Petersburg, still proclaiming himself “The Strongest Man on Unfortunately, a burly Swedish
Earth.” True to form, he continued to use a number of fancy tricks, lifter, Hjalmar Lundin, took him
trying to convince the gullible public that he was as strong as he said at his word, jumped the stage and reproduced every lift. A nervous and
he was. One person who was not convinced was the great wrestler embarrassed Sandow declared that the lifts were not done in “as perfect form”
and strongman, George Hackenschmidt, “The Russian Lion.” Hack- as he had done them. Thus the prize was denied the challenger despite the
enschmidt showed up at one of Sampson’s performances and easi- vociferous hoots of the audience. Siegmund Klein, “Sandow—Truth and
ly exposed his tricks. After the show Sampson tried to talk the Rus- Fiction,” Strength & Health (December 1948). 32. Also see David Chap-
sian into returning with him to London and there challenging Sandow man, “Gallery of Ironmen: Hjalmar Lundin,“ Ironman 5l(October 1992),
to another match—this time with a much more formidable partner. 146.
But Hackenschmidt refused, and there the matter rested. 2. C.A. Sampson, Strength: A Treatise on the Development and Use of
The Russian again encountered Sampson in 1904. By this Muscle (Chicago: Rand McNally, 1895) 38-42.
time Hackenschmidt was residing in London, making a living as a 3. Leo Gaudreau, Anvils, Horseshoes, and Cannons, I (Alliance, Nebras-
wrestler. Sampson called at his home and Hackenschmidt immedi- ka: Iron Man Publishing, 1975), 165.
ately saw that Sampson was suffering severe financial hardship. The 4. Ibid., I: 167.
older man asked the Russian Lion for a loan of £10. He was will- 5. Gordon Venables, Mighty Men of Old (York, Pa.: Strength & Health,
ing to put up his weights and other paraphernalia as collateral for the 1940). unpaginated [22].
loan. Hackenschmidt agreed and handed him the note, and Samp- 6. Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert eds., The London Encyclopae-
son duly deposited all of his equipment in the basement of the house. dia (London: Macmillan, 1983). 535.
That was the last the Russian ever saw of him, for sometime after that 7. William Pullum, “Strong Men Over the Years,” a foreword to The Amaz-
Sampson managed to get into the house, take back the equipment, ing Samson As Told By Himself (London: Samson Institute, 1926). 12-13.
and leave town for good. He disappeared from sight, finally fading 8. Ibid., 13-15.
mercifully into the murk of history.21 9. Quoted in G. Mercer Adam, ed., Sandow’s System of Physical Train-
Meanwhile the youthful, twenty-two year old victor was ing (New York: J. Selwin Tait & Sons, 1894). 49.
reaping the benefits of instant celebrity. “When we left the Aquari- 10. Ibid., 50.
um after the contest,” Sandow wrote, “the great crowd followed us 11. Pullum, “Strong Men Over the Years,” 17-18.
cheering, and the four-wheeled cab into which we got, was lifted 12. Ibid., 18.
up by these enthusiasts. The crowd cheered us all the way to my 13. Quoted in Adam, Sandow’s System of Physical Training, 55-56.
rooms.”22 Newspapermen clamored to interview him, everyone 14. Ibid, 56.
wanting to know more of this remarkable young man. Sandow— 15. Eugen Sandow, Strength and How to Obtain It (London: Gale &
probably on the advice of Attila—maintained for a moment the fic- Polden, nd.), 96-97.
tion that he was not interested in the slightest in a music hall career, 16. Adam, Sandow’s System of Physical Training, 58.
but this was just a ploy to raise the stakes with the theater managers. 17. Ibid., 58-60.
By the time he went to bed that night, Sandow had a contract to 18. Unidentified clipping dated July 2, [1893], in Attila’s personal scrap-
appear at the Alhambra Music Hall for the very generous sum of £150 book. Todd-McLean Collection. The University of Texas, Austin, Texas.
per week. Attila was paid the less magnificent sum of £30 per week 19. Pullum, “Strong Men Over the Years,” 21.
and agreed to act as mentor-cum-manager to the burgeoning star. 20. Sampson, Strength:, 49.
Sandow had taken another step on the long road to greater glory. He 21. George Hackenschmidt, “Charles Sampson: King of Showmen and
must have found it very difficult to sleep that night. Knave of Strongmen,” Mr. America 5(June 1962), 68-72.
22. Sandow, Strength and How to Obtain It, 98-99.
9
John Carrol
Grimek:
The Nonpareil
Jim Murray
practiced snatches, cleans and jerks, squats for leg strength, and a lot
of cleans and presses for general strength and to focus on shoul-
ders and arms. He did repetitions of complete cleans and presses,
lowering the weight and cleaning it before each press. With a clean
before each press, JCG worked up to as much as 275 pounds for rep
etitions. With that kind of training, he developed the outstanding
physique that won the 1940 Mr. America contest
Barbell men of the 1930s and ’40s had minimal special
There was seldom a dull moment at the Strength & Health equipment. Mostly they just lifted barbells and dumbells in very
magazine office in York, Pennsylvania, during the early 1950s. York, basic exercises. There were no benches with uprights to support bar-
at the time, was clearly the world center for weightlifting and allied bells preparatory to bench pressing, so there was little if any bench
activities. The United States had the world championship weighthlift- pressing done. There were squat stands, and Grimek did a lot of
ing team and the champions gathered at the York Barbell Club’s bat- squats—with no knee wraps, special suits or other aids, and using
tered old gym on North Broad Street to prepare for national and inter- a comfortable foot spacing about shoulder width.
national competition. And bodybuilders from all over the U.S. and Not only was JCG’s training different—much more basic
the world would spend time at York to get training tips from the dom- than that of today’s bodybuilder—but so was his diet. As I see
inant bodybuilder of the era, John Carroll Grimek (JCG). today’s bodybuilders spending big bucks on special diets and exot-
John and I shared an office and, in lulls between prepar- ic supplements, I recall John telling me about his diet during the Great
ing issues of S&H, JCG would regale me with accounts of his long Depression. “I often subsisted on bread and coffee,” JCG laughed.
experience in the Iron Game. He had been national heavyweight lift- “High Protein diets? We often couldn’t afford any protein!”
ing champion and a member of the 1936 Olympic weightlifting Grimek, like most weightlifters/bodybuilders of his day,
team, and had placed third in the national championships as a heavy- couldn’t devote full time to what was—in those days—a hobby inter-
weight in 1940 while weighing only 183 pounds. That was the year est. His superior genetic endowment allowed him to pack on mus-
he won his first Mr. America contest. JCG had tried to make weight cle from any strenuous activity. We would discuss some of the ques-
to compete in the 181-pound class, but had too much muscle to lose tions that were sent to his “Your Training Problems” section in
and decided to compete as a heavyweight against Steve Stanko and S&H. In planning his answer he would refer to something he had
Louis Abele, each of whom weighed about 225 (Anything over 181 done that worked well and I would kid him: “John, if you went over
was in the unlimited heavyweight class in those days). Despite the in a corner of the room and did push-ups you’d have had results most
debilitating effect of taking off about 20 pounds, John still pressed of us couldn’t approach using every piece of equipment in the gym.”
285 pounds, which was 102 pounds over his bodyweight. JCG was a man with incredible bone structure—eight-inch
Here’s a tidbit that will surprise a lot of Iron Game fans: wrists on a frame just a little over average height, 5’9”. He also
after a start in weight training during which he practiced all the stan- had large ankles but surprisingly small knees, which added to the
dard barbell and dumbell exercises of the time, John Grimek con- massive appearance of his muscular legs. Although he failed to make
centrated on competitive weightlifting, and from 1932 until after he the 18l-pound limit in 1940, John could usually control his weight
won the 1940 Mr. America contest he did no bodybuilding! He in superb condition between 181 and the 221 he weighed when he
10
JOHN GRIMEK’S EXCEPTIONAL FLEXIBILITY HELPED TURN THE TIDE FOR THE ACCEPTANCE OF WEIGHT TRAINING BY ATHLETES.
PHOTO COURTESY: JIM MURRAY
won his second Mr. America contest in 1941. again—since it seemed he would go on winning forever. When I
I had seen JCG for the fast time at the 1941 Mr. America joined him on the S&H staff in 1951, he was forty-one and I was
contest. He had an indefinable quality that allowed him to stand astounded to see the superb condition he had retained at that “advanced
out in a line-up of the nation’s best built men, but what I remember age.” I was only twenty-five at the time and like most young peo-
most vividly was his grace and athleticism, despite his massive mus- ple, thought anyone over forty was “old.”
culature. He was late in preparing for the contest, having stayed with That was nothing! In his eighties JCG retains beautiful pro-
his close friend, Steve Stanko, who was having difficulty making lifts portions, with rounded, youthful-looking muscles. In the 1970s and
that had been easy for him in training a few weeks earlier. John ‘80s my work would often take me to Washington, D.C., and on
was doing his best to encourage Steve, who was experiencing mys- the way home I would stop at York to see my old friends at the York
terious leg pain. (Stanko had begun to suffer from phlebitis, a vas- Barbell Company. I remember walking in one day when John—then
cular disorder that was to end his weightlifting career just as he was in his early 70s—was in the middle of a workout. He was perform-
beginning to reach his potential. Steve was never able to compete in ing repetition squats to bench level very easily with a weight of more
Olympic lifting again after the 1941 national championships.) than 300 pounds. In his mid-eighties John at last moderated his
The Mr. America contest was under way and JCG was exercising a bit to pedaling a stationary exercise bike an hour a day
just changing into his trunks when his name was called. He ran and working out with a barbell loaded, he said, “to less weight than
from the dressing room, leaped lithely up to the boxing ring where I used to warm up with.”
the lifting and posing were contested, and smoothly glided into his While I was at York, JCG was always experimenting with
artistic muscular display. From that moment, the only question equipment, trying exercises other bodybuilders practiced. A Steve
was—Who will win second place? Reeves visit in the late 1940s resulted in a Rube Goldberg long pul-
John was thirty-one when he won his second Mr. America ley exerciser being rigged up as a rowing-type lat pull device. There
title, resulting in a rule being passed that winners couldn’t compete was a pulley high on the wall at one end of the room and a long cable
11
from a stack of barbell plates through the pulley to a double handle their stated poundage.
attached to the other end. It reached past the farthest of the three lift- In addition to experimenting with strength and muscle build-
ing platforms in the gym. John would brace his feet against the ing exercises, John would try stunts that tested his flexibility. For a
platform and perform countless reps, dragging the weights up the massively muscled man, he was surprisingly flexible and could sink
wall and producing what could have been a sideline business with into a full split to demonstrate that his legs weren’t “musclebound.”
toothpicks that were ground off the wooden wall. The dangers of “muscle-binding” were of concern to many in the
Another memory of JCG’s training during the early 1950s: Thirties and Forties. In fact, it was Grimek’s demonstration of flex-
our office was right next to the big open gym on the second floor of ibility that prompted Dr. Peter Karpovich, the Springfield College
the old York Barbell Company building on North Broad street. Late physiologist, to conduct studies proving that strong, weight trained
in the afternoon I would hear what sounded like a blacksmith ham- muscles contracted faster than weaker muscles. even those of non-
mering a piece of metal on an anvil. I knew then that the work day weight trained athletes.
was over and John was When I began to
pumping out dumbell exercise with weights in
presses on a very slight- 1939, everyone warned
ly inclined wooden about the dangers of
bench in the gym. We muscle-binding. I could
used solid dumbells and see that getting stronger
he would warm up with was helping me in foot-
something light, a pair of ball and throwing the
fifties and sixties. He javelin, but I was still
lowered the weights well worried about restricted
to the side, touching the mobility. As a result I
inner globes to his shoul- did all kinds of stretch-
ders, stretching his del- ing exercises. One I did
toids and pectorals, then with weights was to
pushed them up and in, hold a barbell overhead
tapping them together at with a wide grip, lower
the top of the movement it all the way down
It was the rhythmic tap- behind my back, and
ping as the globes con- “curl” it back to my
tacted that made the shoulders. It was sort of
hammer-and-anvil like a gymnastic dislo-
clanging that summoned cate motion with a curl
us to exercise. behind the back. One
Incidentally, at that day I was doing the
stage of his career, JCG exercise in the York
was doing many sets of gym and worked up to
high repetitions. I don’t 95 pounds, using a col-
think he counted them, lar-to-collar grip. John
just going by the feel of was intrigued. With no
the exercise, but he must previous practice on the
have been doing from exercise, he easily
twelve to twenty reps worked up to 120
per set as he worked up pounds, demonstrating
to a final set or two with that his heavily muscled
a pair of overweight shoulders were flexible
hundreds (about 104 as well as strong.
pounds each) that had There was a lot of
been rejected for sale at IN THIS EARLY PHOTO TAKEN BEFORE GRIMEK JOINED THE YORK BARBELL TEAM, HE IS laughter during workouts
the York foundry because SHOWN WITH A JACKSON BARBELL SET. NOTE THE HEAVY TAN. in the York gym during
P HOTO : T ODD -M C L EAN C OLLECTION .
they were too much over the 1950s. Grimek,
12
Steve Stanko, and Jules and quietly went on

Bacon—all former Mr. with his workout.
America winners— Before I joined
were constantly need- the S&H staff John
ling each other and had been coaxed out
anyone else in range, of retirement a couple
and there was an occa- of times, once to
sional practical joke. defeat Steve Reeves in
One of their favorites the 1948 Mr. Uni-
was to jolly an unsus- verse contest and
pecting visitor into a lift again to beat back a
with the “Deadlift challenge from Clar-
Bar,” an innocent look- ence Ross in the 1949
ing Olympic barbell on Mr. USA contest.
the end platform. The You see, John was a
bar was standard— private person, charm-
forty-five pounds—but ing and friendly one-
two of what appeared on-one or in a small
to be forty-five pound group, but somewhat
plates had been poured uncomfortable when
heavy at the foundry he became the focus
and machined to sev- of attention from a lot
enty-five pounds each. JOHN GRIMEK, SHOWN HERE WITH THE RECENTLY DECEASED ED JUBINVILLE, WAS HONORED of people he didn’t
There were a couple IN 1986 BY THE OLDETIME BARBELL AND STRONGMAN ASSOCIATION FOR A LIFETIM E OF ACHIVE- know. In recent years
more overweight “for- MENT IN THE IRON GAME. JOHN WAS A UNANIMOUS CHOICE OF THE SELECTION COMMITTEE he has become much
ty- fives,” but the bar WHO INDUCTED HIM DURING A SSOCIATION'S FIRST AWARDS DINNER . GRIMEK IS EIGHTY- more extroverted, to
on the end platform ONE IN THIS PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN BY JAN TODD. the extent that he and
started at 195 pounds, Angela enjoyed ball-
not 135. One day big Jake Hitchins was working out with us and the room dancing weekly over a period of years. He could enjoy this,
Mr. America trio went to work on him. possibly because he wasn’t the center of attention as Mr. America/
“Jake,” Bacon said, “you have big arms. What do they mea- Mr. USA/Mr. Universe.
sure?” Jake proudly responded that they taped eighteen and a half To see John Grimek as he is today, you would have had
inches. “But are they strong?” Stanko wanted to know. Grimek to attend his big fifty year wedding anniversary April 13, 1991.
chimed in on Jake’s side. “Sure they are. Show ‘em, Jake. Show John and Angela had been married ftity years on October 20, 1990,
‘em how easily you can do curls with 135,” pointing to the overweight but they hadn’t been able to find a suitable place for the big party
barbell. Poor Jake! He couldn’t begin to curl the 195. Then the until six months later. So there they were, John at eighty-one—the
trio became solicitous. “Don’t you feel well, Jake? Maybe it was genial host welcoming old friends from far and near—and dancing
something you ate.” “Or something you didn’t eat; have you had up a storm with Angela as though they were a couple of teenagers!
your vitamins?” It happened that April 13, 1991, the day the Grimeks
The only time I remember the deadlift bar backfiring on had their belated anniversary, was my sixty-fifth birthday, and I
them was when they challenged Ken MacDonald, the Australian can’t remember enjoying one more—even when Jane and my sons,
heavyweight—an innocent visitor!—to try a 225 clean without a and several friends, surprised me with a spectacular belly dancer
warmup. The deadlift bar was resting on the platform loaded with on my 60th! This was a gathering of the Iron Game fraternity—a
what appeared to be a pair of forty-fives on each end. The inside couple hundred people, young and old, who shared the same inter-
“forty-fives” weighed seventy-five each and the outside pair weighed ests and many recalling the same memories of the Good Old Days.
fifty each. Actual weight 295. MacDonald crouched, secured his There was Bill Pearl from Oregon, Leo Stem from California,
grip, and began to pull. When he felt the added poundage he smooth- Vic Boff from Florida, Dave Mayor form Philadelphia, Ed Jubinville
ly turned up the power, pulling in the barbell as he dropped neatly form New England, Jules Bacon and John Terlazzo from right there
into a squat and completed the clean. All the humorists concentrat- in York, and many, many others from all over the country.
ed on whatever exercises they were doing at the time. MacDonald And there were the Grimeks, the perfect hosts, making us
never commented on the weight. He just sat it down nonchalantly all welcome as we enjoyed their anniversary!
13
The PGA
Tour’s Traveling Gym—
How It Began
Terry Todd
The scene that day in the small gym was, in most ways, The actual germ of the idea that led to the traveling spa dates
unremarkable. The year was 1985. Two men stretched, one rode a back to 1980, when a man by the name of Lanier Johnson was a sub-
stationary bike, three others lifted weights, another did sit-ups and ject in a research project aimed at determining the effects of weight
one simply stood by and observed. The mood, as it is in most of training on middle-aged, basically inactive men. An avid golfer,
the thousands of gyms around the U.S., was relaxed and rather club Johnson was initially concerned that weight training would hurt his
by. Talk about the weather, sports, and even the relative merits of a game by making him tight or causing him to lose his “touch.”
Walker hound and a Black and Tan — this from a Tennessee boy — “I guess I was a victim of my background,” Johnson will
was interspersed with more exercise, greetings to new arrivals, and say, smiling, “but I’d always heard lifting would mess up your game.
some good natured ribbing about each other’s lack of flexibility. But the ten weeks or so of hard training I did not only didn’t make
One of the ways, however, in which the scene, if not remark- me lose flexibility, it actually made me more flexible and it also helped
able, was different was that the men using those facilities were all me by giving me ten or twelve extra yards off the tee.”l
professional athletes, some of them very highly paid athletes. But so Johnson was then an executive for Diversified Products—
what — most pro athletes have been looking for Mr. Goodbody by a large Alabama sporting goods manufacturer—and after his expe-
conditioning themselves in gyms for some years now. Ask any rience with the weights percolated in the back of his mind for a cou-
professional playing football, basketball, or baseball. Or ask any of ple of years, he began to consider ways in which fitness training or
the de facto pros in track and field. For most highly paid athletes, conditioning could be introduced into the change-resistant world of
gym training is a year-round, in-season-out-of-season thing, most professional golf. To this end he began to visit the PGA Tour when-
pros being understandably reluctant to forfeit an edge to either a com- ever he could: and, as time went by, it became clear that it was the
petitor or to Father Time. PGA Tour to whom he must sell his bold concept. So he set himself
These were not, however, your everyday big-time athletes, the task of building the strongest possible case before making a for-
most of whom are usually initiated as boys into the world of liniment, mal presentation. First, he decided to go to the top sports medicine
wind-sprints and bench presses; these men were from a sport steeped people in the U.S., since he had been unable to find any specific golf-
in tradition and resistant to change—a group of athletes for whom related fitness research. And as he asked around to find who those
the word “conditioning” has usually referred not to their bodies but top people might be, a name kept surfacing — Dr. Frank Jobe, team
to their hair. These men were professional golfers. physician for the Los Angeles Dodgers.
One of the men in the gym was the legendary Golden Bear, One of the people who had spoken of Dr. Jobe to Johnson
Jack Nicklaus, and he was training in a traveling fitness center—a was Terry Forcum, the 1984 professional long distance driving cham-
sort of spa on wheels. During this particular week, the mobile gym pion, who told Johnson that Jobe had already done some preliminary
was set up on the hallowed grounds of the Augusta National Golf research work on the muscles involved in the golf swing. Armed
Course, home of the Masters and scene of Nicklaus’ electrifying then with this fact, plus the related fact that the sports of baseball and
come-from-behind victory the following year — 1986. golf were somewhat similar, Johnson decided to go to Los Angeles
But how did Nicklaus come to be in this sweatshop-on- and visit Dr. Jobe at his sports medicine complex.
wheels? And what did the time he spent there have to do with the Johnson made the trip in the spring of 1983; and it was
fact that after five years of disappointing play, he suddenly found the first of many, as a relationship quickly developed between his
himself—at the age of forty-six—hitting the ball farther and straighter company and the Biomechanics Lab at Centinela Hospital, which
and putting with regained confidence? Dr. Jobe co-directed. The crux of the relationship was that Diversi-
14
fied Products agreed to fund a certain number of basic research stud- tics and complexity of it required such a large financial commitment
ies into the physiological intricacies of the golf swing and the way to that we’d never found a way to make it all work. But when Lanier
train to improve the golf swing. The next step in Johnson’s quest— Johnson came along it allowed us to do it right. The way it worked
now that he had a solid agreement with a prestigious sports medicine is that Diversified Products funded the basic research by Dr. Jobe.
facility—was to convince the leadership of the PGA Tour that it would Diversified Products also funded the PGA Tour’s purchase of the
be in their best interest to work with Dr. Jobe and his staff to jointly traveling Fitness Center and they gave us a grant to pay the salaries
develop a mobile training facility which would travel from Tour site of the men who staff the Center. In return, we provided the people
to Tour site and thus enable the golfers to have state of the art train- for the research and we helped co-ordinate the whole operation. And
ing facilities and supervision. What happened to Johnson next is the now that we’ve gotten started with it, I’m more convinced than ever
sort of thing which often happens in stories involving a quest—the that it’s the best thing to come along for the PGA Tour since I’ve been
Gods smiled on him and he had the good fortune of encountering a Commissioner.”4
man who had the background to really understand. The man was Strong words, even for an old Iron Gamer, but to hear some
Dean Beman, who was then the Commissioner of the PGA Tour.2 of the Tour pros talk, not too strong. Listen to Ray Floyd, a regular,
“Back when I was playing on the Tour in the Sixties,” early user of the traveling fitness center. “A few years ago my back
Beman recalled, “I used to work out a lot, and I was just about the really began to give me trouble. And about that same time, I’d also
only guy on the Tour who did. I really didn’t know what to do, but noticed that I wasn’t hitting the ball nearly as far as I had when I was
I did push-ups and also carried a sledgehammer while I did my road- younger. And the two things together really hurt my game. But I’ve
work. And when I could, I even carried a set of barbells with worked hard to rehab my back, and I’m playing good golf now
me in my car on tour. And I’m absolutely sure it all helped me from time to time, and the extra strength and flexibility I’ve built
with distance, control, and endurance. I’m only 5’7” and I have given me back most of the distance I’d lost. But I
needed help to compete with the other players.”3 sure wish the Fitness Center had been on the Tour
With a background like that, not only was Beman back when I got hurt, because I’d have been able
ready to talk business, he’d hoped for years for such an oppor- to get top notch help immediately. In fact, the pre-
tunity. “I’d wanted to do something like this for almost ten ventive exercises all the players are doing in here
years because the need was so great,” he explained. “Just think now would probably have kept me from getting
about it. If you’re a pro, you go to a different place every week, hurt in the first place.”5
so one week you might be able to find a gym with Nautilus Fuzzy Zoeller echoed Floyd’s sentiments,
equipment, the next week one with barbell weights, the next saying that if the Center had been around in the
week one with some other machine and the week after that early eighties he would probably never have devel-
you might not be able to find a gym of any kind. So you’re oped such serious back trouble himself.6 Indeed
likely to keep yourself stiff because you never use the same one of the primary components of the Fitness
equipment often enough. Also, it’s too much of a headache for Center involves the rehabilitation work done by
most guys to play, then practice as hard as they do, and still have the professional staff members who go with the
the time and energy to find a gym and then drive there to train. Center around the country. And anyone who
And for the well-known players, that last option is out, because knows much about golf understands how easy
they’d never get a chance to train in a public it is to get a “crick” in the back, a tight shoulder, a “wry”
gym. Imagine Jack Nicklaus trying to neck, a stiff knee or a problem of some sort with the
train in a public gym. Plus the wrists or hands and how easily such problems
fact that most of the guys can upset the regal cohesion of a
wouldn’t know what to do once Tour—level golf swing. This
they got to a gym since they’ve being the case, it’s easy to under-
never had a chance to learn. stand that now, when such prob-
“But even though lems occur, the players can turn to
we’ve understood the need for a the Fitness Center. It was, in fact,
good training facility, the logis- no accident that Nicklaus spent
15
part of every evening during the 1984 Masters in the Center, exer- know what he did last time and what he should do that day. The Cen-
cising and being treated by the physical therapist. Early in the ‘84 ter’s computer was linked with one at Centinela so Dr. Jobe could
season, several players besides Nicklaus were on record that the only have instant access to each player’s progress.
reason they were able to play at all in one tournament or other was Almost all of the eighty or ninety players who were then
because the Center was available. And, as the seasons wore on, using the Center on a fairly regular basis went through a thorough
and more big names were “saved,” the benefits to the network boss- physical conducted by Centinela Hospital in the early part of 1985
es. the advertising execs. the Tour site sponsors and, of course, the and most of them were given tailor-made training routines based
fans have been enormous. on the results of the tests. The testing included various strength and
The Center itself—the site of all these high-tech goings- flexibility measures as well as a maximum stress test using an elec-
on—was housed in an oversized, customized forty-five foot trailer trocardiogram, an oxygen consumption test and an underwater weigh-
which expanded on each side to a width of seventeen and a half ing procedure to determine the percentage of bodyfat each player had.
feet. Inside was a wet bar, a whirl-pool, a massage and therapy Later, each player received a detailed analysis explaining how he
room, a giant TV screen, an excellent sound system, a computer, a stacked up against the other players and what his goals should be in
sitting area, and, of terms of improve-
course, the exercise ment in these vari-
area itself. Strictly ous areas. That
off limits to anyone same season are a test
but PGA Tour play- was done to deter-
ers. the Center was mine how much
usually set up at a progress — individ-
Tour site by Mon- ual and collective—
day, depending on had been made.
the drive between The specific
sites, and it remained exercise routines the
in place and avail- golfers used were
able from early determined by Dr.
morning till early Jobe’s team of spe-
evening through cialists at the Bio-
Sunday afternoon. mechanics Lab at
In 1984 — that first Centinela. And this
year — the Center is where the basic
was available at thir- research into the
ty-seven of the forty- golf swing proved
two PGA tourna- so valuable. This
ments in the conti- research began with
nental United States. a process called
The way the electromyography,
Center worked was which includes the
that players would placing of wires into
come in and be put the muscles of a par-
on an individualized ticular area of the
fitness program by body in order to
one of the staff mem- determine — as a
bers. This program physical act like a
was then fed into the golf swing is done
in-house computer FRANK STRANAHAN TRAINED WITH HEAVY WEIGHTS TRHROUGHOUT HIS SUCCESSFUL AMATEUR GOLF —the intensity and
so that whenever a CAREER. DEADLIFTS WERE ONE OF HIS FAVORITE EXERCISES. duration of the elec-
player returned, he’d PHOTO: TODD-MCLEAN COLLECTION trical impulses
16
which occur in that area. In addition, ultra high speed filming of muscles. Muscles can hurt a golfer. They can do all that lifting they
the golf swing is done to better understand the sequence of the swing. want but it won’t help them score better. Golfers are born, not made.
Together, these techniques allow a sports scientist to more clearly And another thing, by the time I practice, play, and practice some
understand which muscles are used in the swing, how much they are more, I don’t want to do any exercise. I want to have a beer."8
used and exactly when they are used. The techniques also allow any But Trevino’s partner in the booth, Vin Scully, a longtime
biomechanical imperfections in a swing to be seen with more preci- observer of both baseball and golf, disagreed. “It’ll happen just
sion as the swing is broken down into hundreds of segments. like it did in baseball. In the old days, ballplayers didn’t train. Now
As in any research study of this type, human beings were they do. They come in the Spring strong and fit. When you have this
needed. and in the fall of 1984 eight people volunteered to begin kind of money on the line, the guys will be looking for that edge.”9
undergoing this somewhat uncomfortable procedure. Most of the As to what sort of edge this will ultimately turn out to be,
eight were Tour players, and they included Tom Kite, Howard Twit- it might be instructive to consider the opinions of a former Tour play-
ty and Tom Purtzer, but several average golfers were also included er who, based on the increasing importance of conditioning in other
to determine if they might have significant variations in either the sports, may have been no less than fifty years ahead of his time. The
swing or the patterns of electrical activity in the muscles, or both. man is Frank Stranahan, who still lifts weights or runs every day.
One of the primary purposes of this procedure was to learn whether In the decade after World War II, Stranahan was the finest
any muscles were particularly important to the swing so that specif- amateur in golf, winning four Tour events and seven national titles
ic exercises could be recommended to develop these muscles. And in amateur competition. Besides that, however, the 5’9”, 180 pound
in testing the shoulder and upper back area, which was the first area Stranahan was a terrific weightlifter, surely one of the strongest
studied, one of the things Dr. Jobe learned was that the rotator cuff few men in his weight class in the United States in the early 1950s.
muscles of the shoulder were very active. And he took his weights with him wherever he could, or sought out
How this information can translate into improved per- the few gyms which existed back then. Thus in the days before
formance was explained by Hank Johnson, a thoughtful, well- pro baseball players would touch a weight, before pro basket-
spoken teaching pro in Tuscaloosa, who was the first of the eight ball players would touch a weight, and before even pro
research subjects tested. football players would touch one, here was one of
“Once I learned that the rotator cuff muscles were the greatest golfers in the game hauling on the
involved so much in keeping the right arm in the correct posi- iron for all he was worth. It was unheard of. “I’ll
tion as it comes to the top of the backswing. I reasoned that the tell it to you straight,” Stranahan explained, “My
specific rotator cuff exercise Dr. Jobe recommended might help lifting was an enormous advantage to me. Quite
some of my students reach that position more naturally. And frankly, without it, I’d never have been able to
the way my students reacted was even more dramatic than hold my head up with the likes of Snead and
I’d expected. Not only did the ones with whom I worked who Hogan. My natural talent for the game wasn’t near-
had this problem improve the positioning of the right arm ly what theirs was, but I was so determined to
throughout the final part of the backswing, but they scored lower, become a great golfer that I made myself so strong
and that’s why I’m so excited. Quite simply, it gives me and and fit that I could overcome some of my weak-
other teaching pros tools we never had before to scientifically nesses. I started lifting when I was in high
improve a player’s game. It’s an historic breakthrough.”7 school to help me with my other sports but I
Not everyone, of course, shared this opinion, as the noticed that it really put some distance on my
fear of becoming “musclebound” kept some players on the golf drives. And through the years I kept get-
tour frightened of doing any kind of special ting stronger. I was even the longest driver on the
conditioning work. One such player Tour for awhile. But I was almost twice as strong
was Lee Trevino, who — when as most of the other men and I got that way by
asked his opinion in 1985 — first doing full body exercises with
said no one his age who had a heavy weights—things that make
twenty-six year old wife needed your whole body strong. I’m glad
any exercise. But then he added to see the PGA Tour has a place
“Look, this whole thing with the for men to train but unless I miss
fitness trailer is just a fad. It won’t my guess what they’ve got now
last because golfers don’t need is only going to be an appetizer.
17
TUSCALOOSA GOLF PRO HANK JOHNSON SERVED AS A SUBJECT FOR ONE OF THE BIOMECHANICAL STUDIES OF THE GOLF SWING JOINTLY SPONSORED
BY DIVERSIFIED P R ODUCTS AND C ENTINELA H OSPITAL. HERE, J OHNSON IS BEING WIRED WITH ELECTRODES TO MEASURE THE MUSCULAR ACTIV-
ITY IN HIS SHOULDER .
PHOTO: TODD-MCLEAN COLLECTION
What will probably happen is that once the players begin working “Early this year, after I’d been working hard for about six months on
with light weights and see they don’t get musclebound or develop my conditioning program, I shot two of my best rounds on the last
short muscles, which is what I used to be warned against — what day of a tournament. It was unusual for me, and I think that’s sig-
baloney!— they’ll begin to experiment with the heavier lifts for their nificant. I’ve played for sixteen years now on the Tour — I’m thir-
major muscles and then it’ll be every man for himself and look out, ty-seven — but after all this work I’m in better shape now than I was
par.”10 when I was twenty-five. My best years should be ahead of me.”12
An interesting bit of corroboration for Stranahan’s theory Mahaffey and many other Tour golfers got a headstart on
of distance through strength came from Commissioner Beman, who the 1985 season by installing exercise equipment in their homes—
tells the story of a sixty-seven year old man he put on a basic weight wall-mounted exercise machines, free weights and stationary bicy-
program in the early 1960s. The man added thirty yards off the tee cles. In the opinion of Dr. Jobe, this equipment is invaluable, because
and cut five strokes off his game. But forget thirty yards. What would it allows the players a chance to prepare for the Tour in the off-sea-
happen if a touring pro improved his distance ten yards with no son, and also allows them to continue their individualized exercise
lack of accuracy. Hank Johnson maintains that this would take as programs during the weeks they take off from the Tour each year.13
much as a stroke off a player’s score, an advantage which would Tom Kite had such a package in his home in Austin Texas,
mean more money in the bank.11 and he shared the enthusiasm of the other golfers. “The weight
Other advantages golfers can expect from the conditioning machine and the bike are great,” he said in late February of 1985,
programs designed by Dr. Jobe are increased flexibility — which “because they allow me to not miss any work when I’m at home. I’m
can effect both distance and control — and increased endurance, really committed to the program, which is why I volunteered to be
which can be critical, especially on the fourth hot day of a tourna- one of the research subjects. I think many of the guys know they
ment. John Mahaffey spoke about this last point in 1984, saying, should be doing something but we just didn’t know what to do or
18
where to go. But Dr. Jobe and his staff arc so professional that every- sports scientists all agree is that proper conditioning can not only
one has confidence in them. They’re bringing us all along very improve the health of an athlete, it can also enable that athlete to be
slowly, too, so as not to scare anyone or make anyone sore. I’ve never better at his or her chosen sport. A lot better. Sometimes, it seems
seen the guys on the Tour so excited about anything as they are about as if conditioning can even work miracles.
the Fitness Center.”14 And didn’t those who shouted or wept along with Lanier
But as excited as John Mahaffey was, Lanier Johnson was Johnson as Nicklaus marched triumphantly through the last nine holes
even more excited, to see what had been wrought by his vision and at Augusta in 1986 feel as if they were watching some sort of mira-
hard work. Johnson was also happy—in the way only a true lover of cle — some sort of time warp in which the years had been rolled back
a sport could be who had been able to provide a real service to that and the greatest golfer in history was once again the terrible bear of
sport. Johnson had a good idea whose time had come and he was old? Maybe Nicklaus’ sixth Masters was a miracle, plain and sim-
able to bring the idea to vivid life. ‘There were two main reasons I ple, a kind of lucky blessing in which his many fans could share. But
wanted this to all work out,” Johnson explained the year before Nick- maybe Nicklaus’ sixth green jacket came like most miracles. Maybe
laus’ win at the Masters. “For one thing, I really believed that if we it involved a lot of plain hard work of the sort he did in the traveling
could find out which exercises golfers needed and how to do them Fitness Center every day during the Masters. Nicklaus thinks so. He
that tens of thousands of average golfers all over the country would said as much at the press conference after his victory. Who would
benefit by having fewer injuries and by enjoying the game more contradict him?
because they played better. But the other reason was more person-
al and had to do with the best known veterans on the tour, particu- Notes:
larly Jack Nicklaus. I’m like most fans; I think Jack’s the greatest Diversified Products continued to sponsor the Fitness Center
on the PGA Tour until 1987, when the entire sponsorship was assumed
player we’ve ever had and nothing would make me happier than to
by Centinela. Lanier Johnson left Diversified Products in 1986 and now
think that something I did might have helped add a year or two serves as Vice President for Marketing and Promotions for Health-
to the big guy’s prime. To any of their primes. And that’s real- South in Birmingham, Alabama. HealthSouth has spon-
ly what we’re talking about here. It’s a fact that as we age we sored the Ladies Professional Golf Association’s Fitness
get weaker and less flexible and a weaker and less flexible golfer Center and the Seniors Fitness Center since 1989.
is going to have less distance off the tee and less control. But Jack Nicklaus still trains in his home gym in Florida.
exercise can turn that around. At least for a while. I know 1. Interview: Lanier Johnson, Opelika, AL, 15 March
because it happened to me. And I think it’s going to happen to 1986.
Jack.”15 2. Ibid.
Prophetic words. But Johnson knew when he spoke 3. Interview: Dean Beman, Augusta, GA, 14 April
them that Jack Nicklaus had already outfitted a special room 1984.
back home in Boca Raton with the same machines used in the 4. Ibid.
traveling Fitness Center. And he also knew that Nicklaus was 5. Interview: Ray Floyd, Augusta, GA, 16 April
absolutely serious about wanting to regain some of the flexi- 1985.
bility and power he had as a younger man. 6. Interview: Fuzzy Zoeller, Augusta, GA 13 April
In a sense, flexibility and power — along with 1985.
endurance — are the goals of the conditioning programs of all 7. Phone interview: Hank Johnson, 7 April 1985.
the best athletes in the world regardless of age or sport. Young 8. Interview: Lee Trevino, Austin, TX, 25 March
athletes lift weights, run, and do stretching exercises in order to 1985.
increase their power, endurance, and flexi- 9. Interview: Vin Scully, Austin, TX, 25 March 1985.
bility. Older athletes lift, run and stretch 10. Phone interview: Frank Shanahan, 9 April 1985.
in order to either enhance these 11. Hank Johnson, 7 April 1985.
characteristics or, at least, to main- 12. Interview: John Mahaffey, Augus-
tain them. In either case, a good ta, GA, 10 April 1985.
conditioning program can work 13. Interview: Dr. Frank Jobe, Los
wonders on any athlete — young Angeles, CA, 22 April 1985.
or old, novice or pro, male or 14. Interview: Tom Kite, Austin, TX,
female, rich or poor. One thing February 1985.
on which coaches, athletes, and 15. Lanier Johnson, 15 March 1986.
19
The Iron Grapevine
Although no one has, to our knowledge, done a scien-

tific study of strength and longevity among weight trainers, there
are several individuals who have evaded far longer than most the
ravages of time. Ninety-five year old Milo Steinborn trained reg-
ularly with barbells and walked on his treadmill right up to the
time of his death. He even bought himself a new wrestling mat
when he was in his late eighties in order to get in some of what he
called “rolling around.”
Although we don’t normally bring you news of recent Another of our personal heroes is Dr. Collister Wheel-
er of Portland, Oregon. Dr. Wheeler began training with bar-
physical culture contests, we thought the following might be of
bells in 1913. Now one hundred years old, (he will turn 101 in
interest. Mia Finnegan, the recent winner of the 1993 Fitness
June of 1994), Dr. Wheeler has set sixteen age group world
America competition, is the great-granddaughter of Professor
records in master’s track and field and, sixteen age group world
Attila. Mia’s mother, Margaret Seppe, is Siegmund and Grace
records in swimming. Many of these records were set after age
Klein’s grandniece and Attila’s granddaughter.
ninety. Dr. Wheeler also bears the distinction of being our old-
est subscriber to Iron Game History. Two years ago we both
smiled when we received Dr. Wheeler’s twelve-issue subscrip-
tion renewal check. However, that two year subscription is now
up, and so, in honor of Dr. Wheeler’s one hundred years of vigor,
we are gifting him him with a free subscription to IGH for the
remainder of his life. And that, by the way, is an offer we will
gladly extend to any other Iron Gamer who hits the century
mark.
Dear IGH:
Perhaps other IGH readers could let Professor Egan
Joe Roark you once wrote to me that writing is a chore for
know of other nonagenarians. His address is: Professor Sean
you—not natural to you, I think you said. Well, your piece on Chuck
Egan, School of Human Kinetics, 125 University, P.O. Box 450
Sipes was (is) a fine job, well handled and quite as sensitive to his sit-
Station A, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada KIN 6N5.
uation as any eulogy I’ve ever seen written in “iron” publications.
“Way-to-go,” and “Atta-boy.”
Paul Kelso,
Tochigi, Japan
Due to an error on our part, Joe Roark’s regular col-

umn does not appear this issue, “The Roark Report” will return-
with Volume Three, Number Four.
Dear IGH:
The most I let myself hope for was that the article I sent in
about Bob Samuels would serve as the basis for an article on Bob,
written by someone else who could use my information. To have the
article printed under my name was a great honor. In this world it
seems like the real heroes are never recognized, their names washed
out in time except for the influence they had on the lives of others.
Bob Samuels is one of these quiet heroes and he has, at last, received
the recognition he deserves.
Dear IGH:
Like John Grimek in physical culture and Lou Thesz in pro
I teach in the Department of Physical Education at the Uni-
wrestling, Bob Samuels is one of the last of his ilk to be still alive and
versity of Ottawa. I’m in the process of doing a study on health and
training. It would be a shame if these men and women were forgot-
longevity in people over ninety years of age. I’m wondering if you
ten, especially in terms of their philosophies of life. Your publica-
have any information on life expectancy and health in the “strong
tion keeps the Fellowship of Ironmen if not alive, then at least remem-
persons” population.
bered by caring people. This is why we must somehow get the sto-
ries of the surviving strongmen and women in print. I once lived in
Sean Egan, Faculty of Health Sciences
the Brooklyn area where Joe Greenstein—the Mighty Atom—lived,
University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario.
yet I never looked him up. Katie Sandwina lived until 1952 yet I
20
never met anyone who bothered to look her up where she and her We must consider the veracity of the source, the number and known
husband ran a bar in New York. I would have given about any- character of the witnesses, correspondence with other strength feats
thing to meet the amazing Stan Zybysko or George Hackenschmidt, performed by the individual under consideration, and consistency of
but have never met anyone who knew them. I should have made the reports.
effort. Sure, natural leverage, bodily proportions as regards bone
In a recent issue of your journal, I enjoyed seeing the pic- length as well as what Bob Hoffman called “nervous lifters” (those
ture of Primo Carnera. I enclose a picture you might enjoy seeing, whose nervous energy could be channeled into lifting feats) can enable
taken when Primo was at the end of his athletic career. It was about smaller people without huge muscle bulk to perform remarkable feats
1961, and he came back to wrestle in a tag team match with Bruno of strength. But it is hard to believe that a man the size of Stout
Sammartino as his partner. He was about ftfty-four years old and still Jackson could out backlift Louis Cyr.
a remarkable physical specimen, especially his tree-like legs. His
tremendous hands are quite in evidence. Bruno had big, thick hands Allen Smith
with huge wrists, yet Primo’s hand completely covers Bruno’s. I New Orleans, Louisiana
have shaken hands with both Primo and Gil Hodges, the old Dodger
fast baseman who was said to have the largest hands in sports, but
Primo’s dwarfed his. He was not that bad a boxer, and a tremendous
strength athlete who, according to Milo Steinborn who managed him
during his fifteen years as a professional wrestler, could military press
265. Despite those monumental hams, Primo was an excellent pen
and ink artist.
By the way, I was doubly honored to have my article print-
ed next to Kim Beckwith’s excellent piece on Thomas Jefferson Dear IGH:
“Stout” Jackson, which I found facinating. I particularly appreciat- I am fascinated with Iron Game History and in particular
ed that she mentioned the character and humanity of the man in with the recent input about the great and only Bob Hoffman.
helping the “Tejanos” during his lifetime. According to old border I became acquainted with Strength & Health magazine
patrolmen I have spoken to, they were treated often as practically sub- back in the 1930s when as a high school graduate I weighed 135 at a
humans. So, it appears that, like Bob Samuels, Stout had a genuine height of 5’8”. I picked up a used S&H magazine at a news stand
compassion for the underdogs of this world. Both came up the hard and when I saw the pictures of the “greats” in the magazine, I was
way, and neither forgot their humble beginnings. hooked. I made my own weights, started working out, bought used
I could see that Ms. Beckwith—like most students of weights, and then bought some new ones, finally accumulating four
strength history—was grappling with the legitimacy of early claims thousand pounds.
and how they stack up against feats performed by modern strength I was one of the ten finalists in the S&H self improvement
athletes of today. There has to be critical openmindedness, but they contest in 1942; won a nice cup, which I still have and cherish. I was
should not be thrown out just because they were not performed in sit- born and raised in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, a little town about thirty
uations pre-ordained to countenance their legitimacy. If this were miles from York, Pennsylvania, which back then, and for several
done, remarkable feats performed by extraordinary people would be decades later, was the center of the weightlifting world.
washed out in history. Should the legends of plowboys and pioneer After seeing all those pictures in the early issues of Strength
women be cast aside in the face of modern powerlifting contests and & Health, when I got a decent car in the mid-thirties. I used to drive
Olympic-style meets? I think and hope not. There is, of course, that to York and go to the York Barbell Company which was then at 51
“other kind of strength” that is not measured by doing bench press- N. Broad Street. This was usually Saturdays when the greats put in
es or clean-and-jerks. The great wrestling champion and physical- their real lifting day. The greats were John Grimek, Steve Stanko,
intellectual marvel Stanislaus Zybysko could only military press 253 Tony Terlazzo and, of course, Mr. Weightlifting himself, Bob Hoff-
pounds, yet he could lift any struggling opponent over his head to man. I got to be on speaking terms with Bob and many of the other
slam him, something a modern competitive lifter probably could not greats. Elmer Farnham was, at that time, about my bodyweight so I
do. Could a modern women’s powerlifting champion lift and carry patterned my activity after him.
a cannon or bend iron bars into the shape of an “S” as Katie Sand- Well, Bob, as you may remember, was a “bug” on the bent
wina could? Could a modern gym-trained athlete perform the sheer press. You remember how tall he was and around 260 pounds. Well,
physical efforts an old-time plowboy or blacksmith could do? You he would take the fixed barbell of 250 pounds, stand it on one end,
see what I mean. bend down and then proceed to press the bar overhead and stand up
I think that the criterion for accepting a claimed feat of with it. He then did something I shall never forget. He simply walked
strength as verifiable (and all knowledge of the past is second-hand away from the barbell that he held overhead and down the barbell
and therefore hypothetical to some extent) is pure common sense. would come crashing. The entire building shook, for their workout
21
room was on the second floor of that old, old building. Then to top the Jewish equivalent of that stone in Athens.
it all, Bob would say, “There is no one around here that can make the Some modern commentators have followed Jerome’s expla-
barbell bounce that high.” nation, but others reject it. For example, the most recent commen-
By the way, you might be interested to know that I am tary on Zechariah, by Carol L. Meyers and Eric M. Meyers, has the
working on a doctoral dissertation at age seventy-six! following comment on this verse: “Thus the suggestion. . .that this
metaphor derives from the Greek sport of weight lifting posits a some-
Clarence Rudegeair what farfetched association. Such a connection derives from an
Zephyrhills, Florida assumption that this text is Maccabean, a date we reject. Thus, the
idea of this image referring to a weightlifting contest cannot be defend-
Congratulations. Several years ago, one of us sat on the disser- ed with respect either to date or to the nuances of the words employed”
tation committee of a man who received his Ph.D. at the age of (Zechariah 9-14 [Anchor Bible 25C; New York: Doubleday, 1993]
seventy-nine. Gordon Wallace was a champion racewalker and 317).
wrote ahout the history of his sport in his dissertation. Good Luck. In trying to make my mind up about this I would like to
have an expert opinion on the following questions.
1. Is it true, as the Meyers seems to assume, that weightlifting was an

exclusively Greek sport in antiquity, so that its presence in Zechari-
ah would imply Greek influence? Or, was weightlifting more
widespread in the ancient world?
2. What kind of injury would typically be associated with trying to

Dear IGH: lift too heavy a weight? An abdominal hernia? The Hebrew word
Sorry to hear about Ed Jubinville, I enjoyed reading about translated “grievously hurt themselves” in the NRSV seems to mean
his life. I had his muscle control book but lost it when I moved. Is literally “cut themselves” which could conceivably refer to people
there any way I can purchase it—or any other muscle control books? “rupturing themselves” if that is good English. Would that make
sense in a weightlifting context?
Bob Haley
North Bergen, New Jersey Can you shed any light on these matters? I would be grate-
ful if you could give me some relevant bibliography, or assist me in
Anyone wishing to sell a copy of Jubinville’s book may write any other way.
to: Bob Haley, 1314 6th Street, North Bergen, New Jersey, 07047.
Al Wolters
Redeemer College
Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
The earliest depiction of weight lifting of which we have

a record occurs on the walls of a funerary chapel at Beni-Hassan
in Egypt. This drawing, done approximately forty-five hundred
years ago, depicts three figures in various postures of raising over-
Dear IGH: head what appear to be heavy bags. The bags are lifted in what
I am a biblical scholar working on a commentary on the would now be termed a one-banded swing. Both the exercise and
Old Testament book of Zechariah. Odd as it may seem, this has led the shape of the bags are reminiscent of Indian club exercises.
me to take an interest in the history of weightlifting. Records can be found as early as 1896 BC of strength feats being
Zechariah 12:3 reads as follows in the New Revised Stan- practiced in what are now known as the British Isles. The early
dard Version: “On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for Irish or Tailtin Games included a form of weight throwing known
all the peoples; all who lift it shall grievously hurt themselves.” as rotheleas or the “wheel feat.” It is certainly true, of course,
Many commentators, beginning with Jerome in the fifth century A.D., that stone lifting was a popular activity among the Greeks. Nor-
have compared this verse with the sport of weightlifting in ancient man E. Gardiner, in Greek Athletic Sports and Festivals, observed:
times. Jerome wrote that he had seen such a large stone in the Athens “These stories of weight-lifting [among the Ancient Greeks]
of his day which was lifted by the Athenian young men as a trial of have been strangely confirmed by discoveries in Greece. At
strength, and suggested that the stone of Zech 12:3 would have been Olympia a block of red sandstone was found, bearing a sixth-
22
century inscription to the effect that one Bybon with one hand Dear IGH:
threw it over his head. . . At Santorin, another such block has I am currently working on a research project on Louis Cyr
been found, a mass of black volcanic rock, weighing 480 kilos. (1863-1912), the well-known Canadian strongman and on other
The inscription on it, which belongs to the close of the sixth cen- strongmen of the Province of Quebec for the cultural ministry of Que-
tury, runs as follows: “Eumastas the son of Critobulus lifted bec and the Chamber of Commerce of St. Jean de Matha. We are
me from the ground.” (p. 82-83). attempting to create a center near Joliette in the Lanaudiere region on
Regarding your second question, it is certainly possible this subject. Could you please refer me to any person or institution
for a man to rupture himself while trying to lift a large, unwieldy that might have information they would be willing to share about Cyr
rock. The word “cut,” as you may know, is in common use among and/or about any other Quebec strongmen?
farmers in many countries. The reference is to the castration or
“cutting” of bull calves. Our guess is that this use of the verb Jean-Francois Leclerc
“to cut” is the most likely. However, could the Hebrew possi- Montreal, Quebec, Canada
bly translate to mean “Year themselves?” If so, perhaps the ref-
erence is simply to torn muscles which are far more common
than hernias. Perhaps the most authoritative place to start would be
with David Norwood’s masters thesis on the life of Louis Cyr
entitled: “The Sport Hero Concept and Louis Cyr,” which he did
for the Department of Human Kinetics at the University of Wind-
sor in Ontario. We reprinted a section of Norwood’s fascinat-
ing thesis in Volume 1 Number 2 of Iron Game History. Then,
we would suggest a look at Ben Weider’s, The Strongest Man In
History: Louis Cyr . . . Amazing Canadian (Vancouver: Mitchell
Press, 1976). A belt of Cyr’s is at the York Barbell Hall of Fame
Dear IGH: in York, Pennsylvania. If any other readers have suggestions,
I have been a weightlifter for thirty years, and I grew up please contact Jean Francois Leclerc at: 6774 Des Ereables, Mon-
reading Strength & Health and Ironman magazines, admiring the treal, Quebec, H2G 2N3.
now-considered old timers: John Grimek, Steve Reeves, George Eifer-
man Reg Park, etc.
Six years ago, while visiting New York, I was lucky enough
to attend the annual meeting of the Oldetime Barbell and Strongman
Association where I met in the flesh some of the heroes of my youth.
It was a very rewarding experience.
All this was refreshed in my mind after reading a story by
Dr. Kenneth Rosa, in the recent issue of your magazine. Dr. Rosa’s
account was so vivid that I felt as if I had been there in person.
Kudos to Dr. Rosa and to Joe Roark for their fine articles.
And, kudos to you two for editing a very special magazine.
Eduardo Franco
Madrid, Spain.
In the last issue, we placed Dr. Rosa in Brooklyn, not

the Bronx. We regret the error.
23

IGH1994 04 V03n03-Complete

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

IGH1994 04 V03n03-Complete

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Iron Game History

VOLUME 3 N UMB ER 3 Apr i l 1994

Another Big Man Gone

IRON GAME HISTORY VOL. 3 NO. 3 FELLOWSHIP

“A beginning might never deck, and generally cavorted around.”

Steve Stanko, and Jules and quietly went on

The Iron Grapevine

Although no one has, to our knowledge, done a scien-

Due to an error on our part, Joe Roark’s regular col-

1. Is it true, as the Meyers seems to assume, that weightlifting was an

2. What kind of injury would typically be associated with trying to

The earliest depiction of weight lifting of which we have

In the last issue, we placed Dr. Rosa in Brooklyn, not

You might also like