Iron History

[Previous entry: "Feb 1-7, 2002"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Iron History Feb 15-21, 2002"]

02/06/2002 Entry: "Iron History Feb 8-14, 2002"

A reminder: your feedback with details is welcome. If you notice the name of a person whose whereabouts you know, supplying that info thru the comment button will be appreciated. Or I can be reached through the Grip Page Grip Board:

Feb 8, 1912
On this Thursday Edward Aston presented a lifting display at the Camberwell Club to benefit Prof. Szalay's upcoming benefit scheduled for March 2. The profit would go to the Prof. One of the feats that Aston demonstrated on February 8 was the bent pressing of two barbells at the same time in the same hand; the bells weighed 84 and 56 pounds, for a total of 140 pounds. When the bells were overhead, Aston then used his left hand to pick up a 40 pound ringweight- a feat that W.J. Lowry said he had never seen anyone else do. Try lifting two olympic barbells EMPTY in the bent press to appreciate the grip needed when the bars begin their 'twirl'.

Aston had more to lift. He set about establishing four new Heavyweight records for British lifting:
Right hand Clean and Jerk of 173 lbs. Left hand Snacth of 162 lbs Left hand Clean and Bent Press (devisse) 210 lbs! Two hands Continental & Jerk of 297 lbs. Aston declined to be weighed but Lowry offered 'It is unlikely that he exceeded 12 st.' (168 pounds). Hardly a heavyweight, but Lowry continued that as of May 1950 "...some of the records he established in his career remain unbeaten in the Heavyweight class".

Feb 8, 1922
In David Webster's splendid book THE IRON GAME he offers a quote from a letter written Feb 8, 1922 from Arthur Saxon's brother Kurt explaining the circumstances of Arthur's death. Kurt was German but wrote in English "him catch cold and got something on the lungs, him died within 7 days." Arthur died Aug 6, 1921, so apparently he contracted something at the end of July 1921.

Feb 8,1957
Inger Zetterqvist born; placed 3rd in 1983 Ms. Olympia

Feb 8, 1964
Mr. Jr. Middle Atlantic: 1. John Leach Feb 8, 1964 Mr. Mason-Dixon: 1. Dean Elery Feb 8, 1964 Mr. Oakland: 1. Roy Smith, Jr.

Feb 9, 1895 [probably April 9]
Art Gay born either on Feb 9 or April 9, 1895. He wrote for VIM, the wonderful publication by Roger Eells, MUSCLE BUILDER (not the Weider mag but the Macfadden mag, 1925). But Gay also wrote FOR Weider in YOUR PHYSIQUE in the late 1940s and MUSCLE POWER in the same time period. Gay is the man who started Vic Tanny on the road to iron training. His gym, established in 1919, was at 102-104 Broadway in Rochester, New York.

At age 80 he still working out twice per week. He passed away in early June 1981. [Anyone have the exact date?]

Feb 9, 1911
This was the date that Edward Aston erased Launceston Elliott's Two hands Clean & Jerk record of 265 lbs by hoisting 267.5 lbs.

Feb 9, 1946
At the Brooklyn Central YMCA the fourth Mr. New York City contest was held. Guest posers included Ken Pendleton, Jules Bacon, Frank Leight. Otto Arco perfomed muscle control. One of the judges was George Quintance, the artist. Here are the class winners:

Class A: 5'-5'6": Joe Thaler (spoke to him circa 1998) Class B: 5'6"-5'9" Vic Nicoletti and won the overall

Class C: 5'9"-5'11"Howard Brodsky Class D: 5'11"+ Joe Colosimo
(four days later actor/dancer Gregory Hines was born, and he is a devout fan of bodybuilding.)

Feb 9, 1969
Bob Boyd wins Mr. Illinois

Feb 9, 1989
Henry 'Milo' Steinborn died; was born March 14, 1983 in Siegburg, Germany. Became known for his heavy squats which he placed on his shoulders unassisted by up-ending the bell, squatting down and letting the bar angle down upon his back. In 1937 Strength & Health mag reported that Steinborn had done 'several' reps in the Deep Knee Bend with 408 lbs. in this manner. By 1954 he maintained the power to squat 475 for reps. On his 68th birthday he did a full, unassisted squat with 400 lbs. His most famous was the 552.5 pound unassisted 1924 squat. Not impressive by today's standards? Try it, and remember not to wear any powerlifting gear. He once did 33 reps with 315 pounds!

Steinborn later became a wrestler, and a gym owner at 2371 Orange Street in Orlando, Florida

Feb 10, 1736
David Horne of England, current grip master and a man who knows about hand strength (385 lbs wrist curl for 5 reps, and about a 600 lb table-top wrist curl) and Elizabeth Talbot, who, strengthwise is his counterpart, have written a book about Thomas Topham, titled: Strength Prov'd Thomas Topham, Strongman of Islington. In that book they show the Playbill for the Feb 10, 1736 performance by Topham at the Play-House in the Castle-Yard, which lists the feats he will attempt- bending iron bars, rolling up a strong pewter dish etc. When this book is no longer available you'll regret not buying a copy, so... David Horne, 27 Ingestre Road, Stafford, ST17 4DJ, ENGLAND USA $20 Europe $18 cash. He also published Iron Grip, a quarterly magazine devoted to hand and forearm strength.

Feb 10, 1908
Apollon & Padoubny wrestle to a non-decision at Hengler's Circus. [See Inch 101: Part 2 next week]

Feb 10, 1948
Joe Greenstein age 55 pulled a 25 ton truck by his hair. A friend of mine has a lock of Greenstein's hair (don't ask) and it looks more like steel wool than hair.

Feb 10, 1967
John Grimek and his wife Angela met Reg Park and his wife Mareon at the York airport about noon.

Feb 10, 1968
Mr. Tri-States: 1. Robert Moore Feb 10, 1968 Mr. Olympic 1. Ron Jumper

Feb 10, 1968
David Prowse, then owner of the Thomas Inch 172 lb dumbell took it to the Southeast Britian show and nine or ten men, very strong men, could not lift it off the floor. This was exactly 60 years to the week that the bell had been left at Hengler's Circus for Ivan Padoubny to lift. (more on that next week)

Feb 10, 1971 or 1974?
Lisa Varon born; won the Debbie Kruck Fitness July 10, 1999

Feb 10, 1973
On this date Sig Klein wrote a letter to Leo Gaudreau explaining why he did not think that Eugen Sandow had appeared in New York City before 1893. Sig explained that a man named Montgomery Irving was appearing in those days in NYC as SANDOWE (Sandow with an 'E') and this Irving became known as 'The False Sandow'. Anyway, Sig thinks that many simply mistook Sandowe for Sandow. In a similar way, folks had told Klein that they had seen Sandow in person in America after 1910, when they probably had seen Adolph Nordquest who had been dubbed 'Young Sandow' by Prof. Attila. Sandow in fact was not in America after 1903.

Feb 11, 1897
Roy McLean was born. In Strength & Health January 1960 he co- wrote an article about barbells on campus at the U of Texas in Austin, and five years later July 1965 in the same mag wrote about the olympic press training of a certain Terry Todd. Over the years, Todd and McLean became friends and when McLean died December 6, 1986, his estate provided some funding for what is now known as The Todd-McLean Collection at the U of Texas in Austin. The Collection has moved locations on campus more than once, and has expanded regularly by acquiring complete collections of physical culture mags and books. It may well be the most complete collection of such materials in the world. Those of you who live close to Austin, if you care about iron history, this is THE LIFTER'S LIBRARY OF CONGRESS! IRON GAME HISTORY is a publication coming from the Collection. It is issued very irregularly, but four issues cost $25 and the publication is very worthy. See their website by typing iron game history.

Feb 11, 1898 [for comparative info see Feb 4 item in last weeks Iron History]
On this date another meeting took place at Prof. Atkinson's Institute and it was decided to reduce the number of lifts in a competition to four instead of six, with the aggregate total pounds of the four lifts to decide a championship. The four lifts decided on were: Right Hand Clean, Left Hand Clean, The Two Hands Clean & Jerk with Dumb-bells, and the Two Hands Clean & Jerk with Barbell.

Feb 11, 1950
Bill Cerdas won Mr. New York City over 63 other men. Because of the year, the contest was also known as The Mid Century Mr. New York City.

Feb 12, 1908
Apollon was defeated by Ivan Padoubny in wrestling at Hengler's Circus. [see Inch 101: Part 2 next week]

Feb 12, 1934
Handicap Weightlifting contest at the German American Athletic Club, 190 Third Ave in New York City. Handicap poundages were allowed for a lifter's total. For example, George Petridis in the 165 lb class had a handicap of 100 lbs. So his press, snatch, and clean and jerk of 159.5, 181.5, and 231 were added to another 100 lbs and he was credited with a 672 lb total for second place behind Ray Grabowski whose handicap was only 86 lbs and who thereby totaled 691. By the way, the 100 lbs was the largest handicap in the contest, and the smallest was 10 lbs for Alfonse LeMay.

Feb 12, 1955
Paul Anderson totals 1100 (375-320-405) at the Mr. National Capital contest won by Art Harris, which was held nine years to the day before Paul's father passed away.

Feb 12, 1995
The first display of the Good/Travis dumbell by Lynn Rannels. This was the 2,150 lb huge bell that Bill Good lifted one rep for each of his years of age on his birthday until in his 70s. Fred Howell wrote about Bill in Ironman in March 1981 and there is more info in some paragraphs with photos in Ironman September 1986. This bell is now owned by Rannels and is on display at his spring water company in Adamstown, Pennsylvania. It makes a great photo opportunity!

Feb 13, 1923
Warren Lincoln Travis wrote a letter to Strength & Health magazine regarding this date, and wanting a retraction of a statement made by John Gagnon that Gagnon had defeated Travis at a contest in Augusta, Maine on that date. Travis asserted that there was no such contest, that both men gave only demonstrations, and that Gagnon's claim that he defeated Travis in the backlift is surprising since Travis did not do a backlift on that date. S&H replied that they printed the story as received. Incidentally, Travis was living at 2840 West 8th Street in Brooklyn, New York, when he wrote to S&H. Anybody know what is at that address now?

Feb 13, 1942
John Farbotnik began exercising with weights at Fritshe's Gym; was age 16. After four years of training he won the 1946 Mr. Chicago. Also won Mr. America in 1950 as well as some other titles. John died March 23, 1998. Fritshe is the correct spelling.

Feb 13, 1944
At the All-Girl Weightlifting contest in Grand Rapids, for the Michigan championships, the highest total was by Jean Ansorge at 130 lbs bodyweight at 332.5 lbs.(Jean is still living)

In a side event, Betty Houran won a 'gold' trophy for deadlifting at 132.5 lbs the amount of 350 lbs- which was within ten pounds of Ivy Russell's world record at the time. Harold Ansorge demonstrated the one hand deadlift for the ladies, doing 500 with each hand!

[The contest was called 'All-Girl', and I will not change history to make is politically correct by today's standards]

Feb 13, 1993
Vince Taylor won the IFBB San Jose Pro Show. I include this here as proof of arm measurements. Backstage a few years ago at the Arnold Classic I measured Vince's upper arm, so he was pumped, and had no reservation about having his arm measured for the record (a rarity among the current pros). Flexed, it was 19.75" and Vince has some of the larger arms in modern bodybuilding. Thomas Inch once claimed that his arms measured 19-7/8 and resisted the urge to round the figure off to an even 20". Taylor's arm dwarfs Inch's arm. And Inch refused a cash offer to have his arm measured for proof. Wonder why?

VALENTINE'S DAY Feb 14, 1873
Jim Pedley born near City Road in London. In 1896 he won John Grunn Marx's competition held at Drury Lane. Marx, himself the possessor of some of history's strongest hands, was so impressed with Pedley that he asked Jim to stop by the house for a try at his 300 pound barbell with a 2.5" diameter handle. Pullum rememers that "...Jim made a very good showing with it, succeeding in getting the bell to his shoulders. There, however, he had to confess himself beaten." Does this mean he cleaned the bell? His bodyweight was between 170-180 pounds usually.

In H&S in December 1941 W.A. Pullum wrote an article about Pedley, calling him the Strongest of all Britons. At one time Pedley managed Sandow's Institute in London. Pullum who knew literally EVERY strongman of his day, referred to Pedley as the strongest Englishman he had known. [And Pullum knew Thomas Inch]. It is generally thought that Pedley could have deadlifted the Inch 172 if given a chance.
Another example of his grip strength: standing between two barbells, EACH weighing 250 pounds, and having a handle diamter of 1.5", Pedley would bend down, deadlift the two bells keeping them level as he slowly walked around a full size billards table before gently replacing them at the starting point.
Jim died April 1953 - does anyone know the exact day?

Feb 14, 1910
Annie Abernathy, friend of Joseph Curtis Hise, was born. I corresponded with Annie for a brief time about Hise; She had wonderful memories of Hise, though some of her thought sequences were difficult to follow. For the history of it, here are excerpts from some of her correspondence to me about Hise, whom she, in contrast to the folks in his hometown of Homer, IL., called 'Joe'.

Just this week I finally found this correspondence which has been in storage for quite some time...
From a letter I received Feb 3, 1986: "Here is the painful truth- Joe was a mooch- in order to get 4 or 5 meals a day, he'd visit several homes & all were glad to have him, even us in our poverty."

"Joe repected me as a woman. Rarity with a man's mind."

"Joe was sent as a gift from whoever heard our prayers."

"Joe was unconvinced by his diabetes, and was eating like a pig again, and I thought he needed a doctor's advice..."

From another letter received the same day: "I have a photo of Joe before he left for Idaho and parts there in all his glory of 320 pounds."

"...Joe wrote that he was living almost entirely on lima beans..."

Annie was nearly blind and some of her handwritten longhand is very difficult to interpret.

Feb 14, 1933
In Anvils, Horseshoes, and Cannons, Leo Gaudreau in Volume Two p 161 shows the Playbill for the Feb 14, 1933 Health & Stength Grand Display. On the bill were Alan P. Mead, W.A. Pullum, and Thomas Inch, the latter two offering strength displays. The men's posing would later be called the Mr. Britain contest. The Amazon Girls were 'full of pep', and Ronald Walker gave a lifting demonstration.

Feb 14, 1940
In a sad commentary on the times, John Davis, a black man, and one of America's greatest weightlifters was to appear at the Y in Atlanta- but only the Y that allowed blacks- John had to appear at what was called in the announcement the 'colored Y'.

Feb 14, 1958
Lori-Bowen Rice born. She won the Women's USA championships in 1983, and her first contest (I think) was 1981 Ms. Americana. Her most famous victory was probably at the IFBB Women's Pro World. Her most recent cover appearance was Muscle & Beauty (remember that mag!) in September 1986. She was the lady in the beer commercial (Miller Lite was it?) Last I heard circa 1999 was that she was in Texas.

Feb 14, 1962
Wedding day for Steve Klisanin & Ann. Steve had won the AAU Mr. America in 1955 and the Mr. Universe in 1956. The last I have heard about Steve was that a few years ago he trained some at John Coffee's gym in Atlanta.

INCH 101: Part 1 An Introduction of the basics.
by Joe Roark

Thomas Inch: born December 27, 1881 (and thanks to the research of David Horne we now know Inch passed away December 12, 1963.)

Thomas Inch was born in Scarborough, England, and became Britain's Strongest Youth, then Britain's Strongest Man (BSM). He is now known for what is called the Thomas Inch dumbell. It weighs about 172 pounds and nine ounces, but is usually referred to as the '172'. It's very thick 2.38" diameter handle is the major preventive factor in thwarting would-be lifters of average length hands.

Inch claimed that in his lifetime he never encountered anyone who could lift the 172 from the floor to overhead using only one hand. Even further he claimed that no one could clear it off the floor. He said he had overheaded it literally 'hundred of times' sometimes lifting it twice in the same performance. Inch was well acquainted with virtually all of the strongmen in England, many of whom, he claimed had tried an unsuccessful hand at lifting his bell, and these men included some of the strongest men on the planet. Inch enjoyed explaining that 'none of them could stir it'. Is that true?

Once, in a very old magazine account he acknowledged that one man had cleared the floor with the 172, but thereafter never acknowledged that man's success again, and reverted to saying that no man had ever stirred it off the floor. There was another occasion when referring to the attempts of two men Inch said that neither got the bell 'very far off the floor' which to me means it did get off the floor, just not very high. And Inch mentioned on other occasions that a prize was given for best effort. What does that mean, if the bell did not leave the floor? Best grimace? Hey, I'm a winner!

He offered large sums of money to anyone who could overhead the bell with one hand. At one time the prize money equalled SIX YEARS of Edward Aston's earnings. Aston had worked for Inch and grew quite accustomed to trying to lift the 172, which he bewilderingly referred to as weighing 180, and he acknowledged that he could not lift it. Inch asserted that he also offered (depending on who was in the audience) certain sums for each inch that the 172 was lifted off the floor. Still, no money was ever paid out. When David Prowse (yes, of Star Wars fame) owned the 172, he used to take it to where strong men were known to be (dockworkers etc.) and offer a bottle of whiskey (sponsored by the whiskey company) to any man who could simply lift the 172 off the floor and on to an adjacent telephone book! No one could and the whiskey company knew that failure meant no publicity. So that idea was 'shot'. (sorry)

Even in more recent times no one has taken the bell one handed over the head 'clean'- that is, without the bell touching the body on the upward movement. Bill Kazmeier's lift appears to have been done in the Continental style which allows for body touching on the upward movement to the shoulder.

In the next few months, as calendar dates relevant to Inch's bell roll around, I will examine some of the situations which Inch and others have claimed about the 172- and its triplets.

There were four identical bells, which even Inch acknowledged could not be distinguished except by his inner circle of workers- which must NOT have included Aston, who once shouted from the stage when about to make an attempt on the bell 'Which bell is it!" To which Inch answered, "It's the one I'm lifting tonight".

The bells weighed 75, 140, 153, and 172 pounds. Other weights have been attributed to them, but after studying the matter for almost a year, and looking through hundreds of old accounts, these are the figures that I believe are accurate. It does not help that all but the 172 have disappeared. The 172 is now in America, having been purchased by a collector. But the 75, the 140 and the 153 have vanished, and one can only hope that they were not among the items carried away from the Inch house after being thrown in the dumpster. David Webster tells the story of how he went by to pay his respects to Mrs. Inch, but she had moved. The neighbor explained to David that old exercise devices and large framed photos and posters of strongmen had been discarded and hauled off. Were the 75 and the 140 bells tossed? The 153 probably was not because we can trace its history away from Inch. Were these other treasures trashed? Was this situation similar to when Vic Boff stopped by to see the widow of an old time strongman hoping to buy some of his weights, only to be told that they had been thrown out? Until someone who may possess these items comes along, we may never know.

An aside: As the weeks unfold, I will limit treatment to the days relevant to our calendar-line history, so it may be that some parts of the story will be told out of order and that certain answers you would like immediately will be supplied later. In that regard, if something is supplied here that you think is incorrect please let me know via the comment button. I am NOT interested in opinion, just facts. There would be no need to study history (of any type) if all that mattered was opinion. At the risk of being misunderstood, I fancy that I have looked into the Inch history as much as, and probably more than, anyone else, and have discovered some glaring inconsistencies among the reports and claims. So if you have read something that disagrees with what I present, please anticipate that I may have also read it (900 copies of Health & Strength) and thousands of other magazines, and that I have settled on an answer that was not found in the text you present as rebuttal. On the other hand, perhaps in a magazine or book that I have not seen sleeps the answer. But there are so many discrepancies among the texts that I have read that it would require several very enlightening accounts to filter fiction from fact by opposing accounts.

Next week we will examine the occasion on which Inch left the 172 at Hengler's Circus (where the London Palladium now stands) for the wrestler Ivan Padoubny to try. Apollon was also there. Why did he not attempt the 172, which for him would have quite literally been a plaything? As an example of what the previous paragraph refers to, how long did Inch leave the 172 at Hengler's? Was it one day, one week, or two weeks? Depends on which account you choose. All those times were claimed, and in case you are thinking there was more than one occasion on which he left the bell at Hengler's, then stay tuned.

Facts to ponder: The original Inch 172 has a handle width of 4", and it was originally thought that this narrow hand spacing would prevent a wide-handed man from a fair try. This does not seem to have proven true. Mark Henry, a giant pro wrestler with the WWF had no problem fitting his hand around the bell and pulling it about chest high. The replica bell also has a handle 4" wide, but whereas the original handle is 7.5" circumference, the replica is 7.75" circumference. The relative diameters would be: original 2.38" and replica 2.47". For comparison, a standard soda can is 8.25" in circumference.

Inch claimed to have small hands. But David Webster who knew Inch does not remember Tom's hands as being smallish. There were periods in his life when Inch himself could not lift the 172- his own writing proves this, though that was not his intent of those writings.

One of the main problems in tracing the history of Inch and his bells is that because there is so much discrepancy among his various accounts, the student must choose which version to accept based on other sources, and try to blend fact from the whole picture.

It is an amazing maze as you will see.