Iron History

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05/15/2002 Entry: "Iron History May 17:"

Please notice the Iron History Extra on the intro page; we have posted an article about the Saxon Trios, and the personnel changes through the years.

Also, recently posted some photos at the Iron History Gallery, including one of the safe used by Anderson in his June 1957 backlift. Other than my article in Iron Game History, to my knowledge, no picture of this safe has ever been shown in any publication. My friend Bryan Frederick and I visited the safe on our way to Atlanta for the Mr. Olympia contest some years ago, and when we turned the corner of the house where the safe sits, our hearts sank. We suspected, and later learned, that had this object have been a solid mass with no cavity (which a safe requires of course) the weight of the object would still be under 3,000 lbs and certainly below the claimed figure of 3,500 ascribed to it by people with more enthusiasm than research propelling them. Wonder why no photos of it have been presented in other publications? There have been several photos of the silver dollar barbell, and of the carousel lift (which by the way the owner of the Mapes Hotel told me was more of a crowd pleaser than was the silver dollar barbell squat). Nonetheless, never any photos of the safe.

If you had copies of the Anderson safe photos and were writing about the safe, would you include the photos? If not, why not?

This edition of Iron History takes us to the point of being 42.5% done with the project, which is tentatively scheduled to end at year's end. If there are reference lists you want to have included, please tell me soon so I have some lead time to gather the info. The Editor has given me free control over this column with only one exception- no discussion of steroids, meaning no endorsement of them; not a problem since I prefer to write about matters I am conversant with, which happens to be a limited panorama of iron history.

Also, if there are 'extras' you would enjoy, let me know, and depending on time and what info I have, perhaps we can supply them on our intro page.

Finally, again, if you have contact info on any oldtimer who may want to be interviewed and remembered please let me know. And, when I mention something that is incomplete, the intent is to seek the missing info with the hope that a reader may be able to supply it. With that in mind, see this first item:

May 17, 1941 Mr. Philadelphia: This is an example of a contest that was announced, but for which I can locate no result.

May 17, 1947 Edward J. Simon won Mr. South West at Central YMCA in Dallas. In 13th place was a man named Louis G. Riecke.

May 17, 1953 Doug Hepburn world record press 366.75 lbs

May 17, 1967 Jay Trigg born in Pasadena, Texas. Jay is now involved with the Garage Gym website. Now lives in his Humble [TX] abode, and you can get more info on Jay at his cyberpump.com/features/interviews/interview058.html

May 17, 1969 Jerry Wilson won Mr. Iron Man

May 17, 1983 Fred Hofmeister died at age 69. IM 11-83 p 50 brother of Ed. Fred was one of the judges at the 1946 Mr. America.

May 18, 1863 Jules Parent was born in Tourcoing, France, he eventually reached 6'3" and 230 lbs. Some of his contemporaries said he was second in grip strength only to Apollon. But Batta may have a claim be 2nd place according to this from Ironman Jan 1958: "In a friendly challenge to another French lifter (who also was noted for his grip strength), here is a feat that Batta performed: On the seat of an ordinary chair he placed a bottle and a drinking-glass, both filled with water; several heavy pieces of jewelry (his goldwatch, chain, rings, etc.); and a wallet filled with gold coins. Stooping down, Batta grasped the front rung of the chair (with a knuckles up grip), then lifted the chair off the floor and replaced it without spilling any of the water or displacing any of the jewelry. He offered to give Parent all of the valuables on the chair if Parent could grip and raise the chair in the same manner. But Parent, despite his 230 pounds and 14-inch forearm could not do it." After this Parent gave Batta the name "Emperor of Grip Power", but even Batta acknowledged Apollon's superiority.

Parent's forearms according to Willoughby were 14.7" and 14.3", and his specialty was lifting heavy bells with thick handles. In Webster's Sons of Samson volume one page 51 there is a photo. And Alma Venables translated a story from French to English and it is presented in S&H Jun 1938.

May 18, 1947 Best Built Weightlifter: Hannibal McCray

May 18, 1988 Frances Hise-Gurnea died; born Jul 9, 1915 (Joe Hise's sister). Frances is at rest now in the GAR cemetery in Homer, Illinois, a few yards south from her brother's gravesite. She was born on Church Street in Homer. She had married Ralph on Feb 3, 1936, but Joe was not at their wedding. I interviewed Frances at her son's home in northern Illinois, where she signed a permission slip for me to try to obtain information from the staff at Weiser Care Center 331 E. Park, in Weiser, Idaho in regard to Joe's stay at that facility. This facility was known before as the Park Manor or the Park View, Mrs. Beams, the employee with whom I spoke, could not recall the previous name.

Frances was a splendid person, who lovingly recalled her childhood with Joe (or Curt as everybody in Homer called him). She missed him even all these long years after he had died. And her severe arthritis made life very uncomfortable for her, but as was common for her generation, she did not complain and bemoan, she dealt with it.

I visited her grave not too long after she died, and the visit stirred memories of her smiles and her gentle nature, and the absolute pride she felt in Curt's accomplishments.

May 19, 1943 Ernie Frantz born; later a mover and shaker in the powerlifting world.

May 19, 1963 Carlin Venus's dad, John, died

May 19, 1973 Geni Shiffer lost all semblance of good reasoning and married Joe Roark. He by far, got the better side of that deal! It took place in Centerville (or Lick Skillet), Illinois (no I am not kidding) in a small church on a hill near Geni's grandfather's farm. . I have a bias: I think women are inherently superior to men. It's certainly true in our case. If you care for this website, you may thank Geni- it was she who thwarted my discouragement in the early days when MuscleSearch (my former newsletter) didn't have enough subscribers to field a football team.

Years ago, Lyman Dally painted a picture for Geni of a sleepy, bored, cat with the caption 'All this muscle stuff makes me sleepy". I may have shared with him the true tale of how one night Geni couldn't quite go to sleep so she turned to me and said, "Tell me one of your weightlifting stories, so I will nod off". It is a technique that I employ at the dinner table sometimes when I want her piece of cake. I start rambling about some 1941 weightlifting contest in New Hampshire, and the next thing I know, she is snoring in her mashed potatoes while I slide her dessert plate toward me.

May 20, 1959 Doug Hepburn curled 255 lbs

May 20, 1961 the sectionals of the Jr. Nationals with Jr. Mr. America winners: East in York, PA: Joe Simon Southeast, St. Petersburg, FL: Ronnie Russell Midwest, Lansing, MI: Lou Wolter Central, Columbia,MO: Harold Poole South, LaFayette, LA: John Gourgott Southwest: Franklin Jones

May 20, 1962 Lydia Cheng born. It's been nearly 20 years since the early reports of Lydia hit the mags. WSP in 1983 presented 5 photos of her, and then at the end of that year FLEX reported his couples win with Pierre Asselin at the NPC East Coast.

May 20, 1971 Arnold's older brother Meinhard Schwarzenegger born Jul 17, 1946, a year and two weeks before Arnold, died.

May 21, 1957 Clare Furr born. She would win the USA championships in 1984, and have mainstream appeal among the female bodybuilding audience. FEMALE BODYBUILDING magazine in Nov 1992 showed her with her four year old twins Derek and Amber.

May 22, 1894 Sandow's fight with a lion- he fought to keep the animal awake! I truly wish someone had filmed this!

May 22, 1949 Jack Delinger wins Mr. America as well as best chest. His 73.5 points led second placer Melvin Wells by exactly ten points, though Wells won best arms, back, and chest.

May 22, 1960 The great, some would say greatest wrestler, Gama, died. Some call him the Dali-Gama of wrestling.

May 22, 1962 David Horne born in Johnstone, Scotland. David has a pair of the strongest hands in the world. In response to Iron History's request that he list what he considers to be his best five examples of his hand strength, David supplied these: One Hand Pinch Lift 67.5 kgs June 12, 2002 (left hand)

Table Top Wrist Curl 300 kgs July 4, 1998 (that's over 660 lbs!. Forearms are placed on a strong tabletop. Bar is handed to David, who then must clear the backs of his hands off the table by curling his wrists. No wonder that David told me that no one has ever forced his wrist back in arm-wrestling- he has lost matches, but not due to a weak wrist!)

Tore two packs of cards including the jokers, total 108 cards July 27, 1995. "I actually had blood spurting from under my nail on my little finger. Maybe that's why I chose this one."

One Hand Lift (no hook grip) 335 kgs with right hand July 28, 2001

Lifting the two Dinnie Stones together (one in each hand) 3 times. Also on the same day lifting the larger Dinnie Stone right handed for 20 consecutive reps! All with no hook grip on April 5, 1998 . [Dinnie Stones named after Donlad Dinnie. Large stone 445 lbs, Small stone 340 lbs. Those were the original weights though they currently are somewhat lighter from having chips knocked off over the years.]

May 22, 1965 Jerry Daniels won Jr. Mr. America. Jerry later offered a film in the Jul 1969 issue of S&H.

May 22, 1977 Maria Shriver graduated from Georgetown University; met Arnold three months later.

May 23, 1912 W.A. Pullum became the first Brit to lift double bodyweight overhead. In the Two Hands Anyhow he hoisted 250 while weighing 122.

May 23, 1950 Louis G. Dymeck was granted patent #2508567 for his EZ Curl bar. Readers of Strength & Health will recall that Louis became a Strength & Health League member in June 1934 when he was living on Mosser Avenue in Newberry, PA. Before he was officially granted the EZ Curl bar patent he began advertising his "Dymeck Curling Bar" for $11.95 with the attendant question, "Do your arms measure 17 inches?" [see Ironman Jan 1950 p 34.

I spoke to Louis years ago and he has fond memories of the iron game, but my most recent conversation with him gave me the feeling that he was now not that interested in it.

May 23, 1963 Paula Bircumshaw born. One of the most gifted female bodybuilders who found it difficult to interpret exactly what look the judges considered in season- the feminine look, the hard look, etc., and so when placed lower than she (and much of the audience) deemed fair, made a gesture that was definitely hard toward the judges at the Arnold Classic, and was suspended more quickly than the judges' fairness had been.

May 23, 1975 Larry Barnholth died; born Dec 23, 1899. Larry was one of the true behind the scenes teachers in lifting. He was instrumental in helping Pete George, and Larry started the ACMWL (American College of Modern Weight-Lifting) on Oct 21, 1921. There is an excellent piece on Larry in the Iron Master publication, now discontinued and therefore missed by many of us who appreciated the excellent work that Osmo Kiiha presented in it. The piece on the Barnholth brothers was in the May 1996 issue. Osmo has no back issues available, and collectors who are bent on gathering old magazine issues should include the run of The Iron Master when such can be found.

May 23, 1978 Ernest Cadine died; born in 1893

May 23, 1981 Ed Zajac won Mr. California

May 23, 2000 George Redpath died (or May 24?) born Apr 18, 1915 Years ago when I talked to George, he still had his original, aluminum prototype curl bar- remember the one with two handles-within-moveable-circles? Wonder where that bar is now? It was called a Roto-Bar and was [first?] advertised in Ironman Aug 1960 at $29.

George married Peggy Lund in 1948, and had gyms at 6122 Santa Monica Blvd in Hollywood, California, and 1943 Manchester Blvd in Los Angeles by 1949 and the following year was planning to double the latter's area. Redpath made a trophy to honor Hepburn's 500 pound bench press. Wonder where that trophy is? By 1962 Bill Pearl bought George's gym

May 24, 1910 Ian 'Mac' Batchelor born. Died Aug 10, 1986 Mac was known for his wrist wrestling and his finger strength- he once bent 500 beer bottle caps in 25 minutes using only one hand, and stopped then because his hand was bleeding.

Certain feats attributed to him demand more detail, however. For example it was claimed that he could play the violin with 180 lbs strapped to his elbow. Naturally one assumes this is the arm using the bow, not the arm holding the violin.

In 1951 he was hit by two cars and suffered some broken ribs and an injured groin.

I spoke with Mac's daughter Jan Fabian years ago. Mac spent his last days at West Torrance Convalescent Hospital in California. At age 75 Mac weighed 240, but during his final 3 to 4 months he slipped down to a weight of 175. Having lost his sight, he enjoyed sitting outside feeding the birds, but so many birds gathered that it was deemed a health risk, and Mac was stopped from the feedings. But he never lost his love of exercise and he liked to do pushups off the handrails at the home.

Mac sometimes wrote his memories of oldtime strong men and these articles are fun to read. See, Ironman 7:3 and 7:4 for his pieces on super forearms and grip, and Jan 1987 for the obituary that Vic Boff penned about Mac. Liederman profiled Mac in Muscle Power May and Jun 1948. In Sep 1948 Mac showed some of his favorite photos in Rader's mag. Perhaps we'll offer a Roark Reference list on Mac.

May 24, 1932 William Smith, actor/bodybuilder born

May 24, 1946 Robby Robinson born

May 24, 1947 Steve Reeves won Mr. Pacific Coast. Apparently this is the contest which Steve deemed to be the Mr. Western America, but it was not. This same day in New York City at 125 West 14th Street (9th Regiment Armory), Keevil Daly became Mr. New York State

May 24, 1960 Otto Arco died; born May 1, 1881 in Poland. Real name Otto Nowosielski, was boyhood friend to Stanley Zbyszko.

In 1896 Otto joined the Falcon Gymnastic Society, in 1903 he and Stanley went to Vienna and both joined the Vienna Ringsport Club for wrestling. While in Vienna he met Karl Swoboda and Joseph Steinbach, two great lifters, then Arco traveled to Munich and met Max Sick and Emile von Mogyorossy, with whom he would later team in vaudeville. Arco wrestled in France being booked by Maurice Deriaz.

By 1907 in Arco managed a double bodyweight continental and jerk in Adelaide, Australia, weighing 138 he jerked 278.5 lbs. Later he managed to jerk 305 after it was placed at his shoulders.

Arco 1913 in Paris he won an international contest to determine the world's most perfectly developed man. In muscle control, he originated the 'rope' (rolling the abs). The Arco Brothers act featured Otto & Pete Arco.

Arco believed in few reps with heavy weights- no high rep low weights. On Feb 14, 1942 at age 60 he gave a muscle control demo in New York City at a YMCA.

May 24, 1964 John DeCola won Jr. Mr. America

May 24, 1971 Minna Lessig born. Is currently on the cover of Muscle & Fitness, and an archeologist with a transfusion from a blood hound could not find cellulite on her!

May 24, 1987 Sig Klein died; born Apr 10, 1902. I had one letter from Mr. Klein, who when I contacted him was in failing health, but still mustered the strength to reply. It has been 15 years since he died, after that, Milo Steinborn died, then Grimek, so that many of those small bridges leading from the oldtimers to the modern crowd have been closed.

May 25, 1919 Bob Hise born; died Jun 10, 1996. Hise began the publication International Olympic Lifter (IOL) in Jan 1974. The last issue I have is 11:1 which was in 1991, but the publication continued past that, I think. Can anyone help with the date of the final issue?

May 25, 1940 Sixty-one men gathered at Madison Square Garden in New York City for the second AAU Mr. America contest. The best bodyparts competitions were staged during that Saturday afternoon, the Mr. America that night. The announcer was Al Franzen.

Through the years I have confirmed only about one third of the men who took part in this contest: Here are the top six, then an alphabetical listing for some others:
1. John Grimek, also most muscular and best arms 99.25 points
2. Frank Stepanek [Frank Leight] best chest 97.50 pts
3. Lud Shusterich 88 pts (had won Mr. NYC on Jan27, 1940)
4. Chick Deutch best abs
5. John Gallagher (S&H 9-40 p 45)
6. George Lapausky (S&H 11-40 p 6)
Asnis, Dave
Brown, Monroe
Channing, Jack (S&H 8-40 p 9)
Farnham, Elmer
Hempe, Carl
Jantzen, Gene
Kahn, Melvin (S&H 7-42 p 47 says won best abs)
Robinson, Terry
Terlazzo, Tony
Thaler, Joe best back
Weinsoff, Herman
Whitlock, Charles (S&H 5-41 p 24)
Was Donne Hale entered at age 15? See S&H 8-54 p 28

Grimek told me on the phone on Jun 27, 1985 that there was a best legs subdivision but I cannot find who won it. All competitors except Grimek and Leight used 'make- up'- that is oil and suntan powder.

Judges: Bernarr Macfadden, Col. Charles Dieges, Col, Kilpatrick, Dan Parker, Bob Hoffman, Sig Klein, Gord Venables (S&H 8-47 p 25)
S&H 7-40 p 48 says there were seven judges
S&H 7-42 p 15, 25 says there were ten judges

105 points were possible under a scoring system which offered 15 points- so perhaps the seven judges is correct, 7 x 15 = 105 pts. Points were awarded thusly according to two differing reports:
Muscular development either 7 or 5 pts
Muscular proportions both say 5 pts
One source says posing and general appearance were 3 pts, but another source says that posing by itself was 3 pts, and that general appearance gave another 2 pts, so in summary the two system were:
7+5+3 = 15 or
5+5+3+2 = 15

May 25, 1947 Leo Marcyk won Mr. Michigan in Detroit, also competing, and winning the best back category was Norbert Schemansky's brother Jerome.

May 26, 1896 Cyr backlift 4300 lbs or May 27. This may have actually been more than Anderson backlifted on June 12, 1957, when allowing for the math mistakes in Anderson's total.

May 26, 1949 Gene Massey born; died Nov 1, 1975

May 26, 1956 Jayne Mansfield and Mickey Hargitay meet.

May 27, 1922 Herman Goerner marries Elsie

May 27, 1944 Steve Stanko wins Mr. America

May 27, 1949 Those famous nude photos of Marilyn Monroe � one of which became the first centerfold of Playboy magazine, were taken. How is this relevant? I don't know, I was trying to center my thoughts, but they folded�Actually I was hoping to find another event that happened on this date related to the iron game and tie it in that way. I found this bit of info when I worked in radio, and discovered which song was playing during the photo session.

We now resume regular programming:

May 28, 1948 Roy Hilligenn won Mr. Pacific Coast. Roy's is an interesting, varying, story. MuscleMag International presented a Star Profile feature on him in Jan 2000 that conflicts with what had been written previously in some ways:

RH: "Everyone thinks I'm from South Africa, but I wasn't born there. I was born in California on November 15, 1922. Then I grew up in South Africa." Really?

In his letter to Strength & Health magazine Apr 1945 Roy wrote from 30 Grace Street, Jeppe, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa, so he was certainly there then and his letter indicates he was age 22, fitting if his birthday was in fact Nov 15, 1922. His next letter to S&H was Mar 1946, again from Africa. In the very impressive photo showing him squatting with a very heavy anvil in S&H Nov 1950 p 28, there is no mention of his whereabouts. But after he won the Mr. America title in 1951 his story appeared in the Nov issue and after describing his South Africa experiences he wrote, "In 1946 I saw my way clear to travel abroad [from South Africa]. Before coming to America, I spent approximately a year in England." Not to 'return to' America?

"In 1948 I arrived in Canada."

"Later I migrated to California." How does one migrate to one's place of birth?

S&H in Feb 1963 writes regarding him "He was the only foreign citizen ever to win this title [Mr. America]." Is not California part of the U.S.? It gets clearer when Achilles Kallos wrote in S&H Feb 1977 "Ray was born in South Africa and as early as 1943 was winning major contests."

To backtrack: Health & Strength in its Apr 16, 1953 issue: "BOSCO writes to me that he may be sponsoring Roy Hilligenn as an American citizen. Roy, as you know, is a South African by birth". Then the same magazine in the Jul 9, 1953 issue offers: "A flash from British United Press says that Roy Hilligenn, 1951 Mr. America, is being deported from the States because he is not a citizen."

There are more references, of course, the CHICAGO BODYBUILDER in Mar 1949 presented an article about Roy with the title "South Africa comes to Chicago". MUSCLE POWER had Roy as its Man of The Month for Nov 1946 and described him as from Jeppe, Johannesburg, Transvaal, South Africa- the same address he used when writing to S&H. IRON GAME HISTORY Aug 1994 has Jim Murray referring to Roy as "�the first South African to clean and jerk double bodyweight".

Apparently, the writer of the MuscleMag piece was unaware of all this when she relayed Roy's assertion that, "Everyone thinks I'm from South Africa, but I wasn't born there."

May 28, 1953 Doug Hepburn became the first man to bench press 500 lbs with a two second pause at the chest

May 29, 1966 Sergio Oliva won Jr. Mr. America

May 30, 1924 Norbert Schemansky becomes 78 today! One of the better-physiqued weightlifters, though I suspect he cares not at all for that fact. Years ago I contacted Norb about something I was studying, and there was an understandable bitterness in his message when he, referring to Paul Anderson, offered words to the effect that 'He outweighed me by 100 pounds and outlifted me by 10 pounds. Big deal."

May 30, 1946 Peary and Mabel Rader arrived in Detroit

May 30, 1954 Lynn Conkwright born

May 30, 1969 Debbie Halo born

May 30, 1981 Pam Brooks won Ms. Florida.

May 30, 1981 Kike Elomaa won the European Championships in London. Kike is these days a successful singing star.

May 31, 1953 Pudgy & Les Stockton's daughter Laura Jeanne, born. A photo of her appeared in S&H Aug 1953 p 22, and then in Apr 1954 and then in H&S in the Sep 2, 1954 issue and the Jun 9, 1955

May 31, 1972 Joe Hise discharged AMA (against medical advice) from the Weiser, Iowa, Care Facility. When I recently called to get more details I was informed that Hise's records had been destroyed as by law the facility is not required to keep them but a few years.

Jun 1, 1945 Pete George at age 15 cleaned and jerked 300 lbs

Jun 1, 1990 Leo Gaudreau died; born Aug 9, 1904 Gaudreau, I am told, insisted that his classic work 'Anvils, Horseshoes, and Cannons" be published in two volumes, not in one volume, though that could easily have been accomplished. This book(s) is so rare that after Leo passed away, his widow wrote to me asking if I could locate a set for her. Fortunately, a friend gave her a set. Recently a man paid $200 for another set. I know another man who has several sets, but am sworn to secrecy about his identity, so please don't ask. (It is not me).

Leo was a wonderful historian for the iron game, and wrote frequently and accurately about many of its aspects and personalities. See below for his refs in VIM magazine. His works were found in Your Physique, Muscle Power, Muscle Builder, Mr. America, Health & Strength, Strength & Health, Lifting News, and Ironman. His knowledge of the French language enabled him to research old newspapers in that language and translate for us. That function has now been assumed by David Chapman.

Leo told me that after he finished his AHC two volume set, he discarded all his research materials! All those wondrous manuscripts and old magazines and newspaper clippings simply thrown out. Leo also told me that he had finished a translation of The Kings of Strength, Desbonnet's book, and sent it to a publisher, but the whereabouts of the manuscript is now uncertain.

Some of the best 'books' available are photocopied articles, in order, in ring binders. Leo's works are perfectly suited to bind in this way and then taken to the coffee house for a sip while studying his research.

He married Albena on Sep 29, 1929; they had two children. Albena was born Oct 9, 1907. But on the first Friday of 1989, Leo went to a nursing home, then passed away on Jun 1, 1990, just two months before his 86th birthday.

Jun 2, 1912 Hermann Goerner sprinted 100 meters in 18.4 seconds carrying in each hand 110.25 lbs

Jun 2, 1939 MuscleMag International writer Johnny Fitness born [real name Gino Edwards]

Jun 2, 1946 At the Boy's Club in Detroit, Michigan the Mr. America was originally scheduled to take place, but the venue was changed to Cass Technical School, and event was held on Jun 2. Here were the placings, and comments on what I know about their current status:
1. Alan Stephan (living)
2. Sam Loprinzi (deceased)
3. Leo Stern (living)
4. Joe Lauriano (living)
5. John Farbotnik (deceased)
6. Abe Goldberg (deceased)
7. Vic Nicoletti (living)
8. Kimon Voyages (deceased)
9. Everett Sinderoff ?
10. Gene Jantzen (living)
11. Mike Dubel ?
12. Joe Thaler (living)
13. John McWilliams (living)
14. Bob McCune (living)
15. Peter Bonny ?
If you have any more recent info, please share it with us.

Jun 2, 1949 NABBA formed. But it's first Mr. Universe was Jun 24, 1950, so any events before 1950 cannot be tagged as NABBA.

Jun 2, 1951 Joe DiPietro and Lorrane Osborne wedding

Jun 2, 1956 Ray Schaefer won Mr. America in Philadelphia, defeating the other 33 entrants. The Most Muscular event featured 22 of the same men, with Art Harris who placed 4th in the Mr. A, winning the MM. Schaefer placed 2nd in MM.

Jun 2, 1995 Don Ross died; born Oct 6, 1946

Jun 3, 1921 Goerner crawled- carried a 1,444 lb piano 52.5 feet. A grand feat

Jun 3, 1962 Joe Abbenda wins Mr. America in Detroit.

Jun 3, 1988 Mike Dietz, employee at York Barbell died. Born 1917. See John Fair's book MUSCLETOWN USA for the story of the York Barbell Co.

Jun 4, 1941 Dick Falcon entered the military. Someone tells me that Falcon, who had taken thousands of physique photos in his career, destroyed the negatives. Not sure if this is accurate, but Falcon's style was immediately recognizable.

Jun 5, 1955 Steve Klisanin won Mr. America in Cleveland. Informal pre-judging began this year for the field of 47? contestants, of whom I have located only about 13 names. It was also on this occasion that Paul Anderson C&J 436.5 lbs.

Jun 5, 1965 Christian Boeving born; frequent cover model on Muscle & Fitness

Jun 6, 1844 The YMCA was created in London, England.

Jun 6, 1890 Ottley Coulter born; died in December 1976. More on Coulter at another time.

Jun 6,1934 Ed Holochik (aka Ed Fury] born. There is a contact who knows where Ed is, but when I tried to reach Ed via this contact, no luck in getting Ed to be interviewed.

Jun 6, 1953 Bill Pearl won Mr. America in Indianapolis at the Murat Theater 143 Ohio St.

Jun 6, 1971 Mark Henry born; currently being promoted by the World Wrestling Federation as the World's Strongest Man, because he won the Arnold Classic Strongman contest this year.

Jun 6, 2001 Russell Saunders died at age 82; stunt man in hundreds of movies

INCH 101: part 11

Jun 3, 1911 Inch vs Aston. Inch was 29 and lost to Edward Aston. Just weeks before this rematch Inch had fallen badly out of shape. He was able to barely clean 170 on a one inch diameter bar so how could he have claimed to be able to clean the 172 thick-handled Inch bell? He also could clean only 210 pounds with two hands, and could bent press less than 200. So in the time period from Apr 20, 1907 until Jun 3, 1911, whatever Inch was doing was causing him strength loses, not strength gains.

But that was a few weeks before his match with Aston, at which time Inch was able to two-hand clean just over 264 pounds, one-hand clean 210.

May 17, 1913 Health & Strength issue: "Mr. Thomas Inch emphasized the necessity for testing the scales whenever records are made, and on the motion of Mr. Monte Saldo, seconded by Mr. Aston, the following resolution was unanimously passed: 'That a Government inspector of weights and measures shall in future be engaged to test and pass all weights and scales that are used for weighing the bells whenever any records are attempted under B.A.W.L.A. rules."

May 19, 1960 issue of H&S 'The Mighty Inch' by Gilbert Odd includes these goodies: "He saw such stars as Apollo, Atlas & Vulcana, Ajax. Lionel and Milo (later known as Brinn)."

Then the story is recounted of how in 1897 Inch at age 15 was demonstrating his strength at a visiting circus.

"Not long afterwards there appeared the first Inch Challenge Dumbell. It formed part of his strength act and was the forerunner of the now famous dumbbells that have appeared on many a PC programme throughout the country." Never, again I say, never, have I encountered a reference to Inch presenting more than one challenge dumbell at a time in a performance- he may have switched bells and thus involved more than one, but the audience did not know of this.

May 19, 1879 Opening day of Hengler's Circus in Dublin.

References to the Apr 20, 1907 intro to the Inch dumbell appear in the May 24, 1930 issue of H&S as well as Jan 24, 1963.

May 27, 2001 I visited Kim Wood whom I have known for many years. I gave him a Jackson 1-A barbell set and he gave me an Inch replica. We were both happy. Years before, a friend and I had stopped by Hammer Strength headquarters, and while I was visiting with Kim, my friend was put through a high intensity workout by one of the staff members. It was about noon.

While I was driving toward Columbus for the Arnold show, my friend fell asleep, and later told me he had never before been put through such a difficult workout! After that he adopted the high intensity way of training and made great progress.

Roark References #8 Leo Gaudreau's writings in VIM magazine:
Apr 1940 p 14 Idealism in Physical Culture
Jul 1940 p 10 Bar Bells for Sale

Then his 'Famous Strongmen of France' ran in VIM in eight parts:
In some of these articles, short pieces on several athletes are included. Below, I have listed the names of men who were given more treatment by Gaudreau.
Oct 1940 p 5 part 1 Introduction to various strongmen
Nov 1940 p 6 part 2 Noel le Gaulois; Pierre Bonnes
Dec 1940 p 12 part 3 Alexander Maspoli; Maurice Maspoli
Jan 1941 p 10 part 4 Charles Rigoulot; Charles Batta
Feb 1941 p 8 part 5 Apollon [Louis Uni]
Mar 1941 p 11 part 6 Apollon compared to Louis Cyr
Apr 1941 p 10 part 7 Apollon
May 1941 p 13 part 8 Apollon (in my opinion these pieces in VIM about Apollon rate as some of the very best detailed writing regarding Apollon)

Jun 1941 p 14 Cause and Remedy for Abnormal Spinal Curvature Gaudreau's two volumes of ANVILS, HORSESHOES and CANNOS, The History of Strongmen was first mentioned as having been written in the July 1978 issue of Ironman and the first ad for the books was in Ironman Jan 1979 on page 42. In his foreword Leo signed it as 1975.

The final ad for AH&C was Ironman Nov 1986 p 94, which was the final issue under Rader's control before John Balik assumed ownership.

See you Jun 7th !