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01/09/2009 Entry: "1/9/2009: Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark April 27, 1988, Conclusion."

Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark April 27, 1988, conclusion.

I wouldn't trust ANYONE at York. I know the score, what has been there and WHO has been done. I know too many secrets. I also can't forget the rotten way they treated me and just because I worked for Weider. It was all MONEY. Weider was treading too heavily on Hoffie's turf, taking away what he looked on as HIS exclusive business, so everyone around Weider was a bad guy. All I was interested in was not the Trainer of the Champions or the so distant FATHER OF AMERICAN WEIGHTLIFTING, but earning a living for my wife and children. So I wouldn't have anything to do with York for their petty, spiteful treatment of me, their sneers and remarks about me in S&H and the way Hoffie tried to pick fight after fight with me at meets

When people start making a lot of money, Joe, they become greedy. They no longer are content with a sufficiency, but want it ALL. This is why, though I pray for your success, I also pray it will be a MODEST ONE, a success that will bring you a reputation for probity, but NOT PILES OF DOUGH. That would, MIGHT should be the word, effect changes in you- as it might effect them in me. I ain't hung around this world for 76 years with shut eyes.

Now, getting on to your article in July MD. Naturally I won't say a thing to anyone and will relay any remarks I hear tell of it.

It would seem to me that you are using a combination of the REST PAUSE and the NEGATIVE TRAINING PRINCIPLE. These, of course, are, as you know, not new but were in use in the late 20s and early thirties. I've used them. Ron Walker used them and countless others.

It would seem to me that concentration on the EXERCISE is taken away by the concentration on the sweep hand of the clock. Might it not be better to count ONE THOUSAND- exactly one second or just guess at the time.

Again, what is 'GOOD STYLE'? To my way of thinking good style is ANY style that achieves good results. No one lifts any more by the Bill Pullum or BAWLA rules for the curl or whatever lift. In fact I doubt if there are more than a score of men who are aware of Bill Pullum or BAWLA Rules for the 42 lifts one could make records on in the early part of this century, up to the late thirties.

I do appreciate your sending me beer. It was a nice gesture. But what I need now, more than ANYTHING IS COMPANIONSHIP. I haven't heard a word, no visit, no phone call from my family since my birthday, March 27th. Out of sight, out of mind I guess.

Thanks for the [George] Weaver address. I shall write to the old bloke and look forward to a lively correspondence. Some of his letters to Willoughby were hilarious. Yes, he was what was known as a 'Sexologist'. So far as I know, he never married. But he did have a vasectomy and had the doctor give him a certificate to that effect which he hung up over his bed. He is a true eccentric and in the English mould, they have produced so many outstanding ones.

Glossbrenner. Here we go again. Our understanding was the same I had with Bollocks. I send the article. He reads it. He likes it, I am paid at ONCE. He agrees. So I write the bloody article. He writes back, says how great it is--of course it is, I wrote it didn't I--and I'll be paid at once. I am still waiting for the check. Plus, ca change, plus ce meme chose (sic).

Weaver keeps moving around hither and yon. Why I don't know. How he lives I am likewise in the dark. I believe he has some sort of a government pension or is qualified for certain low cost housing for the elderly.

There have been some mighty deeds of derring do in the world of weights. Some young Bulgarian Bloke, scaling a mere 123 pounds, cleaned and jerked 376.986 pounds. This is 3.059 times his own bodyweight. Name Neno Terziiski.

Then up toddles another Bulgarian bloke, in the 198 pound class, Rumen Teodosiev. He cleans 523 into the shoulders, has it well and truly racked in, then for some bloody reason leans forward and loses the weight. This is 4 kilos over the world record.

Up pops another Bulgarian, aged 19. lifting in the 110 kilo class. He cleans and jerks 550- belay that- 551. New senior world record. They must be eating an awful lot of yogurt these days. The bloke who made the 551 was Stfan Botev. When all these lifts were done I don't know. I figure some time last year.

What amazes me is that 376 by the man weighing 123. I can remember the excitement we all felt when El Said Nossier, the Egyptian heavyweight made a new world clean and jerk record of 363-3/4. We thought that the MOST.

I think you will enjoy the H&S mags. But keep your eyes peeled. You'll notice the slow steady decline from the 1940s to when Bill Pullum had it. Sad. All the old spirit and idealism vanish. Gradually the pages fill with boobybuilders. It stops being a physical culture magazine and becomes a very poor model of what Hoffie or the Wanking Wunder of the Hills Woodland had.

I have heard, via the grapevine, and from a source close to the man concerned, that the Coach of the Stars since 1909 was actually PAYING for steroids for some of the top men in his stable. It is said that a certain editor of this man has the BILLS for the steroids to prove it. The gains, chemical, made by the overveined and muscled giants were attributed to the one and infallible 'SYSTEM' the Coach of the Stars since 1909 peddled. More to come. Will keep you informed.

I am worried about my memory. It seems to be going. I suppose the next disaster is my girl friend will start complaining.

Had a letter from an attorney friend, who is also an aficionado of lifting and a collector. He told me that but for a very very few, most of the blokes working at York were VERY poorly paid, Joe L. for instance getting only 35 bucks a week. Joe was eventually fired for tapping the till, as was another York employee, who didn't have the sense to keep his ill gotten gains under wraps- nut had to drive around in a big Cadillac. His pay was way down in the boondocks so inquiries were discretely made , the source of the funds discovered and the bloke fired. I know for a fact that Bob Hasse, begged and pleaded with Hoffie for a raise after several years, since he couldn't keep his family on what Hoffie was paying him. Hoffie wouldn't give him one and Hasse quit to get a better job.

And so it goes. As Lord Acton said, 'Power corrupts, etc. etc'.

Best to you and yours,
Chas