Joe Roark's IronHistoryArchives.com
The HUGE library of Iron History compiled by Joe Roark.
Welcome to Iron History with Joe Roark!
Joe Roark has been studying the iron game since 1957, and by 1970 began a systematic gathering of information on index cards. By the time his first computer was acquired, there were several hundred thousand references to be typed into it.
For a few years he published his own newsletter called MuscleSearch: The Roark Report. By 1992 he was appointed as the IFBB Men's Bodybuilding Historian, and began writing about history for FLEX in his column Factoids. For ten years he contributed to Iron Game History from the U of Texas at Austin. Recently he also began writing All Our Yesterdays for FLEX.
His passion has always been the period between 1880 and 1920, with particular emphasis on the oldtime strongmen of that era. Joe will be offering bits of history for Cyberpump once per week, and the text will be relevant to the dates of the calendar for those events of yesteryear relevant to the coming week.
In this column, readers will also be able to ask Joe questions or comment on his posts. Note: The comments are solely for interaction between Joe and the readers only -- not reader to reader.
2/25/2011: Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark January 19, 1990
Friday, February 25, 2011
"Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark January 19, 1990.
A personal word here. With this letter, Charles had about 53 weeks of life remaining. I did not know this, perhaps he did. Had I known, a greater effort would have been made to write more often. Here come what some will see as excuses, but my life at the time was packed fuller than comfortable. I was working more than one (for a brief, near breakdown point four) jobs. My youngest daughter was in college. My main job involved irregular hours, and many sleep-deprived days before going to the next, part time job. I am saying I was busier than ever- before or since. And, although as Charles remarks, other people received letters from me, they did not receive them with any more frequency than did he. My quill was still.
In hindsight, that period, and how I did not write often to Charles, saddens me, and there is a tent of regret hovering over those memories. But what precious little free time I could gather in that period, I used selfishly. Sometimes to maintain sanity, personal, unfettered, non-obligated, time for oneself is needed. It was for me.
So in the coming, few remaining, letters betwixt us, you may notice a lessening of the rapport we had. If so, that would be my fault. Certainly Charles was not restricted time wise as was I, except in the sense, hopefully unknown to him, that the day before my birthday in January 1991, Charles would, in his acknowledged agnostic bent, depart this world.
The respect I felt for him cannot be overstated or downplayed because of the slower pace of my letter writing during what would prove to be his final year. Regrets, more than a few; respect, much, much more than I can describe.
RIP, Charles."
Posted by TheEditor @ 06:54 PM CST
2/11/2011: Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark, November 3, 1989, pages 3-4
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Posted by TheEditor @ 07:20 PM CST
2/4/2011: Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark, November 3, 1989, pages 1, 2
Friday, February 4, 2011
Posted by TheEditor @ 11:48 PM CST
