Iron History with Joe Roark

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.

Aug 29, 2003: William A. Pullnum
Monday, August 25, 2003
Aug 29, 2004 to commemorate the passing of WAP on August 29, 1960 we offer some references to some of his writings which form a superb body of work for those interested in iron history.
Among top British historians for the iron game, we must always, and perhaps always first, list William A. Pullum. His history in the sport and his writings of it are enlightening and lively, and often in first person experience.
Pullum first wrote for Health & Strength magazine in July 1912 with "The Secret of My Lifting". He wrote for many major magazines over the decades, and we may offer some other listings of his articles if this list finds favor.
This is one of those, what I term, FYFC (for your files columns). If you lack the relevant magazines, this list will be of small help to you- unless you know someone who has access to the magazines and may agree to share with you. It is much like going to a library which has no books but has a great index of books.
But, here is a partial list of what WAP (as he was affectionately known) wrote regarding the history of our sport in the magazine:The British Amateur Weightlifter and Bodybuilder (incomplete listing because I lack some of the magazines):
Jan 1947 p 10 Staging a Strong Man Show
Feb 1947 p 42 Putting your strong man act together
May 1947 p 138 Kettlebell juggling
Jun 1947 p 170 Strong man act, part 6
Jul 1947 p 196 Barbell juggling, part 7
Aug 1947 p 234 The Roman column, part 7 (sic)
Sep 1947 p 262 These moves build strength, part 9
Oct 1947 p 294 Thrilling trio act, part 10
Nov 1947 p 326 Showy stunts, part 11
Dec 1947 p 358 For genuine strongmen only, conclusion
Jan 1948 p 4 [series debut: All Round Lifting Simplified] One hand snatch, part 1
Feb 1948 p 38 One hand clean and jerk, part 2
Mar 1948 p 72 One hand swing, part 3
Apr 1948 p 104 Two hands swing, part 4
May 1948 p 134 One hand anyhow, part 5
Jun 1948 p 167 The bent press, part 6
Jul 1948 p 206 Arthur's Saxon's favorite lift: Two hands anyhow, part 7
Aug 1948 p 232 Lift which tests all physical attributes, part 8
Sep 1948 p 270 How the BAWLA's greatest team was trained
Oct 1948 p 296 [series debut: Weight Training for Bodybuilding] part 1
Nov 1948 p 326 Way to a powerful torso, part 2
Dec 1948 p 356 Way to powerful arms, part 3
Jan 1949 p 5 Modern weightlifting builds fine legs, part 4
P 6 Try these exercises for your legs
Feb 1949 p 6 Building a strong and supple back, part 5
Mar 1949 p 4 Exercises to strengthen the clean
Apr 1949 p 4 Assistance exercises for the snatch
May 1949 p 4 Assistance exercises for the press
Jun 1949 p 4 Assistance exercises for the jerk
Jun 1949 p 22 WAP- Father of modern weightlifting- W.J. Lowry
Jul 1949 p 6 Analysis of the one hand snatch
Aug 1949 p 4 Technique of the one hand clean and jerk
Nov 1949 p 6 Correct position is all important
Dec 1949 p 4 Perfect posture is essential
Jan 1950 p 10 Performance and posture
Feb 1950 p 4 Military and Olympic presses compared
Jun 1950 p 6 For the squat snatcher
Nov 1950 p 2 Clean and jerk: temperament and technique
Jan 1951 p 10 Assistance exercises pay full dividends!
Mar 1951 p 10 It's determination that makes champions
Apr 1951 p 18 Temperament and morale
Jun 1951 p 10 Confidence is half the battle
Jul 1951 p 12 Champion lifters and their temperament(s)
Aug 1951 p 6 Old Timer looks at the moderns
Sep 1951 p 16 Champions must have support of everyone
Dec 1951 p 10 The way to the top (this was the conclusion to a 24 part series called "From Novice to Champion".
Jan 1952 p 12 [series debut]: intro to The 12 Strongest Men I have Known which began the next issue. The intro is written by Johnson]
Feb 1952 p 6 Louis Cyr, part 1
Mar 1952 p 4 Apollo, the man who lifted an elephant, part 2
Apr 1952 p 6 John Marx, broke horseshoes, part 3
May 1952 p 6 Josef Steinbach, a great dumbell performer, part 4
Jun 1952 p 6 George Hackenschmidt, part 5
Jul 1952 p 8 Alexander Zass- the Amazing Samson!, part 6
Aug 1952 p 10 Hermann Goerner- world's strongest man, part 7
Sep 1952 p 12 John Davis- eight times world champ, part 8
Oct 1952 p 8 Arthur Saxon- a super world's strongest man, part 9
Nov 1952 p 8 Eugen Sandow, part 10
Dec 1952 do not know - I am missing part #11
Jan 1953 p 8 Jim Pedley, part 12, series conclusion
Feb 1953 p ? [series debut: Bodybuilding Through the Ages]: Greece, part 1
Mar 1953 p 2 First great master race, part 2
Apr 1953 do not know- I am missing part 3
May 1953 p 6 Spanning the years, part 4
Jun thru Oct I am missing
Nov 1953 p 2 New style gymnastics, part 10
Dec 1953 p 4 Prof. Dowd's original health exerciser, part 11
Jan 1954 do not know, am missing part 12
Feb 1954 p 4 Sandow's victories over Cyclops and Sampson, part 13
Mar 1954 p 4 Sandow is defeated by Hercules McCann, part 14
Apr 1954 do not know, am missing part 15
May 1954 p 8 Sandow is backed by Army and medical profession, part 16
Jun 1954 p 4 Sandow's momentous worl tout, part 17
Jul, Aug do not know, am missing parts 18, 19
Sep 1954 p 10 Inch's mid-wt challenge and his victory over W.P. Caswell, part 20
Oct 1954 p 6 Inch becomes Britains's strongest man, part 21
Nov, Dec 1954 I am missing parts 22,23
Jan 1955 p 4 Weights are great, part 24
Feb 1955 p 8 Saxon Trio- men who inspired me, part 25
Mar 1955 p 8 The beginning of scientific weight training, part 26
Apr 1955 p 6 The origin of a famous strongman factory, part 27
May 1955 p 4 W.A.P. explodes the myths, part 28
Jun 1955 p 6 Experiments with bodyweight, part 29
Jul 1955 p 6 The critics are confounded, part 30
Aug 1955 p 8 Environment and character, part 31
Sep 1955 p 4 The origin of modern weight training terms, part 32
Oct 1955 p 4 The first assistance exercises, part 33
Nov 1955 p 4 Functional bodybuilding with weights, part 34
Dec 1955 p ? missing part 35
Jan 1956 p 4 This is the age of massive physiques, part 36, conclusion
Feb 1956 p 6 [series debut]: The Saxon Story, part 1
Mar 1956 p 4 Arthur Saxon- born a strongman, part 2
Apr 1956 p 4 Superhuman feat by Arthur Saxon, part 3
See you Oct 5th

Posted by TheEditor @ 08:31 PM CST
Aug 22, 2004 Ironhistory.com by Joe Roark
Friday, August 15, 2003
Letter from Charles A. Smith Feb 11, 1986 to Joe Roark (note: A man had written a letter to me making several claims about his relationship with Charles, so I checked some statements in that letter against Charles' memory, and this reply arrived in the mail. Charles was a very proud person and some of the claims made against him riled him severely. Though there is not much iron history in this particular letter, it does establish some relationships, and is therefore part of the larger mosaic.)
Thanks for your letter mailed Feb 8th which was waiting for me on my arrival home from the Collection. Thanks too for the enclosures.
I'd also like to thank you for showing your trust in me by sending that other material. Needless to say, and I'll be needless to say it---it is a load of SHIT. But it hardly deserves a reply though it NEEDS one just to set the matter straight.
Before I go any further, Sig Klein is VERY ill and it is in all likelihood terminal. He had an operation to remove a cancerous growth on his lower intestine. I believe I mentioned this in my last letter to you. [Terry] Todd had also been told this by Milo [Steinborn] when he saw him a week or so ago. What a great pity. Sig was so good to me when I first met him in 1942 that I was quite overwhelmed by his kindness. At the time I had been through a great deal and had lost some of my good friends on board [ship]. But he did all he could for me-a stranger although he had heard of me-to make things pleasant and enjoyable for me and to help me forget. [Klein died May 24, 1987]
Now for that other piece of stuff you enclosed. Garbage in every aspect. The individual wrote to me Xmas. Praising my article in IM, saying, it was the most important article IM had ever published and a work of 'Genius'. As courtesy dictates I replied-although I had had absolutely NO CONTACT with him since 1958, October. He replied to my reply and as courtesy dictates etc etc. His name given (sic) has been changed from some Mitel European cognomen and it is not the Irish, Soots lineage one is lead to believe. But for the meat of the matter.
He is the type of man who can's ask for information LIKE a man but has to scratch for it like a dog. True, I was out of work at the time HE PHONED ME from Austin-where he had moved from the Bronx, NYC- and of which I was unaware. HE asked me to come down to Austin, saying he had heard I had quit Weider. He said, "I'LL PAY YOUR PLANE FARE WHEN YOU GET DOWN HERE." I DIDN'T TRAVEL BY AMERICAN. It was by NATIONAL AIRLINES and I paid my own way down.
He DIDN'T drive me around Austin as he claims. He had a member of the club named George Coyle drive me around.
I HADN'T BEEN OUT OF WORK FOR A YEAR, I WAS seeking employment. I had been away from Weider for a year BUT working for other people whom I wished to leave. MY wife was very ill and I had mentioned to others that I thought a warmer climate would, or might, help. This is the real reason I came to Austin-it could well have been Ocala, Florida, if someone had called me from there. But HE CALLED ME as I have related.
We had a very nice apartment in the Bronx with both my children established in at schools only a few hundred yards from where we lived. Good schools. I was then, never had and never will seek unemployment insurance. This take of my having objections to mixing with those of Hispanic extraction, this too is sheer bullshit. I have traveled all over the world and can tell you more quickly where I haven't been than where I have. I have mixed with most of the world's nationalities and moving to a place like Texas and mingling with so called Hispanics would have no problems for me. I have NEVER held a man's place of birth or the color of his skin against him, feeling that he had no more control over it than I did.
HE DID NOT PAY MY AIRFARE. I paid my own way as I always have done. He did NOT pick me up at the airport. His wife did.
He DID offer me a job at a hundred bucks a week, which I accepted. But I found out that I was also expected to not only help around the club but write his ads and his publicity- AND instruct AND help clean up the place from nine thirty AM to TEN PM DAILY. Including Saturdays and Sundays. Apart from, it is only fair to say, an occasional Sat or Sun off.
Incidentally, the 'Airport' at the time was a Nissan hut and the population of Austin was 130 thousand. It is now close to half a million.
He hosted me in his home. True. His wife cooked for me. True. BUT I PAID RENT AND BOARD TO MRS. When I stayed there.
I HAVE LEFT AUSTIN SINCE. On several trips to Mexico and to the UK in 1972, 73 and 74 to set up exchange programs between the Juvenile Court and Police departments here and with those in England.
HE DID NOT OBTAIN A RESISDENCE FOR ME. I asked him the names of some real estate agents and he gave me one -GENE NAUMANN- a MEMBER OF THE CLUB and the man who sold me my present home and with whom I am still friends- a multi millionaire now.
He says he obtained a dog for me. He didn't. Vera had talked to me over the phone- she was only eight then, and asked me to get her a dog with 'Sad eyes.' I asked the person where I could get one. HE TOLD me where and that was the extent of it. I went to the local pound on my own got a dog for Vera and PAID FOR IT.
He says he got me a car. He's a bloody liar. I asked George Coyle, the man HE got to drive me around where a good car dealer was, he George, took me there and I bought one with my own money.
He says I moved wife, furniture and kids at HIS EXPENSE from NYC to Austin. He's a damned liar. My brother in law Fred, Harriet's brother helped with that and I PAID HIM FOR IT.
It is TRUE that once there and ensconced in the club, and before Harriet and the kids joined me HE DID offer to pay my ONE WAY TICKET in the amount of 175 dollars but I refused, preferring to, as usual, PAY MY OWN WAY. So this man is more full of shit than a Christmas Goose. In other words he is a BLOODY LIAR.
It might be quite amusing to ask why HE left Austin and a profitable business and returned to New York. I can tell you why, but it would be a source of amusement to me to hear HIM tell why. When you get down here I can show you where he lived, the gym he ONCE OWNED and introduce you to people such as a masseur who worked for him, to substantiate what I have. Anyway, put down this incident as another question to ask about on your arrival here.
Further, and to establish MY bona fides- I was employed by a law enforcement department here for twenty years. Some of the members of this department knew your letter writer VERY WELL. On my application to them for a job, I was most thoroughly screened. They told me things about my self and family I didn't even know. So they would not have given me the job they did unless I had a clean bill of health, finances and integrity.
So ask all the questions you want to ask. I am pretty pissed off at what this person wrote. I have never sponged off of anyone in my life, always paid for my own way and always returned pat for pat and scratch for scratch Who this person in Illinois was who informed him I was in need of a job- I was- I don't know. He, the person who wrote you is fishing for info and may have heard you and I have contact. This is his style, his MO as we say.
As for moving expenses from the Bronx to Austin. I paid for them personally and can even remember the name of the firm who moved us- SANTINI from the Bronx. The cost was a little over 500 dollars- a sum that by now would cost four or five times what it did then. The job I took with this person was, so far as I am concerned, a stop gap, and I left as soon as I landed the law enforcement job. That I was employed there and enjoyed the confidence of several prominent people in Austin- one of them Jake Jacobsen, President Johnson's executive counsel and who was instrumental in getting me the law enforcement job- speaks for itself. Jake kept in touch with me during the time he was in the White House and after he came back to Austin. He is a prominent- or was- attorney here.
But you form your own opinions.
I shall of course respect your confidence and will not let the party who wrote you know we are in contact. Unless of course I have your permission. But more about this when you arrive. You can talk to Terry [Todd] who also knew this person. And to Carl Pavik, the masseur.
He did little or nothing for me insofar as bringing me to Austin and getting me settled in. I DID IT ALL FOR MYSELF. I can also tell you about my brief stay in Alliance [Nebraska]. There have been some tall tales floating around about that incident. Are there any more that you can tell me about that you have heard? I suggest you write to Leo Gaudreau or Sig Klein, John Dawe, or even the York Bunch as to what I am like as a person.
I did hear some tales about Hoffman and Chester. What I heard about Chester's encounter with the Boob was as follows, and I don't know if it is or isn't true. It seems that Chester and Bobbie Boy met up somewhere and Chester, who has quite a way with words asked Hoffman, "Hoffman, did you ever see a liar?" and when Hoffman replied he hadn't, replied, 'Well, look in a mirror," wherat Hoffman presented him with a fistful of fingers. How true this is I don't know. But it IS true that he whipped up on Mark Berry, a man a hundred pounds lighter than Hoffman and several inches shorter. And this was merely because Berry had been chosen to be Olympic Coach over Hoffman for the 1936 Olympics. Hoffman later bragged about it in the S&H mag in a late 1936 issue which you can see for yourself on arrival here. Hoffman also tried on three occasions to pick a fight with me, but I showed him I wasn't afraid of him and at one time when we were standing outside a hotel in Indianapolis, made out as if I was going to butt him in the face with my head when he kept pushing me in the chest.
There were two men that he never messed with. One was Schemansky and the other Davis, and Ski would have whipped Hoffman's arse to a fare-thee-well and repeated the dose forever and a day. Davis, likewise, would have trounced him all around the town. Schemansky looked what he was, an extremely gritty person. But Davis was deceptive in his gentle demeanor and way of acting and speech.
Hoffman DID use an aluminum barbell to demonstrate how 'strong' he was in the bent press. Purporting to be bent pressing 265 when the bell scales only 205 is a very very big difference and not - 205 that is- beyond Hoffman's range of action. So, did I lie and if I'm lying I'm dying.
I have always said- and Terry has ALWAYS denied- that Hoffman has a son. Hise told me so and called the kid 'Freddy NussXXX' for some reason. One thought occurs to me. Could it have been a child by a previous marriage of XXX. Have also heard tales about XXX trying to get into Jowett's pants, but don't believe this. Just doesn't seem like Jowett as I knew him.
I would suggest- but not URGE- that you approach XXX on this subject since he is now in the mood to tell more. Terry Todd had also heard of the forthcoming exit of S&H but didn't say anything to me until I told him, without mentioning the source.
Who is Lewis Dymeck? Pray tell. [inventor of the EZ Curl bar]
I thought your latest [MuscleSearch] effort very good. Don't tell me you can't write. You can and quite well, and I see those publications of yours not only an 'Open Sesame' to others but to various publications, which methinks are thinning out what with S&H going and the possible demise of IM [Ironman].
Best of everything to you and yours. Am I pissed off at you know who.
Chas.

Posted by TheEditor @ 07:26 PM CST
Aug 15, 2003: Hermann Goerner & The Deadlift by Joe Roark
Wednesday, August 13, 2003

On August 18, 1933, Hermann Goerner at age 41 years 4 months is credited with a two hands deadlift of 830 pounds. From Goerner the Mighty, page 69:
"830 lb. Two-hands Dead Lift
This amazing feat was performed in Leipzig on 18th August, 1933, the weight consisting of a 441 lb. barbell and two men. Both men stood on the bar, one each end, and balanced themselves by placing their hands on Goerner's shoulders. The combined weight was then lifted by Hermann who stood erect with it and held it in the correct finishing position for several seconds." Each man must have weighed about 194.5 lbs. or Hermann may have offset his grip toward one side to allow for the uneven poundage."
And from page 116-117:
"In 1921 Hermann sustained a knee injury which permanently affected his maximum poundages with such lifts as the Two-hands Dead Lift. Although he was unfamiliar with the British cambered bars, he did do some training in London in W.A. Pullum's Gymnasium, but his best feats in England, although classed as world records, were much behind his records performed earlier in Germany. Surely his stupendous feat performed at the age of 42 [incorrect, 41 years, 4 months] on 18th August, 1933, in Leipzig, when he executed a Dead Lift with barbell and human weights totaling 830 lb, gives some indication of his true powers!."
The text then asserts that with specific training Hermann perhaps could have mastered a deadlift in the 850 lb range. What happened to the knee injury?
How good was Hermann Goerner at deadlifting? Good enough for his lifts, even after all the decades have passed since he performed them, to be considered competitive in the two hands, and unsurpassed in the one hand.
In June 1953, Richard Ganslen in an article entitled 'Modern Athletes Are Sissies" recalled:
"In 1920, Hermann Goerner raised 793-3/4 pounds in the regular two hands dead lift, a record which has not been approached to this day. The lift was performed with an overhand hook grip on a standard Berg barbell, not a reverse grip as illustrated [in the drawing shown with the article]." From Strength & Health magazine.
Ten years later, strength historian David P. Willoughby also writing for S&H recounted Hermann's one hand deadlift prowess:
"Perhaps the most astounding of all Goerner's feats of grip strength (as well as prodigious power of the back muscles) was his one-hand deadlift (using a thumb-lock, or hooked grip) of 727-1/2 pounds. This lift was made on a standard Berg barbell, the largest plates being 17-3/4 inches in diameter and the bar 1-1/10 inches thick. The date of the lift was October 8, 1920, the place Leipzig, and Goerner weighed 220 pounds at a height of 6 feet � inch. He was then still an amateur, not turning professional until the following year (1921)." We will note that his age was 29-1/2.
A couple of years later, Herman began touring with circuses which travels included five tours of South Africa: 1922 - 1924, 1924 - 1926, 1929 - 1931, 1935 - 1936, and 1937 - 1938. This was not conducive to training.
W.J. Lowry took exception to THE STRONGMAN's version of some other lifts ascribed to Goerner. In Jan 1932 that magazine has claimed that Goerner had used the reverse grip rather than the French grip, and that for the one hand deadlift which the magazine reported as 652.25 lbs, Lowry, who had been an official at that lift, assured readers the French grip (knuckles forward, palm toward knee) had been employed. Lowry, writing in the Sep 24, 1932 issue of H&S also noted that THE STRONGMAN had mislabeled the poundage of the Aug 22, 1927 one hand deadlift at 548.50 and not the correct 602.50.
It has been my experience that whenever Gord Venables wrote about history, the reader must double check each major statement. To wit: In Jul 1941 p 7 of S&H Venables asserts that both the 793 and 727 one hand deadlifts were done in 1924. In fact the 727.25 is ascribed to Oct 8, 1920, and the 793.75 exactly three weeks later, Oct 29.
There have been other questionable statements. Here's one by Ashton (sic) writing in Health & Strength April 10, 1947 "I saw Goerner, who had never performed a dumbell swing in his life, pick up, for the first time a dumbell of approximately 200 lbs and swing it aloft as easily as I could lift half the weight and my record stood at 170 lbs." In fact, of course, Goerner was proficient at the dumbell swing and at age 14, in 1905, was able to swing a kettlebell weighing 110.25 lbs.
There were those who doubted some of the lifts attributed to Hermann, one was the incredibly reliable strength historian Leo Gaudreau, who wrote in Your Physique July1950 p 35: "Some terrific deadlift claims have been made for Goerner and without wishing to discredit such claims, their lack of authenticity does not merit inclusion herein." Usually when something is not authentic, it is discredtited.
Kurt Saxon was another who discounted some of Goerner's claims. Writing in Strength & Health Mar 1953, Kurt wrote of Goerner, "�never once did I see him drop a loaded barbell to his neck [as had been claimed]. He merely lowered it quickly, maintaining control of the bar with the hands at all times. "He continued, "To my mind, comparing Goerner with my brother Arthur is sheer nonsense. Goerner would not have stood a chance."
Kurt had addressed this topic in the previous issue of S&H in response to Bob Hasse's inquiry. Kurt compares himself to Goerner: "But not in one lift of any kind, not in any stunt or feat of strength, could he beat me." He then mentions how in 1926, Goerner, though able to clean 319 pounds on a Berg barbell four separate times, was not able to jerk it at all and 'on that occasion HG failed to duplicate a single one of his claimed records�" But George Walsh, writing in Health & Strength Jan 9, 1932 p 36 claims that he saw HG, using W.A. Pullum's special bar jerk 390 lbs for two reps- behind the neck!
Pullum also offers this, which I think any thinking person would doubt: H&S Aug 2, 1956 starting page 32:
HG had a 2.75" diameter bar which weighed 330.75 lbs, which he would hook grip[?] to clean it "then put it overhead like a feather." Then "�he dropped it and caught it in the crook on his right arm as it fell, there to hold it perfectly level for a few seconds to show he had complete control of the weight. Through me, he offered one thousand pounds [money] to any man in the world who could duplicate this feat start to finish."
The crook of ONE arm? Try that with the empty bar! Part of the gimmick may have been that to duplicate the lift start to finish meant that a hook grip had to be employed- and few are the men who have big enough hands for such a grasp on the bar. Was Hermann himself able to hook grip a 2.75" diameter bar?
Now an interesting twist- one that puzzles me- Kurt offers 'We Saxons had immense hands. HG's were even larger." Other places report Hermann's hand length at 8.25 and Arthur Saxon's as 9". This I do not understand.
Kurt's position was countered in the August issue by Tromp Van Diggelin, though not in a satisfying or convincing manner.
The Chicago Bodybuilder reported in the December 1947 issue that Hermann had spent two years imprisoned by the Poles, but was still able to clean and jerk 336 pounds. This I find suspicious- one suspects no training, and certainly not five star dining in a prisoner of war camp. If he could not jerk 319 before 18 months in a POW camp, one wonders how such conditions would have yielded increased strength.
Health & Strength magazine had quoted Hermann a couple of months before in the October 9, 1947 issue: "The Poles put me in a camp for 1-1/2 years as a prisoner and later sent me out of the country, without money, clothes, or furniture. Now I am living in the British zone in Berlin in a single room. Despite my weakened condition at 56 years of age I can still do a two arm C&J of 320 and can put 850 lb on my shoulder [not shoulders?] and walk about with it." By the way, his wife Elsie died in 1949.
H&S had incorrectly reported in the April 1946 issue that Hermann had died. The first advertisement for the book Goerner the Mighty 'to be published shortly' was seen on page 38 of the Dec 14, 1950 issue of H&S. Sadly, ten years after prematurely announcing his death, H&S in the Jul 19, 1956 issue alerted readers that he now had died, and in the following issue, Aug 2, 1956 W.A. Pullum wrote "The Passing of a King of Strength."
Frankly, I have come to no conclusion regarding Herman Goerner's strength levels in the deadlifts, and the above is presented to show the conflicting accounts that lead to my bewilderment.

Posted by TheEditor @ 08:07 PM CST
Aug 08, 2003: Angus MacAskill by Joe Roark
Sunday, August 3, 2003
On August 8, 1863, at age 38 or 39, a man known as The Cape Breton Giant, 7'9" Angus MacAskill, died. The only thing taller than Angus was the body of fiction tales which formed around his legend.
When Angus was age seven, James D. Gillis, the man who would become the main supplier of information regarding MacAskill, was born, and by 1898, Gillis began his search for information on the giant, which would result in a 1926 book, The Cape Breton Giant. This book contains little useful detail about his strength.
In 1970 Phyllis R. Blakeley published Two Remarkable Giants, with Angus being half the cast. Various articles have appeared through the years in the bodybuilding literature but a studied comparison, and a simple analysis of some of the claims yield some doubts.
Angus in adulthood stood about 7'9", or 3" shorter than the average American living room ceiling. He weighed a muscular 400 lbs, though his later non-muscular weight would rise, and whose bi-deltoid measurement was 44"- which co-incidentally is about the same width as is claimed for Victor Richards the famous non-competing bodybuilder. The other measurements offered for Angus vary from report to report. His chest is 70" or 'something like 80"'.
The palm-PALM- of his hand was 6" wide and 12" long- not his hand, but his palm! But the tourist office in Nova Scotia offers 8" wide. Knowing that most of us have a middle fingle length approximately the 'length' of our palm, are we to conclude Angus had a hand length of nearly two feet?
My studies have led me to agree with John Grimek who reported in Muscular Development in March 1970 that the stories about Angus "like Scotch whiskey get better with age." Perhaps only intoxication could explain some of the other authors' assertions.
Angus was born on the island of Lewis in a town called Harris, all part of the Hebrides chain of islands. One writer indicates that Angus was born almost a year to the day before Stephen Foster, which would set about July 4 or so, 1825 for Angus. Now the variances begin.
Angus moved with his family to Nova Scotia when he was three; or when he was six. The full family gave Angus nine brothers and three sisters.
Even David Willoughby took at face value, apparently, reports that Angus had been associated with P.T.Barnum, and had an audience with Queen Victoria, neither of those situations can be proven. But Willoughby with his keen eye for measurement did reduce the claimed 44" shoulder width to an educated guess of 27". Considering the casket in which Angus is buried is 30" wide, one suspects the 27" to be more likely.
Regarding some of the lifting feats ascribed to Angus, Willoughby did not 'believe a word of it'. (What had prompted Grimek to use the whiskey analogy was a reader suggesting that Angus lifted plow horses over fences for fun.)
Here is an examination of some of the feats attributed to MacAskill: (adapted from MuscleSearch June/July 1985)
1. As a teenager, Angus helped his brothers and his father with wood sawing activities. Rough cut large logs would be lifted by four men into a position about seven feet above the ground, placed into cross-supports to be sawed.
During a break, in which wine was being passed around, Angus was denied a share, probably because of his age. He left the table in anger, returned to the worksite and by himself lowered the unfinished log from the supports to the ground. When the rest of the crew returned to work and saw the log, they demanded to know who had helped him lower it, To prove that he had no help, he lifted the log back up to the supports by himself.
Others versions of this story omit mentioning the brothers and/or have Angus lifting the log first, not replacing it. Missing details include length, diameter of the log. Did he walk the log until center-point was reached and then press/jerk it into place? Did he clean it? This is certainly possible, but too many details are missing to put a value to the feat.
2. While plowing a field one afternoon using two horses (another version says two oxen) Angus was hurried to complete the plowing to win a wager he had made regarding being able to finish by a certain time. One of the animals became ill, so while Angus' father guided the plow, Angus put on the horses harness and he and the sound horse finished plowing for the next two hours. Only his mother's pleadings prevented Angus from winning the bet.
Those who have pulled a sled, know that a few feet is murderously difficult- much like pulling a plow would be. While Angus may have been able to plow for a few feet, or yards, two hours of such tugging seems unlikely.
3. The heavy wind blew the snow, increasing the wind chill factor. Angus' friend had become ill, and the nearest medical help was 25 miles away. Assuming Angus was at his heaviest, about 500 lbs, it is claimed he carried his 190 pound friend the whole near-marathon distance without once putting the man down for repositioning or rest. If you weigh 200 pounds, your similar feat would be carrying someone who weighs 76 pounds.
Also, when he finally got where he was going, he lowered his friend, and it was claimed that the man's weight to him had been so insignificant, that Angus did not realize he had been carrying much weight.
4. During a wrestling match with a 200 pound opponent, Angus three the man over a pile of wood ten feet high and twelve feet wide. The woodpile would have thus been at approximately the overhead reach height of Angus, so could he throw about half his own bodyweight forward for twelve feet 'like a missile' as one writer put it? Or did the man bump along on top of the pile?
5. Grip fans will enjoy this one: Angus performed a lateral raise using two fingers (and his thumb it is assumed) thus raising a 100 pound bag of sugar and holding it at the top position for ten minutes, or 600 seconds. Most lateral raises (crucifix lift) can be held steady for mere seconds if the lifter is using 25% of his own weight. Most people cannot hold their empty arm up for ten minutes. Put that amount of weight in a towel, gather the towel and pinch using two fingers and your thumb- how long can you hold it? Plus his long arms would have afforded him unfavorable leverage for this feat.
6. We will end with the anchor incident. This story varies greatly in detail, and I think we can assume, since a career ending injury was the result of this effort, that the event took place only once. So one wonders how it can be placed in New York City, Boston, and New Orleans as various writers have so placed it.
Angus approached an anchor reposing on the dock. The anchor's weight has been reported as light as 1,200 lbs and as heavy as 2,700 lbs. It did not have the chain attached, or it did have the chain attached- take your pick. Anchors of that weight did exist in his day and they were usually left at dockside for anchoring the ship in port.
He lifted it onto one shoulder and walked a few feet, or he walked 100 yards, or he lifted it overhead easily. If he weighed 400 then he jerked triple bodyweight or nearly seven times bodyweight. The lift overhead has been described as easily, and it has been described as straining until his veins nearly burst.
At any rate, all accounts agree that the fluke of the anchor struck Angus and he was badly injured, and afterward unable to stand erect, which makes the one author's chronology of placing the plowing incident AFTER the anchor incident, very suspect.
In the MuscleSearch issue I devoted to him eighteen years ago I explain the P.T. Barnum non-connection, and go into detail about his audience with Queen Victoria.
Bottom line: what we have in Angus MacAskill is Hebrides hyperbole.
See you Aug 15th!

Posted by TheEditor @ 08:29 PM CST