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.
Oct 3, 2003 Letter from Charles A. Smith to Joe Roark Feb 26, 1986.
Saturday, September 27, 2003
First, Siggie [Sig Klein] is in a very bad way. He is back again in the hospital and this is NOT a good sign according to Vera [Charles' daughter, a nurse]. So we may see the demise of a very great gentleman of the Sport in the very near future. I hope not, but then I hope so since his type of malignancy entails a great deal of suffering and I am the sort of guy who believes that we should be as kind to humans as we are of animals and - with their consent, put them out of their misery- for that is the state they are in, to themselves and those around them.
Nice to know your trips in search if Hise-iana are getting more and more fruitful. It seems to me that you are now approaching the bottom of the barrel and now might be the time to start correlating the material and get it into some order, then do the fining process later.
Don't think me a Gloomy Gerry, but I can't see any Weider mag publishing it, Bill Reynolds good will or no. Go into any gym near you and ask any of the barbell boobs in it who Joseph Curtis is and they will probably ask you if he is the new steroid connection. Probably the only one who would publish the article would be Iron Man and then you'd get no more than a hundred bucks- in spite of the fact that Rader is doing very well yet hollers poor mouth all the time.
I am amazed that Bill Reynolds wrote to you. I wrote a letter of thanks to Ricky Wayne, aka Learie Carasco, thanking him for his mention of me but didn't get any reply. I guess the old dearie Learie got too far away from his bottle of smelling salts, was smitten with an attack of the vapors and still hasn't recovered.
I am pleased for you that Darden asked you to make the trip to the Jones' spread. Make the most of it. I thought once of writing to Darden after reading his book on High Intensity training in which he mentioned such things as Cheating Exercises, chair squats, negative principles, and high intensity, but nowhere mentions that these didos are as old as the Greatens period. But I reconsidered realizing it would do no good. He is one of the new breed who thinks that weight training in all its scientific glory- as they now would have you believe- just wasn't around before they started in on developing it and this isn't true and is tragic. Most of them forgot that they stand tall today because they stand on the shoulders of all those old time pioneers who preceded them
I do hope you won't be disappointed with your trip to Austin. I live in a very quiet neighborhood but close to what's going on and live very PLAINLY. In my state I have to. For instance, if I cook a piece of beef for dinner, I have to cook the entire piece and live off it until it is gone. Then I cook some chicken or whatever and do ditto with that and the same goes for stew. I make a big pot and eat it until it is gone. It's the only way I can make do with what money I have coming in. That's why it is important to have a little extra from article sales so I can buy such things as chops and steaks from time to time. But as I say, there are quite a few cafes close by.
Vic Boff keeps me info'd on Siggie and you may be sure I will let you know when he pops off. I am preparing an obit for Kennedy's mag MMI, so I too have an interest. Also Kennedy was so pleased at the article I wrote on the Wunderkind that he has asked me to do several more pen portraits on others, including Grimek.
Ah that letter from XXX. Several Christmas Geese are involved on this occasion. Let's delve into the muck. Now XXX was strong. His breath could knock over a bull moose and his crepitations corrode concrete. But that 100 reps with 450. BULLSHIT. Ditto for that 100 reps dead lift with 440. Was it the lift that was dead or XXX.
XXX started his club in an old house which is now a termite exterminator headquarters. The building he moved to was put up by a young and wealthy man, the idea being that XXX would rent the building from him. XXX did quite well there- grossing in those days five to six thousand a month with several most prominent members of the community using the facilities, including doctors, lawyers, members of the higher hierarchy of the Police Department, several politicians of great NATIONAL power and loads of wealthy business men and doctors and faculty members of the U of T. But he got kicked out by the OWNER of the building because he 'forgot to pay his rent and because he got greedy, thinking that, if one gym was good, two or three would be better. He insisted on opening a women's gym against my advice- I laying out exactly what he would take in the first couple of months then predicting that it would steadily decline. Women are very demanding and if you pay more attention to one than to another, they get vastly pissed off. And this is what happened. The first two months had XXX rubbing his hands and spending hours counting the shekels, and then FLOP. It was at this point that I left and went to work in PD, same thing I had been working on for some time, the cops using the gym urging me to drop the Mighty XXX since, they said, I was wasting my time there and they could use me. So I took'em up on it. But it would be interesting to see what XXX the Mighty has to say about why he left Austin when, as he claims, he had such a good thing going.
As for the names he mentions such as Jerry XXX etc etc. When he left the Bronx to come to Austin he took two international barbells with him from the club he BELONGED TO BUT DIDN'T OWN. It was one of those neighborhood clubs that kids get together and run on a communal basis. The boys such as Jerry XXX would have liked to have got their hands on M the Mighty. He pinched equipment that didn't belong to him.
As for George Irving Nathanson, this was a very strange individual who claimed all sorts of fantastic lifts- such as a 400 clean and other lifts in that high altitude at a bodyweight of way under 200, but, strangely, would always have some excuse when you asked him for a demonstration, why he was at that time, unable to comply with your request. Stays too tight, that time of month, eye glasses fitting too tightly, hat not cocked at the appropriate angle, etc etc. The Doctor, I suspect is not MD but chiropractic and regarded by me as not doctor but a form of glorified hyped-up massage.
Who the hell is Joe Thaler. Have forgotten him.
To sum up XXX. He is a gossip who doesn't ask for information like a man but scratches for it like a dog.
I don't know or can't remember the name of the young chick XXX was giving flesh injections to. But there are four women named in his will and she might be one of them. I just didn't know. I very much doubt if the women under XXX were PRONE. That sexual position was frowned upon by the ecclesiastical courts, and anyway it gave XXX the hiccups.
As for those old Iron Man copies obtained in exchange from Hinbern. If you will go through those advice columns I wrote, you might come across one on the CHEAT CURL. You might also notice a letter from a Russell Stoker or Stover, saying he had tried it and had never obtained such good results before. This, I believe, but don't know for sure was the first time CHEATING was ever mentioned in the STATES.
Getting back to that film trading with Hinbern. Was there an understanding between you that he NOT REPRODUCE IT AND MARKET IT OR SELL COPIES TO OTHER COLLECTORS. There should be such an agreement.
[note: Bill Hinbern is a friend of mine, though we have never met, and Charles' concern was unfounded here. Whatever Bill decided to do with the film was fine by me. He has often done me favors and I trust him explicitly, and have given him permission to sell copies of my former newsletter MUSCLESEARCH as he sees fit. Bill is swimming among the cream at the top of those involved in this sport!]
[regarding Weider's magazine MONSIEUR, a girlie magazine, though by today's standards, hardly so.] I have gone through that list of names of Monsieur and recognize only two. One is Stanley Paley, who I am sure is Stan Weston, nee Weinberg, and now a very wealthy publisher of all sorts of pulp mags. The other is Dennis Waldrop who was Joe's layout man from the very beginning. In fact Dennis was there when I first arrived. Where he is now I don't know. I believe, but am not sure, that when Joe folded Boxing and Wrestling, Joe sold the title to Stanley Weston.
Nice, that post card from Grimek and how I had CHANGED. Well, we all change over the years- experience and just plain living and coping will do it. But I am surprised at his opinion since he didn't know me well enough to express one. I only had contact with him at meets he and I attended together. And then it was confined to a gruff and hostile 'Hello Smith' from him.
This kind of stuff hurt my feelings since I had done nothing to deserve it and thought it unfair to judge me guilty because of mere association. Grimek told me in a recent letter that 'THEY' had been told through the grape vine that I was Weider's 'Hatchet Man'- what this means I don't know- and where they got it from I don't know either.
We all change. Some of us become more capable of empathy, others become more callous, some more compassionate and others don't give a pinch of monkey's poop about anyone else than themselves. I've changed too- a little wiser, a little sadder at this sorry world we live in and in one respect, the same as I've ever was. POOR.
But it's nice that a one time enemy now is a friend.
Hope I've covered all your questions. If I've missed any, just holler and I'll do my best to give you the gen.
Best wishes to you and yours,
Chas.
Posted by TheEditor @ 12:56 PM CST
Sep 26, 2003 Joseph Curtis Hise
Thursday, September 25, 2003
Joseph Curtis Hise died Sep 27, 1972 Born Aug 10, 1905
J.C. Hise was born in Scottland, Illinois (now it is called Scotland) on the eastern border of the state. He would become famous for his pioneering work in the squat used to gain mass and weight.
His childhood friends always called him Curt (not Joe, or Joseph). Charles A. Smith always considered Hise as the unsung true pioneer of weight training- at least in regard to the squat.
For those who may have these old magazines, here are some reading references for you to consider: all written by Hise unless noted.
Iron Man:
2:2 p 6 Strong men made easy
2:3 p ? Strong men made easy
2:5 p 7 Natural Lifting
2:6 p 8 Natural Lifting
3:1 p 7 Natural Lifting
3:3 p 5 Skeleton types
3:4 p 4 The Story of JCH - Rader
4:1 p 17 Lil bones, don't you cry
4:2 p 17 Lil bones, don't you cry
5:1 p 24 Great vigor
5:2 p 15 Great vigor
6:2 p 14 Chest growth and weight gain
6:3 p 10 The Hise deltoid exercise
7:1 p 10 The chest-shaping squat- co author Bruno
Jul 1948 p 26 Cartilage mass theory
Aug 1948 p 23 Cartilage mass theory
Sep/Oct 1948 p 30 Results from the JCH shrug- Kelling
May/Jun 1950 p 28 The Hise shrug
Nov 1972 p 31 Obituary- Howell
May 1978 p 32 JCH- Pioneer of powerlifting- Howell (in 1936 Hise predicted a clean and jerk someday of 500 lbs)
Nov 1986 p 44 The mysterious Hise shrug- HowellIron Man:
2:2 p 6 Strong men made easy
2:3 p ? Strong men made easy
2:5 p 7 Natural Lifting
2:6 p 8 Natural Lifting
3:1 p 7 Natural Lifting
3:3 p 5 Skeleton types
3:4 p 4 The Story of JCH - Rader
4:1 p 17 Lil bones, don't you cry
4:2 p 17 Lil bones, don't you cry
5:1 p 24 Great vigor
5:2 p 15 Great vigor
6:2 p 14 Chest growth and weight gain
6:3 p 10 The Hise deltoid exercise
7:1 p 10 The chest-shaping squat- co author Bruno
Jul 1948 p 26 Cartilage mass theory
Aug 1948 p 23 Cartilage mass theory
Sep/Oct 1948 p 30 Results from the JCH shrug- Kelling
May/Jun 1950 p 28 The Hise shrug
Nov 1972 p 31 Obituary- Howell
May 1978 p 32 JCH- Pioneer of powerlifting- Howell (in 1936 Hise predicted a clean and jerk someday of 500 lbs)
Nov 1986 p 44 The mysterious Hise shrug- HowellVIGOUR:
Jan 1946 p ? Successful methods of increasing chest size
Feb 1946 p 23 Successful methods of increasing chest size
Mar 1946 p 43 Successful methods of increasing chest sizeMUSCULAR DEVELOPMENT:
Jun 1973 p 22 JCH- Daddy of the Squat- HowellVIM:
Feb 1940 p 15 What every greenhorn should know
Mar 1940 p 8 What every greenhorn should know
Apr 1940 p 12 What every greenhorn should know
Jun 1940 p 12 Shapeliness simplified
Jul 1940 p 12 Shapeliness simplified
Aug 1940 p 12 Shapeliness simplified
Sep 1940 p 6 Shapeliness simplified
Oct 1940 p 12 Value of the Squat part 1
Nov 1940 p 12 Value of the Squat part 2
Dec 1940 p 10 Value of the Squat part 3
Jan 1941 p 8 Value of the Squat part 4, conclusion
May 1941 p 16 Gains, gaining, and gainers
Jun 1941 p 10 Gains, gaining, and gainersThe inscription on the back of Hise high school graduation photo reads:
[signed] Joseph Curtis Van Hise, Dec 1, 1922
Senior at Oakwood Township High School, 16 years, 3 months, and 23 days
5 ft 9-1/4 inches, 164#
[then signature twice] Joseph Curtis HiseDon Noel, a grip strength specialist told me some interesting bits about Curt:
I cannot state if the claims were accurate but here they are:Hise went to s�ances in Indiana and he believed in them
Hise told Don that he had visited Russia
Hise and Don worked out together in the 1950s
Hise never bench pressed- mostly shrugs and squatsHise lived for a while in Danville, Illinois, and his sister-in-law showed me the rear apartment on Tillman Avenue.
He owned property in Columbus, Ohio. He claimed to have worked for the Pinkerton Detective Agency. Was a carpenter's helper at the U of Illinois in 1934. Had a pet dog named Bud.
I have somewhere in a box of papers some of Hise's measurements while he was in high school. If during my continuing excavation I uncover it, I will report it here later.
Here is the obituary as it appeared in the St. Joseph Record, newspaper, Sep 30, 1972:
SUCCUMBS at 67: Funeral services for Joseph C. Hise, 67, of Homer will be held at 2 p.m. Sept. 30 at the Kirby Funeral Home in Homer with Rev. William Stephenson officiating. Burial will be in GAR Cemetery.
Mr. Hise died at 6 p.m. Sept 27 at Poplar Bluff, MO., of an apparent heart attack. He was driving a truck and had pulled off along the side of the road.
Born Aug. 10, 1905 at Scottland, he was the son of Charles A. and Amy Banta Hise. He attended school in Homer and for several years was a uranium miner in Nevada and Colorado.
He leaves a sister, Mrs. Frances Gurnea of Homer, a brother, Frank, of Danville, and several nieces and nephews.
The obituary from the News Gazette newspaper adds that Curt was en route to Missouri where he had been visiting. He was never married. And family members told me he regretted not marrying.
Hise was a bib-overall wearing intellectual. Charles A. Smith was impressed with the huge depth of knowledge that Curt possessed.
I once visited Curt's sister-in-law and she sold me Curt's Jackson 1-A Olympic barbell set, his Magic Circle, and some other materials. I have since traded the 1-A to Kim Wood for some items, but Andy Jackson remembered making that set for Joe (as he called him) in the early 1950s. Only 500 to 600 sets of the 1-A were manufactured.
See you Oct 3!
Posted by TheEditor @ 08:12 PM CST
Sep 19, 2003 Ironhistory.com by Joe Roark
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
Arnold Schwarzenegger was age 21 when he began his string of three consecutive Pro wins at the NABBA Universe in London's Victoria Palace- he had won the amateur division in 1967 there, and in 1968 began his triumphant pro trilogy.
In 1967, Bill Pearl, a month before his 37th birthday, won the Pro division as Arnold, 20, won the amateur.
So far as I can determine, the farthest distance anyone has traveled within 24 hours following one victory to another victory is the trip described below by Arnold.
On Sep 19, 1970, in the Pro NABBA Universe, here are the partial results:
Class 2: short
1. Boyer Coe
2. Kassem Yazbek
3. Fanie Du Toit
4. Nicolas KempClass 1: tall
1. Arnold Schwarzenegger, also won the overall
2. Reg Park
3. Dave Draper
4. John BubbSo Arnold and Dave Draper flew across the Atlantic to Columbus to compete in the Pro Mr. World at Veteran's Memorial (where the Arnold Classic is held these days).
Arnold won the tall and the overall Pro Mr. World, Sergio Oliva placed second and Dave Draper, third. Two weeks later Arnold began his string of victories at the Mr. Olympia, where again Sergio placed second, and Dave won the IFBB Mr. World also contested that night.
At the Mr. World, Draper won only one best body part category, best chest. So medium height class winner Ricky Wayne may have entertained the thought of overall victory having also won best arms, back, abs, and poser. But Wayne's hopes waned. Draper took the overall.
Short class winner Franco Columbu was declared most muscular and best legs.
So Arnold, after losing to Sergio at the 1969 Mr. Olympia, laid the groundwork a fortnight before the second Olympia battle for the Sandow by the Columbus discovery of victory over The Myth.
See you Sep 26th!
Posted by TheEditor @ 10:25 PM CST
Sep 12, 2003 Ironhistory.com by Joe Roark
Thursday, September 11, 2003
(comment: When I type these letters into my computer, the sense and awe of what a solid, skilled writer Charles was becomes more obvious. He had a deft delivery and a happy, flowing style, which gave and gives, joy to the reader. He remains, in my view, one of the sport's best writers.)
Letter from Charles A. Smith Feb 20, 1986
Thanks for your letter post dated February 15th which reached me yesterday. If your visit was now you'd probably enjoy the weather which hit 92 degrees yesterday and is due to ditto today. Normal temps for this time of the year are around 65 to 70 and I guess in April, if the weather here isn't its usual fickle self, should be in the high seventies, low eighties, so with a little sunbathing, you can probably return to chilly St. Joe and brag about your swift trip to Polynesia or other places where the skies are not cloudy all day.
Thanks too for the enclosed snaps of the reverend Joe Hise which will find repose in the Collection. No use my hanging on to them since my days on this earth- or for that matter on any of the distant planets is limited. I also broached the subject of the movie diplomatically- what a diplomat I am- to TT and he said it was still in the University archives. It seems they are making a copy of the movie for him and are due to call him when it is ready. As to his not firing off a missive of thanks- and without my sounding as if I am making excuses for him- he IS very busy what with his classes, grading the deathless prose of the term papers of the students- you should see some of them- that he hardly has time to pass wind, obey the call of nature as they once used to say in a quaint way- or do justice to his wife. What a Life.
Further news from the Collection is that Jan for her doctorate requirement wrote a fifty page paper on the effects Bernarr McFadden had on the women's sports movement and the influence he had on women's dress way back. It was received with not only high praise but loud hosannahs, was selected the best doctoral paper written NATIONALLY and, winning the first prize for such offerings, has been invited to Vancouver in late May to read it- rather present it personally at some esoteric sort of big bash there. They will, while there, also look up Doug Hepburn and pump his brains to a fare-thee-well - just as you are gonna do mine on your arrival. So all sorts of succulent goodies are about to pop up from the fertile fields of ferrous substance flinging.
I had a remarkable surprise the other day. I received my copy of Muscle and Fitness and Flex and lo and behold, my two articles were NOT in it.
As to the Florida connection, I just don't know what to say. My prime suspect was XXX, since the letter contains- as I read it- so many female or catty remarks. But seriously I don't know. At the time it was mailed I was in no mental condition to be bothered with such stuff having lost my wife a bare month before the missive was mailed and also having a nine year old child - Vera- to look after and a new and important position in the branch of the police department I was working for at the time.
Whoever was responsible must have been in the WHW close confidence. I knew little or nothing at the time of his sexual peccadilloes- is that the correct spelling- and even if I had, would have paid no heed since I consider these things personal and of really no importance except to the participants directly involved. I'd have little or no interest in them apart from the question, 'Was it good?'
I also wrote to Horvath, but Bart at the time was tied up hand and foot with his own mag and living somewhere in Palisised Heights or some such place in New Jersey. And, one of his kids was pretty sick too. But I'll dig around and can probably come up with who the mystery man or woman was who penned the letter.
I don't mind what people say about me so long as it is true. What pisses me off is when it ISN'T true. I am sure that at some time or the other I have ruffled the feathers of many, but no one has ever aid anything about me- that is no takes of my derring do or skullduggery have ever reached my ears apart from the XXX Missive. The way I look at it is if I've got someone unhappy at me and I've done the dirty deed, then it is true and I'll admit it- why not? Denying something that I KNOW to be true only increases the load of guilt I have to carry and I'm carrying sufficient load of that already, not to add to it.
Who is Al and Vera Christensen? Never heard of them, or else my memory is going on the blink.
Yes, we have all the Weider mags from first to the latest. It will be very obvious to you how they changed when I joined the staff, and this is no display of big headedness on my part. Recently Professor John Fair who teaches Political Sciences at Auburn University was here researching for an article he is to do on 'The Golden Age of American Weightlifting.' One of the first things he noticed was what he called 'the DRAMATIC change' in the Weider mags from the MOMENT YOU (that's me) started to work for him. He went on to remark further that the subject material of the mags expanded remarkably after I had joined, particularly with Olympic Lifting.
It was so sad to learn of XXX slow and mental rotting away. There is a rumor to the effect that he was a Parkinsonian but I don't believe this. It was just plain senility and failure of kidney function that finally topped him off. I didn't like the man, considering him a coward and a bully and a whoremunger. Hise once made a remark about him to the effect that the only women he was able to date were whores and nymphomaniacs. He certainly bounced off the bellies of scores of women according to what I have been told.
XXX used to turn up at meets with some young piece of skin who couldn't have been more than 25 tops. Very pale skin, dark hair, and green eyes and full lips but as flat chested as a country crap house door- use that one and I'll sue- with a voracious look about her and of whom it was said that she screwed XXX until he couldn't come if he was called. What happened to her I don't know, but she was most obviously sexually LIVE- in fact it fairly oozed out of her. Everybody called her "XXX's girl'. I knew her name but have forgotten or can't recall it at the moment. So of he left her in his will he can bet the screwing he got was well worth the screwing he paid for.
I am very much afraid that Siggie is in terminal straits. What a pity that such a nice guy couldn't have a more peaceful and easier ending to his wonderfully productive life. Although Sig was, in a small sense, like Weider in that he liked to rake in the loot and didn't miss a chance to do so, yet he had the common, human touch, could empathize and sympathize and had a broad streak of generosity in him in all of its aspects and in all of the ways it touches people. I certainly won't forget his kindness to me at a time when I sorely needed someone to be kind to me.
I just can't believe that Miss Heidenstam turned down a Grimek article with the remark that no one knew Grimek then.
Just recently Bob Kennedy wrote me a letter saying that he had heard Weider and I went to England in 1951 so I could take over Weider's business there. Not true. Joe wasn't about to cut me in on any of the profits or place me in a position where I could find out how much HE was making. So investigate me all you want. Have at it. It should be amusing and might even stir the consciences of some and even may lead to my election to the so called political Hall of Fame. Personally I don't think so.
Take care, and the best of everything to you and yours,
Chas.Posted by TheEditor @ 06:44 AM CST
Sep 05, 2003 Ironhistory.com by Joe Roark
Thursday, September 4, 2003
Recently, a friend in England, Graham Noble, sent me some clippings from Health and Strength magazine. This week, I would like to share the one from November 17, 1928, wherein Thomas Inch writes of the passing of Apollon, whose name Inch consistently incorrectly spells as 'Appolon'. Though Inch does not give the date of death, it was October 18, 1928- one month before this piece was published. Apollon died at age 56 years and nine months (shy three days).
(Please keep in mind that Apollon never had an opportunity to try to lift the Inch 172.)
From H&S:
"I have just heard, with a pang of sincere regret, of the death of Appolon (sic), that good-humoured giant who always seemed to me the living embodiment of Dumas's famous character, Porthos.
"For Appolon (sic) was a real strong man; he was the only strong man I ever met with a forearm which, measured straight (none of your American bent-arm tricks!) could register over 16 inches, and he was no less than 22 inches upper arm. Prodigious!
[note: Apollon's arms were NOT 22"- closer to 20. But I suspect, because Inch had claimed a nearly 20" arm for himself (19-7/8" and he commented he was tempted to round it off to 20) that he knew anyone who compared Apollon's arm to his would KNOW Apollon's dwarfed Inch's, so perhaps Inch inflated Apollon's arm size to cover his own claim? Also, please note the British method of measuring the straight forearm, not the goosenecked, bent forearm as Americans were in the habit of measuring. So comparing the measurements of Brits and Yanks requires we KNOW which style the American used, because we do know what style the British lifter used. Apollon did in fact have a 9" wrist.]
"I first met him as Messrs, Hana's famous photo studio, where strong men are wont to call in to see if they can break the camera, and he was very obliging, and assisted me willingly with a set of photos for the Continental system of training for weight-lifters. [note: what year would this have been? Inch had previously stated that by the time he had occasion to meet Apollon, the Frenchman was past his prime, but according to the following paragraphs, it appears that when Apollon showed Inch what he could lift, that Inch was relieved the Inch 172 was not near. Also, whatever became of these photos of Apollon- where were they published?]
"He showed me some feats with the weights which made me fear Appolon (sic) as the one man who might lift my challenge dumbbell. I glanced at his nine-inch wrist and 16-1/2 inch forearm, and somehow I felt glad that my dumbbell was safely at home locked up in the box.
Slow but Great: "He was wont to swing two kettle-bells, both held in one hand, about 190 lbs weight, and such feats as he performed he went through in very leisurely fashion, just using huge strength and bodily weight, none of the express speed and science of the present day lifters.
"I heard a story of his prowess in a Parisian school, when he was challenged to pick up with one hand a thick-handled bell which no one had been able to lift clear of the floor. Appolon (sic) was not content with picking up the bell knee high; he snatched it and threw it down with a gesture of disdain rather comical to behold- funny to all except the school proprietor, who was looking askance at his wrecked school floor where the massive bell had fallen.
[note: would this be the Desbonnet dumbell incident? If so, Inch is incorrect about no one else getting the bell off the floor. By the way the modern Millennium dumbell is, so far as we know, a replica of the Desbonnet bell. Also, if this refers to the Desbonnet bell, then other versions indicate that Apollon lost his grip and the bell went flying backwards- he did not throw it down after a completed lift.]
"Appolon (sic) appealed to me as a man who could rise to really superhuman feats if only he could be roused. He appeared to have a lethargic temperament, with great reserves once he could be induced to really exert himself.
"Looking down the long years, one finds that just occasionally we do get a mountain of a man like Appolon (sic) who seems to have somehow received more than his fair share of strength and muscle. I cannot say that such men belong to the past alone, because to-day we have the huge Gorner, who appears to hardly know his own strength.
"But the passing of poor Appolon (sic) does give rise to the thought: 'Are the present-day strong men an improvement on the past or not?'
"It is a most intriguing question, and personally, after running through the names and ability of giants of the past whom I have known, I have no hesitation in saying that the lifters of today stand out as far more scientific and speedy.
[note: who, other than Apollon, slow or fast, could snatch or swing two separate weights on one hand totaling 190 pounds overhead with power in reserve?]
"Clever brains have not been at work since without it being fruit bearing. I have no hesitation whatever in saying that the men of the past could not hope to hold their own with to-days competitors at, say, the Olympic Games tournaments.
"Still, they were, standard-bearers; they were pioneers, their figures are still outstanding and regarded with respect.
"We have lost Sandow, Saxon; now Appolon (sic), and it is not long since the mighty Louis Cyr breathed his last. [note: Cyr died in 1912]
"But their names will always remain with us as long as the iron game lasts, and we shall always have a kindly thought for the giants of the dim past, even though they may not have lifted with the speed and science which is a sine qua non to-day."
Comments: Three months earlier in H&S magazine, Inch had written regarding his challenge dumbell of 172 lbs that "� to this day [Aug 11, 1928]it has never been lifted an inch off the ground�".
That is because he was very cautious about whom he allowed to try the bell. His acknowledgement that Apollon's casual one hand snatch of 190 lbs with two weights held in the same hand, and his admission that Apollon toyed with a bell no one else could lift off the floor, all point to the fact any student of Apollon already knew: he would have toyed with the Inch 172 also.
One other point. Inch had apparently forgotten that in 1907 he reported that someone had been awarded a prize for best effort in lifting the 172. How does one determine the best effort if the bell never leaves the floor? Best grimace, best groan, best shout, what?
And in 1908 he wrote of a couple of men who had moved the bell though neither man lifted the bell very far off the floor. So the bell did leave the floor, but he apparently did not recall those two incidents when writing in the summer of 1928, nor did he recall them when writing even later of the bell's history.
It is safe to assume that if Apollon could grasp the handles of two bells using only one hand, and swing or snatch the 190 pounds aggregate overhead, the 172 Inch would not be a roadblock, especially since even Inch acknowledged that Apollon performed the 190 pound feat casually, and not as a one rep maximum lift.
Thank you, Graham for sharing this article!
Posted by TheEditor @ 07:44 PM CST
