Author Archives: Al Myers

Angelo Siciliano, aka The 97 Pound Weakling

by Dennis Mitchell

Angelo Siciliano, aka The 97 Pound Weakling

Angelo, sometimes called Angelino, was born in Calabria Italy in 1893, either on October 30, or April 20, depending if you asked his mother,Teresa, or his father, Santo.  He arrived in the United States at the age of ten, and lived in a poor section of Brooklyn, New York.  After a short time his father, who worked as a farmer, returned to Italy.  His mother, a devout Catholic, raised him while working in a sweat shop as a seamstress.  Angelo soon left school and went to work in a factory making ladies pocketbooks.

Angelo was a frail child, and two times was beaten up, once near his home and once at Coney Island on the beach.  Humiliated that he could not defend himself, he joined the Y.M.C.A. where he started working out on stretching machines and doing gymnastics. He read Bernard Macfadden’s Physical Culture magazine, and using a set of home-made barbells followed his instructions. He said that his results were very disappointing.  At this time in order to sound more American, he changed his name to Charles.

While visiting the zoo at the age of seventeen, he was fascinated with a muscular lion and watched as the lion would stretch and “flex” his muscles. Charles thought this may be a more natural way to develop his muscles. Using a system of using one muscle against another muscle, he began to show results and by the age of nineteen, he was demonstrating a chest developer in a store on Broadway.  He was soon working as an artist’s model and performing strength feats in vaudeville with a strongman named “Young Sampson”. He worked with Earl E. Liederman and in the ConeyIsland Circus side show.

This was a popular advertisement for the Dynamic Tension Training Program.

In 1918 he married Margaret Casana and in time they had two children.  It was somewhere around this time that he legally changed his last name to Atlas. In 1921 he won Bernard Macfadden’s ” Worlds Most Perfectly Developed Man” contest at Madison Square Garden. When he won again the following year, Macfadden said there was no use putting on future contests because Atlas would win every time. In 1922 Atlas started his mail order body building business.  His course needed no equipment, and he also gave advice on nutrition, grooming and personal behavior. For several years his business was struggling. He opened and soon closed a gym in Manhattan. He worked as physical director at a summer camp for two years, with no pay. His mail order business finally started to make money in 1928, when he hired a young advertising agent named Charles P. Roman.  Charles Atlas Ltd. was formed in February 1928 with the two men being equal partners. Under Roman’s guidance the business was very successful. It was Roman who came up with the name of “Dynamic Tension”, which was the main part of the Charles Atlas system. They advertised in many pulp magazines, Popular Science, and many comic books. The course sold for $30.00.  He opened branches in London, England in1936, and one in Rio de Janeiro in 1939. By the early 1940’s, over 400,000 copies of the Atlas course had been sold. Even with his financial success, Atlas lived a private and simple life. The partnership lasted until 1970, when Atlas retired and sold his half of the business to Roman.

This body building article would not be complete without a list of Charles Atlas’s measurements.  He stood 5’10”, 180 pounds, 17″neck, 47″ chest, 17″ biceps, 14″ forearms, 32″waist, and 23.75″ thighs.

Charles Atlas died in Point Lookout, New York, December 23, 1972.

York Update

by Al Myers

We are now just a little over two weeks away from our Heavy Lift Nationals at York Barbell, in York, PA.   The event organizer and the person who made this whole affair happen, Mike Loncondro, just sent me the days itinerary.  There will be many activities happening at the same time.  We will have our competition in the Main Gym while the kettlebell workshop will be in the auditorium.  We will need to have our meet done by noon in order for all attention to be given to the main feature of the day – the York Hall of Fame induction of Slim the Hammerman.  In the afternoon, we will have a record day session and All-Round Weightlifting demonstrations.  Hopefully, this will give us the opportunity to introduce the All-Round Lifts to several new lifters.

The meet t-shirts are being picked up today.  On behalf of the USAWA, several of these shirts will be donated to this event to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project. This charity helps wounded soldiers restore their physical abilities through the pursuit of athletic fitness.  It is truly a worthwhile cause!!  I think everyone will really like the t-shirts I designed for this.  The awards will be ordered the first of next week for the competition.  So – all the plans are “in motion” to make this day a very special day for everyone involved.   

Kettlebells For Warriors – May 21, 2011          Schedule of Events
  Main Gym Auditorium Main Hall
0800 USAWA Contest    
0830      
0900 Crossfit Workout KB Workshop Registration  
0930      
1000 USAWA/Crossfit Opening Ceremony  
1030   KB Workshop (until 0100)  
1100 BREAK    
1130      
1200 USAWA/Crossfit    
1230      
0100 LUNCH (until 0300) LUNCH (until 0300) Dan Cenidoza and Slim
0130      
0200      
0230      
0300 USAWA/Crossfit KB Workshop (until 0500) Mighty Mitts Bending
0330      
0400      
0430      
0500      
0530 Main Gym Clean Up Auditorium Clean Up Main Hall Clean Up
0600      

World Championships

by Al Myers

The entry form is now available for the 2011 IAWA World Championships held on November 19th & 20th in Perth, Australia hosted by the ARWLWA.   The Worlds have not been held in Australia since 2003, so it is about time we get the opportunity to compete in the “land down under” in our most prestigious meet offered by the IAWA.  I know I’m looking forward to it!   Let’s show our support from the USAWA by several USAWA lifters attending.  This time of the year is a beautiful time in Australia, and making a trip like this could easily be combined with a vacation.  The promoters have made it easy on us – all you have to do is send in your entry “to commit” and then pay upon arrivial.  The selection of lifts look like a perfect list – all areas of All-Round Weightlifting will be contested. Entries must be sent in by October 3rd to secure a spot in this World Championships.

MEET DETAILS

Date: Saturday 19 & Sunday 20th November 2011

Venue: Belmont Sports & Recreation Club, Cloverdale, Perth WA

Lifts: Zercher,Cheat Curl, Push Press from Racks, 1 Hand Dumbell Swing, Continental Clean & Jerk, Fulton Deadlift 2″ Bar, 2 Hand Vertical Lift

Participants must be current paid up members of their respective lifting clubs – IAWA UK, USAWA, ARWLWA, NZ

Entry Form (pdf) – World Entry Form 2011 

Entry Form (word doc) – World Entry Form 2011

Rules of Competition Lifts – WORLDS LIFTS GUIDE

The ARWLWA Website contains more details regarding directions to the meet site and possible hotel accomodations near the meet.  Please check out the ARWLWA website for this information.

Heavy Lift Nationals Reminder

by Al Myers

The deadline for entry into the 2011 USAWA Heavy Lift Nationals is approaching.  The deadline is May 7th.  There will be no late entries accepted.  This is stated FIRMLY on the entry form, but I just want to remind everyone of this since most of the USAWA meets do not have entry deadlines.  The reason for this deadline is that  administrative decisions will be made based on the number of entrants.  This meet will be different than most of the past USAWA meets in that we have only a set amount of time to get the meet finished.   We can NOT run past this time limit because it would interfere with the other functions planned at York Barbell that day.  Also, awards will be made up based on the number of entrants – thus another reason for the meet deadline.  

Even if you don’t plan to compete in this meet, try to make it there that day.  In the afternoon (from 2-6) we will have a spot in the gym to set up a display table and perform lifts for records or exhibition.  There is no entry to participate in this – just show up.  It will give us a great opportunity to talk to people coming through the York Show about All-Round lifting and the USAWA.   See everyone in York on May 21st!!

Eastern Open Postal

by Al Myers

MEET RESULTS – The 2011 Eastern Open Postal Meet

 

Chuck Cookson put up a big 12" Base Squat in the 2011 Eastern Open Postal Meet. His squat of 600 pounds is the top lift of ALL-TIME in the USAWA Record List. This postal meet drew 19 competitors, which according to Meet Director John Wilmot, is the most he has ever had in one of his postal meets. John has been coordinating the USAWA Postal Series Meets the past several years.

MEET RESULTS

Eastern Open Postal Meet
March 1-31st, 2011

Meet Director:  John Wilmot

Lifts Contested:  Bench Press – Alternate Grip, Squat – 12″ Base, Deadlift – Dumbbell, One Arm

Lifters using 3 Certified Officials:

Denny Habecker – Officials Art Montini, Scott Schmidt, John McKean
John McKean – Officials Art Montini, Scott Schmidt, Denny Habecker
Art Montini – Officials  John McKean, Scott Schmidt, Denny Habecker
Joe Ciavattone Jr. – Officials Art Montini, John McKean, Scott Schmidt
Joe Ciavattone Sr. – Officials Art Montini, John McKean, Scott Schmidt
Jonathon Ciavattone –  Officials Art Montini, John McKean, Scott Schmidt
Kohl Hess – Officials Art Montini, John McKean, Scott Schmidt
Al Myers – Officials Mark Mitchell, Scott Tully, Darren Barnhart
Darren Barnhart – Officials Al Myers, Scott Tully, Mark Mitchell
Scott Tully – Officials Al Myers, Darren Barnhart, Mark Mitchell
Chuck Cookson – Offiicals Al Myers, Scott Tully, Mark Mitchell

Lifters using 1 Certified Official:

Mike Murdock – Official Thom Van Vleck
Helen Kahn – Official Randy Smith
Randy Smith – Official Helen Kahn
Scott Campbell – Offiicial Al Myers
Chad Ullom – Official Al Myers
Dave Beversdorf – Official  Joe Garcia

Lifters using a judge who is not a certified official:

Orie Barnett –  Sam Rogers
John Wilmot – Kay Wilmot

WOMENS DIVISION

Lifter Age BWT BP SQ DL-DB Total Points
Helen Kahn 59 161 70 115 101-R 296 361.6

MENS DIVISION

Lifter Age BWT BP SQ DL-DB Total Points
Al Myers 44 251 335 507 395-R 1237 1028.4
Chuck Cookson 41 274 300 600 305-R 1205 932.4
Chad Ullom 39 240 275 440 350-R 1065 862.8
Orie Barnett 50 228 251 427 255-R 933 860.6
Dave Beversdorf 45 300 400 500 205-R 1105 850.2
Randy Smith 56 196 195 300 281-R  776 819.6 
Scott Campbell  36  302  275  500  300-L  1075  777.9 
Joe Ciavattone Jr.  17  220  260  385  222-R  867  772.1 
Joe Ciavattone Sr.  42 254  325  315  272-R  912  739.5 
Denny Habecker  68  188  165  265  182-R  612  730.7
Scott Tully  35 345 350  440  210-R  1000 710.9
Darren Barnhart 43 290 280 330  310-R  920  705.6
Kohl Hess  16 285  175  385  277-R 837  684.8
John McKean  65  175  145  175  222-R  542  659.4 
Jonathon Ciavattone 16  234 210 255  222-R  687  620.2 
MIke Murdock  71  231  175  220  158-L  553  602.7 
John Wilmot  64 219  145  225  160-R  530  563.1 
Art Montini  83  179  80  135  149-R  364  499.4 

Notes:  All lifts recorded in pounds.  BWT is bodyweight in pounds. R and L stand for right and left.  Total is total pounds lifted.  Points are adjusted for age and bodyweight.

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