Category Archives: USAWA Daily News

Goddard Postal LEG 2

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT

THE ANDY GODDARD MEMORIAL TEAM CHALLENGE – LEG 2

Our IAWA President Steve Gardner has just announced this years IAWA World Postal Meet.  Steve is always “changing things up” to make these postal meets interesting, and this year is no exception.  It will be contested in two LEGS, with the results of both added together to make the final standings.  This Postal Meet is in rememberance of English lifter Andy Goddard, who passed away a few years ago.  I had the great fortune of being able to meet and compete with Andy, and he was a person of utmost character.  He had a great passion for all-round weightlifting, and I’m sure he would have  been pleased to see this postal meet being contested under his name.  I commend Steve for keeping Andy’s spirit alive with naming this meet after him.

Now for the “twists” of this postal meet.  The first thing is that it is a TEAM COMPETITION with two lifters making up a team. So get one of your training partners to join you.  Any combination of lifters is allowed – between open, masters, junior or women.  The deadline for the first leg is the end of April, and the deadline for the second leg is the end of July.  Result must be submitted to Steve shortly after these deadlines.  He did not set a deadline for submissions, but please be respectful and get them in as soon as possible.  Results are to be emailed to him directly.  Results can be turned in recorded in pounds or kilograms, but make sure to indicate which on the scoresheet.  If for some reason a team can not “stay together” for both legs, it is acceptable to change teammates for the second leg.  But if this is done, you will be scored ONLY for the leg you did together.  You can not “make up” the prior leg, or get a stronger lifter for the next lifts in question.  All the lifts for the leg MUST BE DONE ON THE SAME DAY.  You cannot do just one lift per day!  Also, since this is an IAWA event, 3 Certified Offiicals must be used to judge the lifts  instead of the customary minimum of one as required by the USAWA.  The officials names must be recorded on the scoresheet.  The best way to do this is to have them sign the result sheet, and then scan the document to send to Steve so their signatures will be recorded as well.

The World Postal Meet gives everyone the opportunity to compete against lifters in other countries without having to travel.  The lifts can be done in your own gym, so there is not really any reason not to support this Postal Meet.  Now for the lifts for LEG TWO:

Steinborn (Steinborn Lift)

One Hand Clean & Jerk (Clean and Jerk – One Arm)

Zercher (Zercher Lift)

Result sheet for Leg 2 – AndyG 2  (word)   AndyG 2 (pdf)

Goddard Postal LEG 1

by Al Myers

MEET ANNOUNCEMENT

THE ANDY GODDARD MEMORIAL TEAM CHALLENGE – LEG 1

Our IAWA President Steve Gardner has just announced this years IAWA World Postal Meet.  Steve is always “changing things up” to make these postal meets interesting, and this year is no exception.  It will be contested in two LEGS, with the results of both added together to make the final standings.  This Postal Meet is in rememberance of English lifter Andy Goddard, who passed away a few years ago.  I had the great fortune of being able to meet and compete with Andy, and he was a person of utmost character.  He had a great passion for all-round weightlifting, and I’m sure he would have  been pleased to see this postal meet being contested under his name.  I commend Steve for keeping Andy’s spirit alive with naming this meet after him.

Now for the “twists” of this postal meet.  The first thing is that it is a TEAM COMPETITION with two lifters making up a team. So get one of your training partners to join you.  Any combination of lifters is allowed – between open, masters, junior or women.  The deadline for the first leg is the end of April, and the deadline for the second leg is the end of July.  Result must be submitted to Steve shortly after these deadlines.  He did not set a deadline for submissions, but please be respectful and get them in as soon as possible.  Results are to be emailed to him directly.  Results can be turned in recorded in pounds or kilograms, but make sure to indicate which on the scoresheet.  If for some reason a team can not “stay together” for both legs, it is acceptable to change teammates for the second leg.  But if this is done, you will be scored ONLY for the leg you did together.  You can not “make up” the prior leg, or get a stronger lifter for the next lifts in question.  All the lifts for the leg MUST BE DONE ON THE SAME DAY.  You cannot do just one lift per day!  Also, since this is an IAWA event, 3 Certified Officials must be used to judge the lifts  instead of the customary minimum of one as required by the USAWA.  The officials names must be recorded on the scoresheet.  The best way to do this is to have them sign the result sheet, and then scan the document to send to Steve so their signatures will be recorded as well.

The World Postal Meet gives everyone the opportunity to compete against lifters in other countries without having to travel.  The lifts can be done in your own gym, so there is not really any reason not to support this Postal Meet.  Now for the lifts for LEG ONE:

One Hand Barbell Snatch (Snatch – One Arm)

Pullover and Push

Straddle Deadlift (Jefferson Lift)

Result sheet for LEG ONE – AndyG 1  (word doc)  AndyG 1 (pdf)

Blindt Formula

by Al Myers

The Overall Best Lifter at the 2011 IAWA World Championships Steve Sherwood also had the TOP LIFT of the meet with his 2-Bar Vertical Bar Deadlift according to the Blindt Formula.

One of the interesting things done by the Australians at the 2011 IAWA World Championships was that they gave an award to the lifter who had the TOP LIFT according to the Blindt Formula. The Blindt Formula is something that we have never really used in the USAWA.  It was developed 20 years ago by the English lifter Adrian Blindt.  The purpose of the Blindt Formula is to “equalize” all lifts in a meet.  Each lift is given a coefficient that is supposed to make the points generated for each lift the same.  This Blindt Coefficient is multiplied by the total Lynch Points in a lift to give this new point value. The way we do things is just add the total weight up from the lifts of the day and then apply the Lynch Formula and age correction formula – but by this you can see how it is not really fair to compare a couple of lifts, ie the Hip Lift and the Weaver Stick, if they were in the same meet.  A 5 pound increase in the Hip Lift is nothing, but a 5 pound increase in the Weaver Stick is an improbability.  However, this concept never really “took hold” in the USAWA or the IAWA(UK).  I do believe the English do have a couple of meets that use the Blindt Formula, but it has never been part of the IAWA World Championships. 

Of course, “putting a number” on the Blindt Coefficient can still be a debatable point.  Also, I could see how the original Blindt Coefficient might not “hold up” after the lift is practiced more and lifters became more proficient at it.  In the Highland Games in the RMSA (Rocky Mountain Scottish Athletes), a decathlon scoring system is used in most games. Each event generates points based on a factor which is supposed to “level the playing field” and make each event worth similar points.  However, during the late 90s and early 2000s throwers made a major change in throwing technique with the sheaf (went from the push to the swing, to eventually the spin).  With these changes in sheaf techiques, much higher heights were reached, thus making this event weighted much more than the other events when  points were added up.  I felt it made the sheaf points worth at least an event and a half, thus making the sheaf a “more important” event than the others when this scoring system was used.  These same problems could happen with the Blindt Formula. 

Years ago the Blindt Formula was used in the IAWA World Postal Meet.  This World Postal Meet was directed under the promotion of the Australians as well.  It is the only time I have been involved in a meet where the Blindt Formula was used until at this World Meet, when it was being used for this “special award”.   I really liked the idea of this award, and commend the Australians for presenting this award as it gave “unique flavor” to the awards presentation. I was very curious – just WHAT would be the best lift of the meet?  Especially considering all the great lifts that were done by the outstanding lifters in attendance. I took some time and “looked over” the result sheet because it also listed the Blindt scores (but they were NOT used in the overall standings).  It was very interesting to say the least. These are the Blindt Coefficients that were assigned to the lifts contested at the World Meet:  Vertical Bar Deadlift – .7500, One Hand Swing – 1.5385, Continental Clean and Jerk – .7143, Fulton Bar Deadlift – .6620, Push Press from Rack – .8357, Cheat Curl – 1.0068, and Zercher – .5419.  Just how do you think the final standings of the BEST LIFTS of the day would look like?  The score of 100 is a PERFECT SCORE, which probably was the basis of the original point formulation. I would consider anything over 90 to be EXCELLENT in a lift when it comes to the Blindt Score, so that is the only lifts I selected for the list below. 

TOP LIFTS AT WORLDS ACCORDING TO THE BLINDT FORMULA

Rank Blindt Score Lifter Event
1 128.3 Steve Sherwood VB Deadlift
2 117.2 Steve Sherwood Fulton DL
3 106.9 Al Myers VB Deadlift
4 106.7 Mark Haydock VB Deadlift
5 100.7 Tom Edwards VB Deadlift
6 99.9 Peter Phillips VB Deadlift
7 95.7 Steve Sherwood Zercher
8 95.6 Kris McIntyre VB Deadlift
9 95.3 Steve Sherwood Swing
10 95.2 Denny Habecker VB Deadlift
11 94.8 Steve Sherwood Cheat Curl
12 93.7 Peter Phillips Swing
13 92.9 Mark Haydock Zercher
14 92.8 Al Myers Zercher
15 92.7 Frank Allen Fulton DL
16 92.3 Robin Lukosius VB Deadlift

It doesn’t take much of an analysis to realize that the Vertical Bar Deadlift is recognized MUCH MORE than the other lifts in this list. A couple of the lifts (Continental Clean & Jerk and the Push Press from the Rack) were not represented AT ALL in the list of top Blindt lifts. There were some outstanding lifts in these two lifts as well and at least the TOP LIFT in them should have made the list. It makes one wonder that the Blindt Coefficients don’t accurately correlate between different lifts.   This list doesn’t reflect record lifts, but only the lifts that counted in competition.  I would argue against the use of using the Blindt Formula based on these results, or at least until the coefficients are re-figured to provide a CURRENT and ACCURATE reflection of the proficiency of the lifts in question.  But one thing is for certain, even if the Blindt Formula was used in the overall scoring Steve Sherwood would have remained as the TOP LIFTER in the World Championships.  He made the list in 5 different lifts!!!!

2011 Wrap Up

by Al Myers

As promised, I will do a “wrap-up” story today on the highlights of the 2011 USAWA year.  This is one story I always look forward to writing, as it summarizes the past year of USAWA events and competitions, along with other top stories.  2011 was a great year for the USAWA – arguably one of the best years ever!  I’m going to “go out on a limb” here, and RANK the top 10 stories of 2011 as I see them.  I’m sure there will be those who don’t agree – but TOUGH LUCK cause I’m the one writing the story!!!  Here it goes, with the count-down beginning at number 10.

10.  NUMBER OF  STORIES IN THE USAWA DAILY NEWS

This website continues to grow at  a steady pace and accumulating information all the time.  Last year there were 305 blogs produced in the USAWA DAILY NEWS.  I have just finished the 2011 Year In Review, which contains all the information placed on the website within the past year. This book (or should I say novel?) is over 500 pages in length and contains over 20,000 words.  Numerous authors have written stories for the Daily News. These were the top 5 writers in number of stories contributed – Thom Van Vleck, John McKean, Dennis Mitchell, Dave Glasgow,  and myself. Next to myself, Thom had the most with 76 stories!  I want to thank EVERYONE who has contributed stories to the website, because that is what makes it an organization’s publication.

9.  NUMBER OF USAWA RECORDS

I have already reported on 2011 being a record year in number of USAWA records set.  A total of 758 records by 72 lifters were established in the USAWA record list, which is ahead of the second place year (2005) by 83 records.  A truly record record-breaking year! Also, 2011 saw the entry of two more lifters into the CENTURY CLUB (for lifters who have over 100 USAWA records) – Rudy Bletscher and Chad Ullom. This list now stands at 21 USAWA lifters of all time.

8.  USAWA ONLINE STORE

The development of the USAWA Online Store has been discussed for a couple of years now, but at the 2011 USAWA National Meeting the membership voted to allocate funds for its development.  Several items are offered for sale to promote the USAWA -tshirts, sweatshirts, patches, water bottles and judging shirts, and all of these items are available to be purchased online.  All profits go into the bank account of the USAWA. So far, several orders have been filled.

7.  DALE FRIESZ RETURNS TO THE PLATFORM

Most of you know Dale “the Miracle Man” Friesz has faced probably the most difficult physical difficulty any lifter could be dealt – the amputation of a leg.  Dale did the “impossible” and returned to the lifting platform at Art’s Birthday Bash in October, and proceeded to break several USAWA records. His ring fingers deadlift of 122 pounds is exceptional, especially considering he did it on a prosthetic leg that has not been fitted properly yet!  Dale is has been the USAWA Award Winner for the Courage Award these past two years, and after this feat he has my vote again for 2012!!!!  If Dale is able to make it to Vegas for Nationals, he’ll make next years TOP TEN stories as well.

6.  THE USAWA FIRST GRIP CHAMPIONSHIPS

Grip competitions have been tested in USAWA competitions for many years, but till this meet there has never been a Grip Championships within the USAWA.  Kevin Fulton was the early promoter of many of the organizations grip competitions, with his famous grip challenges at his gym under the sanction of the USAWA.  In 2010, the Dino Gym hosted a grip challenge that was the precursor of this past year’s Grip Championships (notice I say “Championships” and not “Nationals”, because as Dale has said there can be only ONE NATIONALS, the GRANDDADDY of them all the National Championships, which I agree with him on).  Eight lifters took part this past year – Al Myers, Ben Edwards, Dave Glasgow, Denny Habecker, Mark Mitchell, Rudy Bletscher and Felecia Simms.   These lifters took part in the FIRST YEAR of something “big to come” in future years in the USAWA.  

5.  THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS IN KIRKSVILLE

Thom Van Vleck, of the JWC, promoted one of the BEST National Championships of ALL-TIME in the USAWA this past year in Kirksville, Missouri.  This, without a doubt, was a highlight meet of the year in the USAWA.  18 lifters took part from all parts of the country.  Team Ledaig Heavy Athletics walked away with the team title and most of the other main awards.  Team members Amber Glasgow won the Overall Womens Best Lifter Award and Larry Traub won the Overall Mens Best Lifter Award.  It was the first big win for both of these two lifters in the USAWA’s premier yearly competition (and from now on will be known as THE ONE AND ONLY NATIONALS).

4. BILL CLARK – LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

As has been covered in detail by Joe Garcia this week in the USAWA Daily News, Bill Clark receiving the very first Lifetime Achievement Award ranks “right at the top” of highlights during this past year.  This is an award Bill TRULY DESERVED, as without him we would not even have an organization.  No one knows the amount of time Bill has invested in the USAWA during his lifetime to make it the lifting organization it is now.  It is only right that Bill be the FIRST ONE to receive this prestigious award, and the honorary lifetime membership  in the USAWA that comes with it.

3.  HEAVY LIFT CHAMPIONSHIPS IN YORK, PA

I really felt like we hit “the BIG TIME” when we were able to be part of York Barbell’s Strength Festival last May.  We hosted our USAWA Heavy Lift Championships in conjunction with all the other activities that were going on at York Barbell that day.  It was a meet I will never forget – lifting on the “big stage” in front of strength athletes from all over the country. It was an honor for our organization to be part of something like that, and gave us National exposure like we have never seen before.  Of course Chad Ullom hitting that WORLD RECORD Neck Lift of 900 pounds was the highlight of the show!

2.  OLD TIME STRONGMAN

The year 2011 saw the introduction of Old Time Strongman within the USAWA.  It started with the first OTSM competition hosted by the Dino Gym in January, and ended with the OTSM Championships in Kirksville, hosted by Thom Van Vleck.  OTSM brought several new members to the USAWA this past year and I can see it continuing to grow. 

1. USAWA PARTICIPATION

This was a “no brainer” for the NUMBER ONE highlight of the year.  The USAWA would not be the USAWA without the participation of membership.  This past year we accomplished something we have not done for over 20 years, and that is to exceed 100 members.  The final count was 103 members in 2011.  On top of this, we hosted a RECORD NUMBER of events/competitions with 25, and now have more registered clubs at 14 than anytime in the history of the USAWA.  This is ALL BECAUSE OF YOU, and the the support you have given to the USAWA.   I personally want to thank everyone who has contributed to these numbers.  The USAWA is “alive and growing” , and I predict 2012 will even be a better year yet!!!

Bill Clark – Part 2

by Joe Garcia

Bill Clark performing his favorite lift, the Zercher Lift, at a meet in Leavenworth Prison in the early 1960's. There is 405 pounds on the bar.

Having looked at his role in the USAWA, and it is pretty easy to say there would not be a USAWA without his involvement; it’s time to delve into Bill’s life in general.  As we will see, Bill has been immersed in all sorts of sports, but the one in particular which has occupied the majority of his life is baseball. 

 His professional career as a scout began in 1956 when he became a ‘bird dog’, a person who finds talent for the scouts, for the Milwaukee Braves for $50 per year.  He performed at this level until 1962, meanwhile holding other jobs to support his family.  The Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta in 1966 where they are still today.  For a very short period of time he dabbled as an umpire in the Pioneer league, but stated that six weeks in the league cost him 3 years to recover.  In 1963 he became the Recreational Director for the city of Columbia and was also called by the Pirates who wanted him to run tryouts.  While doing tryouts, he first became a bird dog in their system, later becoming a part time scout and in 1967 was offered and accepted a full time position as scout.

The Seattle Pilots started up as a franchise in 1969 and took Bill on as one of their scouts.  The following year they went bankrupt, were purchased and moved to became the Milwaukee Brewers with Bill still on the team.  He stayed with them through the 1970 season and in 1971 got on with the Cincinnati Reds, again as a full time scout.  In 1984 Marge Schott took over as owner of the Reds.  Well known for both her cheapness and her dogs, she had the scouts in for a meeting, charged them 25 cents for leftover donuts from an event the previous day and had them all troupe down to meet her dogs.  Needless to say, Bill neither paid for the donuts nor met the dogs.

Probably due to his distain for her dogs, in 1989 Marge fired Bill who then went to work for the Atlanta and stayed with them for ten years.  After two years, in 1991, he was promoted to International Director of Scouting, a position he held till 1999 when he was relieved by new management.  In 2000, he joined with the San Diego Padres at the same position, where he finished out his scouting career in 2003, again being let go when new management took over the franchise.

During the course of his 36 year tenure in scouting, Bill signed 18 players into the league including Rafael Furcal (Atlanta – $8000) now with the Cardinals (6M), Andruw Jones (Atlanta) now with the Yankees and Bruce Chen (Atlanta) now with the Royals and past Pitcher of the Year.  As a member of the teams, he also received World Series rings, and has a total of eight rings, three for the champions; Cincinnati twice and Atlanta once.  These are kept in a bank vault, but hopefully he can be persuaded to bring them out sometime to gaze upon.

Way before his scouting and before the Pioneer league, Bill was a Semi-Pro official.  In 1949, at the age of 16, he officiated his first ball game for the Kansas City Monarchs, with the immortal Buck O’Neil playing First Base.  They kept a friendship going over the years until Buck’s death in 2006.  In 1950 he went to officiating school while still a teenager.  The last game Bill officiated was in 2009, between the Columbia Firemen and the media All-Stars for an Honor Flight fund raiser.  That last game put him behind the plate for a total of 7 decades.

He has worked in twenty two different sports from the local level through international, including an exhibition season in the NBA, National Junior College Wrestling, and State High School basketball.  As an athlete, he has competed in 6 decades, with the seventh just around the corner as he turns 80.  He was also co-owner of a trotting horse stables for a few years.

Bill received a Writing degree in Journalism in 1958 from the University of Missouri and has been at it ever since.  That same year he became the president of the MO State Sportswriters Association, and also accepted a position with the Lexington Kentucky Leader, whom he worked for briefly.  For over twenty years, he was on the staff as part time writer for both the Columbia Tribune and the Missourian, writing bowling columns, sports columns and general high school coverage.  Currently, he started writing in 2004 for the Columbia Tribune as their lead columnist, and to date has written approximately 1400 articles.  During his traveling years, he visited over 50 countries, logged more than 2000 international birds and has written numerous birding articles.

Over the years, Bill has started, created or revamped numerous organizations and events.  Here is a list he was able to think of during our interview:

  • In 1960 he wrote his first lifting news letter for the Missouri Valley AAU, expanded to write for the Region 8, and finally the USAWA finishing up in 2009.
  • Reorganized and revitalized the dormant Missouri Valley AAU.
  • Organized prison weightlifting.
  • Ran the prison postal championships for 20 years in Weightlifting, Powerlifting and track.
  • Created and wrote the constitution for the National Corrections Recreation Association.
  • Held the first sanctioned prison meet at Fort Leavenworth Prison city.
  • Along with Jim Witt, Homer Brannum and a couple of other ‘goons’; organized Powerlifting into a separate sport from weightlifting.  The ‘goons’ is a reference to comments made at the AAU meetings during the discussions.
  • Got prisoners full AAU Membership with 100% approval in 1966.
  • Responsible for the creation of the National Masters Weightlifting program.
  • In 1976 held the first all women’s sanctioned lifting competition.  Judy Glenney, a pioneer in women’s weightlifting and many time National champion, got her start at this meet.
  • Started up the USAWA and the IAWA.
  • Founder of the Heart of America Marathon – at 52 years the fourth oldest continuous Marathon in the country.
  • Originator of the Columbia Diamond Council, the largest youth baseball org in the county.
  • Creator of the Columbia Track Club, originally for kids now an adult league.
  • Organized the Hawthorne Native Plant Society.
  • Organized the Columbia Bowling Hall of Fame.
  • Help organize Society for American Baseball Research Scouts committee.
  • Organized the Columbia Basketball Officials Association.
  • Organized the Columbia Baseball Officials Association.
  • Tried and failed to organize the professional baseball scouts into a union.

 When someone puts as much into sports as Bill has done, over time they have a tendency to be recognized for their efforts.  Below is a list of some of the honors bestowed onto Bill.

  • Inducted into the Midwest Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame.
  • Received the Roland Hemond Award – from SABR for contributions to scouting and research.
  • Inducted into the Columbia Bowling Hall of Fame.
  • Inducted into the National Powerlifting Hall of Fame.
  • Inducted into the National Weightlifting Hall of Fame.
  • Inducted into the National Masters Weightlifting Hall of Fame.
  • Inducted into the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) Hall of Fame.
  • Inducted into the Pan American Weightlifting Federation Hall of Fame.
  • Inducted into the USAWA Hall of Fame.
  • Received the USAWA Lifetime Achievement Award.
  • Inducted into the Missouri Valley AAU Hall of Fame.
  • Inducted into Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen (AOBS) Hall of Fame.
  • Inducted into the Narcy Trass Volunteer Hall of Fame from the Show-Me State Games.
  • Won Joe Paul award.
  • Name Top Zebra by the Central Missouri Basketball Association.
  • In January will be awarded with the Legends in Scouting award out in Los Angeles.
  • Won numerous other awards.

There is no question that the world of sports has benefited from Bill Clark and his participation in it.  The two columns I have written about him have only touched upon the knowledge, trivia and stories from his years of involvement.  He has, in old terminology, ‘seen the elephant’.  I like to kid him that when he was born, they broke the mold, then beat the hell out of the mold maker, but all joking aside, there is no doubt that Bill is one of a kind man, the likes of we will never see again.  Thanks Bill.

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