USAWA

BY DAVE GLASGOW

FOURTEEN LIFTERS TOOK TO THE PLATFORM FOR THE SECOND ANNUAL ‘MONSTER GARAGE’ POWER MEET HELD ON SUNDAY, 30 APRIL, 2012 IN GEORGETOWN, IN.  THE GET TOGETHER WAS PRESENTED BY LARRY (FLOYD) TRAUB AND WAS SANTIONED BY THE USAWA.  ALTHOUGH THIS PRODUCTION  WAS A POWER MEET, THE CONTESTANTS WERE GIVEN THE OPPORTUNITY TO GO FOR RECORDS IN THE ‘12” SQUAT OR DEADLIFT’ AND THE ‘FEET IN THE AIR BENCH PRESS’.  MANY CHOSE TO GO THIS DIRECTION SO THERE WERE MORE THAN A FEW NEW USAWA RECODS SET.

THE VERY VAST MAJORITY OF THE PARTICIPANTS ARE ALUMNI OF ST. XAVIER HIGH SCHOOL, AN ALL BOYS SCHOOL IN LOUISVILLE, KY.  IN THIS GROUP ARE NOT A FEW PAST NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPS AND FORMER DIVISION I FOOTBALL AND TRACK ATHLETES.  ALONG WITH THE ‘KIDS’ WERE TWO THROWS COACHES AND THE STRENGTH/CONDITIONING COACH FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISVILLE MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM.  IN OTHER WORDS, THESE WERE FOLKS WHO KNOW, UNDERSTAND AND APPRECIATE THE WEIGHT GAME AND ARE MORE THAN ABLE TO HOLD THEIR OWN AT A MEET SUCH AS THIS.  I FELT AS THOUGH I WAS A DRAFT HORSE AT THE KENTUCKY DERBY!!!

YOUNGEST OF THE HERD WAS FRED SHARP, A MEMBER OF THE ST. X POWER TEAM FROM 2011.  AT 64K, HE PUT UP SOME REALLY GOOD NUMBERS FOR A ‘NO EQUIPMENT’ MEET.  TYLER BAINES RETURNED THIS YEAR AND TOOK A BREAK FROM HIS FIREFIGHTING TRAINING TO JOIN HIS EX-COACH.  HIS WIDE STANCE SQUATS WERE VERY IMPRESSIVE.

FORMER PROSECUTING ATTORNEY TURNED PRIVATE PRACTITIONER, JON HECK, SHOWED THOSE PRESENT THAT THIS IS ONE ATTORNEY WHO CAN HANDLE HIMSELF ON A PLATFORM.  COMING IN AT LESS THAT 95K, HE HANDLED SOME PRETTY FAIR WEIGHTS.

BLAKE DEDAS, FORMER NATIONAL COLLEGIATE CHAMPION, LOOKED STRONG ALL DAY AND CHALLENGED HIS FORMER MENTOR FOR TOP SPOT TILL THE END.  MIKE TULLIS, FORMER SUB-JUNIORS WORLD TEAM MEMBER, CAME IN WITH LITTLE TRAINING AND SHOWED HE’S NO SLOUCH!

THE OLDER (MATURE??) GUYS WERE NOT TO BE DENIED.  TIM HARBISON, FORMER ST. X TEACHER/WRESTLING COACH, RAY GANONG, CURRENT STRENGTH COACH FOR THE NCAA FINAL FOUR LOUISVILLE BASKETBALL TEAM, AND TOM CHAPELLA, A LEGENDARY RETIRED THROWS COACH, POSTED SOME GOOD NUMBERS TO LET EVERYONE KNOW THAT, JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE SOME AGE ON YOU, DOES’NT MEAN YOU CAN’T PLAY WITH THE KIDS!!  IT SHOULD BE NOTED HERE THAT RAY GANONG RAN A HALF MARATHON THE DAY BEFORE!!  AT 225 POUNDS, THAT IS QUITE A FEAT!!  TO PUT UP THE NUMBERS HE DID…….  WELL, HE HAS MY VOTE FOR THE ‘IRONMAN’ AWARD.

THESE ‘OLDER’ GUYS ADDED A LOT OF COLOR TO THE GATHERING.  THEIR COMMENTS AND JOKES KEPT THINGS LOOSE AND MADE THE EVENT THAT MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE.

KRISTIN TRAUB, AT A SOLID 78K, A FORMER TEENAGE NATIONAL CHAMP HERSELF, WAS NOT INTIMIDATED IN THE LEAST.  BEING THE ONLY FEMALE AT THIS TESTOSTERONE CHARGED MEET, SHE MORE THAN HELD HER OWN!!

WE WERE TREATED TO SOME VERY SPECIAL LIFTING BY A VERY SPECIAL INDIVDUAL.  SAM CHAPELLA HAS DOWN’S SYNDROME.  HIS DAD, TOM, HAS GROOMED HIM INTO, WHAT IS BELIEVED TO BE, THE STRONGEST DOWN’S SYNDROME LIFTER IN THE WORLD!!  INDEED, SAM DIDN”T SEEM TO MIND WHAT WAS ON THE BAR.  HE TOOK CARE OF BUSINESS WITH LITTLE FANFARE, BUT ROUSING APPLAUSE EVERY TIME HE LIFTED, ENDING WITH A 9 FOR 9 DAY.

THE ONLY ‘OUTSIDERS’ BESIDE YOURS TRULY, WERE LES CRAMER AND HIS PROTÉGÉ, MARCUS SNYDER.  THESE TWO DROVE A CONSIDERABLE DISTANCE TO BE THERE AND PARTICIPATED WITH THE ALUMNI.  THEY ALSO SET MANY USAWA RECORDS FOLLOWING THE MEET.

HOWEVER, AGAIN THIS YEAR, THE OLD MASTER HIMSELF, LARRY ‘FLOYD’ TRAUB CARRIED THE DAY.  AT 58 YEARS OLD, HE SHOWED THAT PERSISTANCE AND PERSERVERANCE GOES ALONG WAY WHEN HANDLING THE IRON.  HIS 500 (12″) SQUAT AND 600 DEAD LIFT (12”) WOULD BE SOMETHING ANYONE COULD BE PROUD OF, REGARLESS OF AGE.  FOR FLOYD, IT’S JUST ANOTHER DAY.  ONE OF HIS EX-LIFTERS SAID IT BEST, SHAKING HIS HEAD,  “COACH JUST HAS FREAK GENES!!”

SPECIAL THANKS GOES TO SCORE KEEPER,  ANGIE GANONG, FOR KEEPING THINGS MOVING WITH ACCURATE AND PRECISE SCORING.  BEING A LOUISVILLE ATTORNEY, THE LOGISTICS OF THE LIFTERS AND THEIR NUMBERS DID NOT PHASE HER IN THE LEAST!  HOW MANY POWER MEETS CAN BOAST PAST NATIONAL CHAMPS AND RECORD HOLDERS AS THE LOADERS???  NOT MANY, I AM GUESSING.  HOWEVER, DREW TRAUB AND JOHN CLARK WERE THERE TO SUPPORT OLD TEAMMATES.  FINALLY, THE JUDGES JIM YEATES AND MIKE HUBBARD WERE FIRM AND SOLID IN THEIR CALLS.  A HUGE THANKS TO ALL THESE FOLKS.  AS EVERYONE WHO HAS PUT ON A MEET KNOWS, THE SUCCESS OF THE MEET IS CO-DEPENDENT TO THE PERFORMANCE RENDERED BY THE SUPPORT STAFF!  A HUGE THANKS TO THOSE FOLKS!!

GOOD LIFTING, EXCELLENT FOOD, AND GREAT FELLOWSHIP FOLLOWED THE LIFTING.  WHO COULD ASK FOR MORE??  I CAN HARDLY WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!!!