Tag Archives: Wayne Jackson

Wilbur Miller November 12, 1932 – August 5, 2020

By Thom Van Vleck

Wilbur was all around strong but he was perhaps most famous for his tremendous Deadlift made all the more impressive with the double overhand grip.

Wilbur was all around strong but he was perhaps most famous for his tremendous Deadlift made all the more impressive with the double overhand grip.

I bring sad news today.  The great Wilbur Miller has went to join the other strength greats in the big gym in the sky.  To say that Wilbur was a great strength athlete would be an understatement.  Here are some of his lifts.  Remember, these were in the 60s and Wilbur was a drug free athlete!

Wilbur’s best lifts in competition were: 725# deadlift, 320# clean and press, 320# snatch (split-style), and a 385# clean and jerk.  Wilbur often competed in the 240-250 lb bodyweight range.  He often gave up over 100 pounds bodyweight to his competitors!  His 725 pound deadlift was an World Record at the time, and was done in 1965 in York, Pennsylvania.  He weighed 245 pounds in that meet.  Even more impressive was that Wilbur had a competitive lifting career that spanned over 50 years!  At age 79 he deadlifted 457lbs!

My connection to Wilbur dates back to the 1960s.  He and my uncle, Wayne Jackson, had a long standing rivalry on the lifting platform.  But off the platform they were the best of friends.  When I started lifting as a teen I trained with my Uncle Wayne and he often would tell stories about Wilbur.

Wayne had great respect for Wilbur.  Back then in the Olympic lifts they did the Clean & Press before the Snatch and Clean & Jerk.  My Uncle Wayne always beat Wilbur on the Clean & Press.  But Wilbur, being a very competitive man, would come back and beat Wayne in the Snatch and Clean & Jerk and win the overall.  As a kid it elevated my Uncle to hero status in my book that he could best the great Wilbur Miller at anything.  It was like throwing a strike against Babe Ruth.

In 1984 I was lifting in a meet in Wichita.  My Uncle Wayne came along and we contacted Wilbur.  Wilbur came by and hung out all day.  He and my Uncle Wayne laughed, told stories, and Wilbur was very polite, open, honest and had little of the ego many lifters of his status have.

The next time I saw Wilbur was about about 20 years later when I did an article on him for Milo.  He was still in Medicine Lodge, Kansas with his wife.  I stopped by for a visit.  You’d think we had been friends our whole lives.  He was still training in his garage on a set of York weights from the 60’s.  He took me to his “trophy room” and told me stories about each of the mementos, photos, and awards.  The whole time he had a smile on his face.

His obituary is as follows:

Wilbur D. Miller, of Wellington, Kansas, passed away on Wednesday, August 5, 2020 at the Glen Carr House in Derby, Kansas at the age of 87.
He was born the son of Howard and Flossie (Brewer) Miller on Saturday, November 12, 1932 in Gray County, Kansas. Wilbur’s grandparents homesteaded the family land and he continued farming the land for many years. On February 5, 1966, Wilbur and Janet (Falkingham) were united in marriage at the First Presbyterian Church in Fredonia, Kansas. Together they celebrated over 54 years of marriage. He was an outdoors-man that enjoyed hunting, fishing and backpacking. Wilbur took up weightlifting as a young man and continued lifting well into his 80’s. He held several national competitive weightlifting records and was a member of the National Weightlifting Hall of Fame. Wilbur loved books and was an avid reader of Louis L’Amour. Additionally, he was a talented musician who taught himself to play the ukulele and harmonica simultaneously and loved to play with his dad and brother. His family remembers him as a great father and grandfather whose calm, steady nature served as the rock of the family. He will be missed by all that knew him.
Survivors include his wife, Janet Miller of Wellington, Kansas; son, William Parker of Tekoa, Washington; son, Robert Parker and his wife Karen of Raymondville, Missouri; daughter, Nancy Fischer and her husband Andy of Golden, Colorado; daughter, Julie Carey and her husband Jeff McGuire of Wellington, Kansas; son, Christoper Miller and his wife Ann of Inman, Kansas, grandchildren: TJ Mensch, Staci Miller Ulrich, Jason Parker, Alexander Parker, Angela Collins, Amanda Ray, Stephen Hoyt, Tricia Halling, Matthew Hoyt, Parker Hoyt, Jeffrey McGuire, Rachel McGuire, Lily McGuire, Kristin Miller, Andy Miller and Anabelle Miller along with numerous great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his parents, Howard and Flossie Miller; brother, Duane Miller and a great-granddaughter, Kennedy Hoyt.

There are many great stories about Wilbur.  All show a man with great strength and greater character.  I am hoping those who knew him will share one on the message board and we can send them to his family.  Additionally, I wrote an article on Wilbur in Milo Strength Journal and if you want a copy let me know.  Al Myers wrote a great article on Wilbur that you can find on this website by using the search box.

So take a minute to remember Wilbur Miller.  And let’s try to be more like him as well.  Strong of body, strong of character.

Cold Weather Training

by Thom Van Vleck

It's cold outside!

It’s cold outside!

I have always enjoyed cold weather training….up to a point.  Fall is my favorite time of year and I do my best lifting in the 50 to 65 degree range.  When I built my new house I even put in a heavy duty air conditioner so that I could keep my gym at 68 degrees even on the hottest day.  I’m a big guy and hot weather is NOT your friend.

I started out lifting in the old Jackson Weightlifting Club.  AKA my Grandparents barn.  The club had kind of fallen apart after a good 20 year run that saw membership approach 30 lifters, a couple of team state championships in Olympic lifting, and numerous state Champions, as well as my Uncle Wayne winning the teenage Nationals.  Now only a handful of members remained and it was often just me and my Uncle Wayne.  Just as often it was just me!

That barn was old.  It was wood with no insulation and had tin roof.  That tin roof would turn it into an oven in the summer.  In the winter there were single incandescent bulbs that hung from the rafters and a small space heater that didn’t even begin to touch the temperature in that barn.  All it was good for was warming your hands. I remember warming my hands in front of it one time next to a bucket full of frozen water!

Most of the time I enjoyed it being in the 50s, 40s, and even the 30s and 20s.  While I can’t say I enjoyed it being colder than that I did look at it as a challenge.  I had a routine and I was sticking to it regardless of the weather. A day off was unacceptable.  No matter what the weather.

One time I was working out at 2am.  I was working at a pizza place and when I got off at closing time it was workout day and I wasn’t missing it!  It was a back workout and I was doing power cleans.  I had three layers of sweats as it was literally below zero.  Nobody was out so it was extremely quiet except for the weight hitting the platform after every rep.  I remember my breath turning to ice crystals and floating to the floor.

At one point I was actually getting a bit of a sweat going.  I addressed the bar, pulled, and racked the weight. It was then I realized my neck was wet and as the bar pushed down the collar of my layers of sweats it made contact with the bare, wet skin.  It was like the kid from “A Christmas Story” that stuck his tongue to the frozen, metal lamp post!  I stood there for a moment, contemplating my fate.  Finally, I dropped the weight along with the top layer of skin on my neck!

Another time I had been working out at a nice, heated gym for a time and traveled home for Christmas.  I was in the Marines at the time and took a couple weeks leave.  Of course, I didn’t want to miss a workout so I went to the old barn.  My cousin had started working out and had also been working out in a nice, heated gym.  He had really been training hard and showing progress.  I thought he was really serious and hooked.

We went to the cold, cold gym.  It was about 10 degrees out.  I went to work and about 15 minutes in my cousin was shivering and said, “I can’t take this. It’s too cold, you can’t get in a decent workout in this weather. I’m going home. See you later”.  I finished my workout and I remember thinking, “He may be right about a decent workout but it’s more than building muscle sometimes.  It’s about building a work ethic and dedication.”  I also remember thinking, “He won’t last”.  A couple of months later he quit weight training and took up bowling. Nothing wrong with that….wait….yes there is.

I once read where the perfect temperature for weight training is between 68 and 72 degrees.  Ideally, I would train between 60 and 65 degrees.  But sometimes you can’t.  I think training in extremes can still be good.  Maybe not for purely building strength, but for building perseverance.  Right now the thermometer is reading 2 degrees here.  Time to work out….in my heated gym where it’s currently 65 degrees!

Sledge Hammer Levering: Part 1

by Thom Van Vleck

Slim "The Hammer man" Farman doing a sledge hammer leverage exercise with added weight.

Slim “The Hammer man” Farman doing a sledge hammer leverage exercise with added weight.  Slim did a total of 56lbs on 31″ handles

Some of the old timers may have heard of Slim “The Hammerman Farman”.  He was famous for being able to lever very heavy sledge hammers.  He had incredible forearm development.

I always wanted big muscles and big arms were at the top of my list.  My Uncle Wayne had 20 inch arms and did a standing press of 370 pounds back when it was still one of the Olympic lifts.  My Uncle Phil was a bodybuilder and a great arm wrestler. He had huge forearms.  I wanted to be like them.

But my arms are long and spindly.  I started out with 12″ arms when I first started lifting.  My forearms were even smaller.  I started my quest then to find exercises to develop the forearms and I came across Sledge Hammer Levering in an article in the old Peary Radar IronMan magazine.

The photo above of Slim illustrates the first exercise.   The arms are held straight.  You can do one arm with one sledge or two arms with two sledges.  The arms are kept straight and the sledges are lowered only bending the wrists until you touch the face.  Then the wrists are straightened lifting the sledges back up. I used this exercise regularly.

hammer man

The second exercise I call the “Crucifix.  It is similar to the basic lever but with the arms out to the side.  Like the first exercise it could be performed with one or two hammers. Slim had several other feats he performed with sledge hammers.  Over the years I did leverage wrist work off and on.  Including Weaver Stick type exercises.

Then about 20 years ago, me and some friends started a “Strongman Evangelism” show along the lines of what Paul Anderson used to do.  Performing feats of strength while delivering a Christian message.  Paul learned early on that the average person wasn’t impressed with just lifting weights.  They had no context.  So he started performing strongman stunts.  We did the same and one of the first “feats of strength” I thought about was the sledge hammer lever.

Another feat of strength done with a sledge hammer.

Another feat of strength done with a sledge hammer.

I had a splitting maul that weighed 16lbs.  A splitting maul is a sledge hammer on one side and an ax handle on the other.  At the time I could lever a 12lb sledge hammer.  But I wanted to be able to do the 16lber with the ax blade pointed down!  How do you train for that!

Part 2:  How I trained for the Sledge Hammer Lever.

Forty Years of Lifting

by Thom Van Vleck

It was 40 years ago in May that I started my weightlifting journey.  I had messed around with the weights for a couple of years.  I would workout but a month or two later I would quit.  I made myself a promise on my 15th Birthday I would start training and give it my all.  I’ve been lifting ever since.

I remember maxing out on some lifts to get a base line.  I deadlifted 225 pounds, I could barely squat my own bodyweight (due to having broken both legs and my hip), I benched 105, and power cleaned 125.  I weighed in at a porky 198lbs.  As a matter of fact I wore a 38 waist then and I now weigh 275 and wear 38’s.  I was a fatty!

My birthday was the first day of school being out.  I worked out in the old Jackson Weightlifting Club which was in a barn with a metal roof.  More often alone than with someone. There was no air conditioning.  It was hot!  I would workout about 2 hours every single day all summer.  Not surprisingly I lost over 30lbs in three months plus I think I converted another 10lbs to muscle.  On top of that I grew about 4 inches.  My transformation was so great that when I went back to school that fall a classmate didn’t recognize me.

My lifts didn’t sky rocket up.  I was probably over training badly.  I was also constantly maxing out and not sticking to a routine.  But I was dedicated and I learned a lot and I got well conditioned.

I would spend my time reading stacks of weightlifting magazines owned by my Uncles and my grandfather that were laying around the gym. My routines were often gleaned from these pages.

My memories of those days working out in that unairconditioned, metal roof building in the sweltering Missouri heat are burned into my mind.  I felt like a spartan!  I had friends come by to workout and they would last a day, maybe two.  Then they would quit.  It was too hot and too hard for them.

My Uncle Wayne would come by and workout three days a week.  We would visit, talk about training, and I would watch him put up some fantastic weights and dream of when I would be that strong.  He regularly pressed 300 pounds or more.  I remember him doing a seated press with 300lbs for 8 sets of 3 reps.  I also remember him hang cleaning 300 for 8 sets of 3 reps.  It was inspirational.

My grandfather would also come out a couple days a week and work out.  I marveled at his dedication even though he was in his late 60s.  At my age at the time that was amazing.  He did a lot of old school strongman lifts.  He would do lifts like the shoulder drop and Zercher squat.  I learned a lot from him.

We would open the big sliding doors to the barn to let as much air in as possible.  I can recall opening those doors and it being like walking into an oven.  I would often walk outside between sets hoping to catch a breeze.

It was at this time I fell in love with weightlifting.  It became my sport.  While I’ve had some success in competition the greatest rewards have been in mind, body, and spirit.

Do you remember when you fell in love with lifting weights?

Me and Bill Pearl

by Thom Van Vleck

One of my favorite Bill Pearl photos. He was in his 40's in this photo and as a teenager that was OLD! It inspired me to be fit but also fit for life.

One of my favorite Bill Pearl photos. He was in his 40’s in this photo and as a teenager that was OLD! It inspired me to be fit but also fit for life.

If you don’t know who Bill Pearl is then you don’t know weightlifting history and you should drop everything and look him up and learn about the greatest bodybuilder of all time.

There have been countless stories written about Pearl by guys that know much more than me.  This is a story about my relationship with Pearl.

When I first got interested in weightlifting when I was around 14 years old my Uncle Phil took me under his wing and taught me about lifting, lifters, and all the history, types of strength, and just about everything you’d want to know about weightlifting.  My Uncle Phil would tell me, “I’ve forgotten more than you’ll every know”.  He was my guru whereas my Uncle Wayne, his brother, was my training partner.  Wayne didn’t talk much about lifting.  He just did it and with great success.  Phil became a student of the sport, opened a gym, and became a great trainer.

The guy my Uncle Phil first told me about was Bill Pearl.  Pearl was the epitome of size and strength according to Phil. Pearl was a 1 time amateur Mr. Universe and 4 time Pro Mr. Universe.  He first won in 1953 and his last win was in 1971.  This would have been 1977 when I first learned about Pearl so not too long after his last win.  The amazing thing is Pearl never lost.  Theoretically he could have won every year in between but chose to come “down from the mountain” every so often to reclaim the title.

My Uncle Phil had a 3 ring binder that included just about ever photo of Bill Pearl out there.  He “loaned” it to me (40 years later I still have it).  There wasn’t much on lifting out there and I would peruse that binder for inspiration while lifting.

My Uncle Phil met Bill Pearl in the 60’s.  Right after he won the 1967 Mr. Universe.  My Uncle was stationed in Alabama in the Air Force and found out about Pearl appearing at a nearby gym.  Phil went and listened to his seminar.  He said Pearl was wearing street clothes but stripped off his shirt and loaded a barbell to 300lbs.  With no warm up he powercleaned the barbell and pressed it overhead then pressed it behind the neck twice.

Pearl also did feats of strength that inspired me.  He would rip decks of cards in half, tear license plates in half, and blow up hot water bottles.  I learned how to do all of these things because of Pearl.

Then about 15 years ago I got to thinking.  Pearl was still very much alive.  My Uncle Phil was struggling with some health issues and needed some inspiration.  Maybe I could call Pearl and arrange for them to talk on the phone.

After a couple of phone calls I reached Bill!  It seemed weird talking to someone you’d grown up reading about.  The amazing part is he claimed he knew me!  I had been writing articles for Milo, a strength journal, and Bill was a fan.  He love Milo and recognized my name and even quoted a couple of articles he remembered.  Well, that made my day.

I arranged for my Uncle Phil to talk with Pearl.  Phil said they talked for 3 hours!  It had been nearly 40 years in the interim.  Pearl was as friendly as they come.

Over the years I’ve kept in touch with Pearl.  I once had plans to go to Oregon where he lives but he was called away last minute.  I really need to go.  He promised me a workout!

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