USAWA

By Bill Clark

What is probably the toughest weightlifting competition in the country has been held either at Clark’s Gym or, in the days before there was a Clark’s Gym, at the Missouri State Penitentiary or the Moberly Correctional Facility.

The name? “The Zercher Strength Classic.”

It was named for Ed Zercher, Sr., a St. Louis strongman known for his vice-like grip and ability to lift things at age 80 that no youngster dared to attempt. Ed’s career began in the 1930s and continued for more than 50 years. He did 81 reps with 200 pounds in the unsupported leg press at age 81. Most lifters can’t do a single repetition with any weight in the unsupported leg press.

You get the idea.

During the 1960s and 1970s, when the Missouri Prison System allowed weights in its walls, both the Main Walls at Jefferson City and the see-through fence walls at Moberly housed some of the best lifters in the nation.

I had the good fortune to help build the weight program at the Main Walls in Jeff and within a decade, prison lifting had expanded to include more than 60 prisons around the nation, thanks to the recreation department at the Federal Prison in Leavenworth.

One of the most challenging weekends was a double decathlon at Jeff Town during which the contestants did 20 of the heaviest lifts done with a bar and plates – the hip and harness lifts, leg presses, back lifts, a variety of dead lifts and overhead lifts. Lifters came from around the country to try to beat lifters like Steve Schmidt, Robert Burnett, Bill Spangler, Sid Littleton, Bob Burtzloff, Wilbur Miller and to watch Ed Zercher perform as well as compete.

When I opened Clark’s Gym in the late summer of 1987, Zercher was on hand and the meet named for him has been held only at Clark’s Gym since.

Three decades ago, we used three lifting platforms all day to handle the workload and lifters came from California to Philly to say they survived the Zercher meet – and to meet the Old Man himself.

Because of the size of the field, I softened the meet and limited it to “only” the 13 toughest lifts of the original 20. And that’s what it remains – 13 lifts that defy your staying power.

Through the years, that challenge has not been accepted by the general lifting crowd and the entry lists have dwindled – but the meet continues as a tribute to Ed – and to the days when challenges were met head-on.

The latest Zercher meet was held on January 29-30 at Clark’s Gym and it drew only four people – all local. What followed was a classic battle between two 20-somethings that brought back memories of days long gone.

One of the four entries was Janet Thompson, the Northern District Commissioner for Boone County and a regular competitor with the gym team. She has a shoulder needing replacement and it spoke loud and clear after four of the 13 events and she enjoyed watching the rest from the sidelines.

Tony Lupo, the 55-year-old chairman of the Boone County Republican Central Committee and the head of the atmospheric science department at MU, made his first start in the Zercher while nursing a nagging tricep injury. He finished the 13 lifts and is looking for more of the same in the future.

The weekend settled into a battle between the 21-year-old Nick Frieders, a junior at MU, and 29-year-old Travis Luther, an MU graduate in finance currently with MFA, Inc.

Frieders comes from the Aurora, Illinois, area, and is majoring in social science. He weighed 153 pounds. Luther grew up on a farm north of Kansas City and weighed 158.

Nick led for the first 11 lifts with a 600-pound leg press, a 425-pound deadlift with heels together and 325-pound deadlifts with each hand.

Then came the hip and harness lifts and Luther took over. He is one of the best in the nation at his bodyweight. He nailed a 1,685-pound hip lift, his best ever, and added a personal best 2,100-pound harness lift to close out the day – and his buddy, Nick.

Old Man Zercher would have been proud of the pair.

The Zercher meet closed out a year of success for the Clark’s Gym team. Abe Smith, a former Hickman High student, won the USAWA National title head-to-head in June and added the postal title in December.

The Clark’s Gym team won the first six places and seven of the first nine in the National Postal Championships and had four of the top six in the head-to-head competition with Randy Smith, a team member from Marquette, Michigan, the runner-up in both meets. Dave DeForest of Millersburg was a medalist in both meets and also in the IAWA world meet in Pennsylvania in September.

The gym’s next competition will be another challenge – the Easter Bunny Bench Press Decathlon. It will include 9 different versions of the bench press, closing with a “Rampage” – all the reps you can do with a weight of your own choice in the flat bench press – in one minute – total weight to win, not the number of reps.

Two other events are on schedule between now and August 19. The gym, as it has done since 1988, will be handling the power meet in the Show-Me State Games the third Saturday in July and, on August 17, will celebrate Ol’ Clark’s 90th birthday anniversary with a meet including 10 of the lifts Ol’ Clark can still do. The Clark birthday will be a day later. If all goes well, he’ll use those 10 lifts as a kickoff to do 90 different lifts in 31 days at age 90. Not many can make that boast – nor would want to do so.

See what you’re missing by not being a member of the oldest gym in town.

 

Meet Details:

Ed Zercher Strength Classic
Clark’s gym
Columbia, MO
January 29-30th, 2022

Meet Director: Bill Clark

Meet Scorekeeper: Bill Clark

Meet Official: Bill Clark

Results:

Mens

name		bwt	weight class	age	Division	DL – Heels together	Hack Lift	DL -One arm	Clean and jerk	Clean and Press- heels together	Steinborn lift-	Zercher lift
Travis	Luther	158	75	29	senior	350	365	185-R	165	135	145	300
Nick	Frieders	153	70	21	senior	425	365	325-L*	170	115	145	250*
Tony	Lupo	230	105	55	55	350*	100*	160-R	55	55*	105	125

name		Leg press	Bench Press-Feet in air	Neck Lift	Hip Lift	Harness lift	Hand & Thigh	Raw total	Bwt adjustment	Age adjustment	place
Travis	Luther	500	175	245	1685	2100*	675	6925	7132.85	7132.85	1
Nick	Frieders	600	175	245	1105	1505	820	6245	6588.48	6588.48	2
Tony	Lupo	500	135	200	1005	1165	425	4280	3542.13	4208.87	3

Women’s

name

bwt

weight class

age

Division

DL – Heels together

Hack Lift

DL -One arm

Clean and jerk

Clean and Press- heels together

Steinborn lift-

Zercher lift

Janet

Thompson

160

75

64

60

22

22*

65*

name		Leg press	Bench Press-Feet in air	Neck Lift	Hip Lift	Harness lift	Hand & Thigh	Raw total	Bwt adjustment	Age adjustment	place
Janet	Thompson							309	315.15	393.94	1

 

Extra record lift – Nick Frieders – deadlift – one arm – 325 – Right.

Notes:  All lifts recorded in pounds.  BWT is bodyweight in pounds. R and L designate right and left arms. TOT is total pounds lifted. PTS are overall adjusted points corrected for age and bodyweight. National records are denoted with an asterisk for the competition. The one official system is used for all lifts.