Dino gym record day
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Al,
I did see Wilbur Miller lift when he was a young man, as he competed in the 1964 Olympic Tryouts, finishing 5th in the heavyweight class. Wilbur wasn’t really an Olympic lifter but he did compete in many Olympic lifting competitions. He was good at the quick lifts and made the 3rd highest snatch (308) at those Tryouts, trailing only Schemansky and Gubner and doing more than better known and much heavier lifters Sid Henry and Lee Phillips were able to lift, in addition to Tommy Suggs and future stars Gary Deal and Joe Dube.
The one thing about Miller that stands out in my mind is his tremendous hand strength. He did his deadlifts with an overhand grip, as I recall, and was the national record holder when he made 715 in 1964, at a time when powerlifting was just getting started in this country. That was extremely impressive for his era since he usually weighed only about 245. In fact, he appeared on the cover of Lifting News performing a heavy deadlift with an overhand grip and I believe that photo may be the one that I cut and pasted below.
I look forward to reading about what he was able to do a few days ago at the age of 79, but I am probably not going to be very surprised. 🙂
Tom
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