Tag Archives: Bill Clark

Blasts from the Past

by Thom Van Vleck

Ed Zercher, the original "keeper of the odd lift records" doing an exhibition unsupported Leg Press with over 600lbs circa 1962.

Recently, Wayne Gardner visited me.  He is a Jackson Weightlifting Club member from way back and a frequent lifter in the midwest and early USAWA member.  Wayne provided me with some old newsletters of Clark’s and I made copies for me and Al.

Al’s recent announcement of the 2012 USAWA Team Championships made some interesting information pop out at me.  In the April 1, 1981 Region 8 Weightlifting Newsletter put out by Ol’ Clark himself there is a list of some “Odd Lift” records and one of the lifts is the “Two Man Team Curl”.  Two records are listed:

Two Man Team Curl

198lb Class – Glen Schwachter & Ed Zercher, Jr – 225lbs (1980)

Hvy Class – Robert Wilson & Ron Webster – 275lbs (1980)

There are also some records that go back to the early 1960’s.  Here are some of the more notable records:

Pullover and Prone Press

198lb Class – Homer Lewellen – 260lbs (1963)

Right Hand Hack Lift

Hvy Class – Bill Clark & Bill Fellows- 275lbs (1962)

Jerk Behind Neck with Snatch Grip Then a Full Squat with Weight Overhead (maybe the record for longest name, too!)

198lb Class – George Winkler – 240lbs (1962)

Now we start to go WAAAAY back.  Clark stated that the below records were Missouri Valley AAU marks prior to 1941.  So, while we don’t know the exact year these were set, they were set prior to or in 1941.

Right Hand Continental Press

148lb Class – Gordon Strain – 126.5lbs

Right Hand Clean and Bent Press

148lb Class – Gordon Strain – 174lbs

Right Hand Clean and Side Press

148lb Class – Gordon Strain – 142lbs

Two Hands Anyhow

148lb Class – Gordon Strain – 217lbs

Hvy Class – Ed Zercher, Sr. – 271lbs

Repetition Leg Presses (Unsupported)

Hvy class – Ed Zercher, Jr. – 200reps with 250lbs in 7 minutes 30 seconds – (set in 1952)

Hvy Class – Ed Zercher, Sr – 10 reps with 605lbs (set in 1962)

The oldest record listed that has a verified date is a Harness Lift done by Ed Zercher, Sr with 2150lbs in 1940.

Clark goes on to state that there were currently 59 lifts that records were being kept in at that time!  The latest of which was the Reverse Grip Clean and Press that was first done by my Uncle Wayne Jackson and in 2011 the Reverse Grip Press out of the rack was added to the modern list of USAWA records in his honor.

It’s interesting to me that we have some many lifts we keep records on and yet there are several of these lifts listed in the old record book that aren’t “modern” USAWA lifts!  We might have to look at some of these old time lifts and bring them back.  At any rate, here’s some old time records to test yourself against!  Have fun!

Deanna Springs Meet

by Al Myers

MEET RESULTS
DEANNA SPRINGS MEMORIAL MEET

Group picture from the 2012 Deanna (left to right): Dean Ross, Rudy Bletscher, Al Myers, Joe Garcia, and Mike Murdock.

This was another great year for the Deanna Meet.  The “same crew” of lifters made their appearance  that have been attending the past few years – Joe, Rudy, Mike, Dean and myself.  Several times throughout the day I felt de-ja vu (a feeling that I’ve experienced this before), which TURNS OUT to be the case.  Same group of lifters, performing the same lifts in the Clark’s Gym, and getting beat rather handily by Joe Garcia!  This makes FOUR YEARS in a row that I have placed second to Joe G in this meet.  I should research this farther back, but it would be depressing as I know there have been many other “seconds” for me in prior years!

Bill Clark - meet director of the Deanna Springs Meet.

This was a BIG DAY for Joe.  This win marks his 11th victory at the Deanna Springs Meet.  The amazing thing is that he scored an adjusted point total of 4196 points, which is the BEST OF ALL TIME.  Congrats Joe!!!!  Joe’s new record erased the previous top point total by Abe Smith in 2005.  I would like to believe that the Daily News Story that I wrote last week on the “top performances at the Deanna Meet” might have inspired Joe to this new record.  After all, my main goal at this meet is to push Joe to lift hard.  If I can make him a little nervous at any point throughout the day, I feel like I have accomplished something.  He is just TOO GOOD at these lifts for me to give him any serious competition once the age and bodyweight corrections are made.   I did put up a 4146 total, which is the 5th best total of ALL TIME in this meet.  Joe tried to top me in this as well with his final Hip Lift, but it was just too much for him.  I thanked him for letting me take home a “moral victory”!  But by the look on his face when I said this to him, it was obvious to me that he wasn’t “letting me” take home anything. If he could have totalled more – he WOULD HAVE regardless of my feelings! 

As Joe and I were having our battle, the “senior lifters” of Rudy, Dean and Mike were having theirs.  Rudy came out on top again this year over his two amigos (I’ve impressed myself here – a little Spanish and French in the SAME story!).  Rudy’s big Hip Lift of 785# sealed the win.  I’ve said this before – I really enjoy watching these guys compete against each other.  They do it for the RIGHT REASONS – as you can tell they are enjoying every minute of it.  

Afterwards, we made our traditional visit to the Golden Corral to fill our rumens.  But unlike prior years where I’m hitting the road right after eating, this year I spent the night in Columbia because of Eric Todd’s meet in Cameron on Sunday.  This was a BIG WEEKEND for the USAWA in Missouri – two meets 150 miles apart!  In closing,  I want to thank Bill for opening his gym up to us again this year by hosting this meet.

Meet Results:

Deanna Springs Meet
Clark’s Gym
Columbia, MO
March 24th, 2012

Meet Director:  Bill Clark

Officials (1 official system used): Bill Clark

Lifts: Crucifix, Curl – Cheat, Deanna Lift, Hand and Thigh Lift, Hip Lift

LIFTER AGE BWT Cruc Curl Dean H&T Hip Total Points
Joe Garcia 58 210 70 151 535 1400 1900 4056 4196.76
Al Myers 45 247 60 191 805 1285 1805 4146 3507.90
Rudy Bletscher 76 223 50 96 405 485 785 1821 2100.10
Dean Ross 69 264 60 111 405 535 785 1896 1902.83
Mike Murdock 72 234 60 121 285 405 0 871 950.72

NOTES:  BWT is bodyweight in pounds. All lifts recorded in pounds. Total is total pounds lifted. Points are adjusted points for lynch and age correction.

EXTRA LIFTS FOR RECORD:

Mike Murdock: Squat – Front 165#

Zercher Meet

by Joe Garcia

Group picture from the 2012 Zercher Meet. (left to right): Eric Todd, Dean Ross, Mike Murdock, Chris Anderson, Lance Foster, and Joe Garcia.

Saturday was a great day at Clarks Gym.  The Zercher meet, the longest running event through USAWA’s history, was contested once again.  This year we had a total of six lifters, Bill Clark as the head official, Tom Powell and James Foster for loading and even two spectators.  Eric Todd showed up with Lance Foster and Chris Anderson.  Dean Ross and Mike Murdock were there and I rounded out the crew.  Richard Coder and his wife, members of the gym, were the spectators.  I mention Richard because he at one time worked out with some of the old time greats like John Grimek, etc out at York.  They both stayed for the entire contest and even joined us at Golden Corral. 

Once everyone was weighed in, we got started.  As usual, the leg press was first.  This particular model is the version where the weights go straight up and down, none of the angled stuff.  Chris had the top lift as Eric tried a little too big of a jump for his last attempt.  Mike Murdock started putting the pressure on Dean with a 500 to 450 lift.  In the Military Press, Eric came out on top even though he was nursing a bad right elbow.  Same thing happened in the Clean and Jerk, with Eric topping Chris by twenty pounds.  We had a three way tie in the one hand deadlift with Eric, Chris and me all getting 275 though I have to admit that my lift was a lot slower than theirs.  In the Heels Together Deadlift it was no contest with Eric out lifting everyone by 100 lbs.  We got a little rest for our backs and went to the other side of the gym to do the Bench – Feet in the Air.  Again Eric had the top lift with 350 lbs. 

After the bench, it was time to troop to the back of the gym for the rest of the meet, starting with the Hack lift.  Eric topped Chris 365 to 355 to earn top lift in this event also.  Next up was the lift the meet is named after, the Zercher lift.  Eric had the top lift with 385, but probably would have done more if he hadn’t missed 385 on his second attempt.  The problem wasn’t that the weight was too heavy, it was that he pulled it up too fast.  It looked about like he was cleaning the weight and when it hit his thighs he lost his balance and fell backwards on the floor.  So for the third attempt he just stayed at the same weight.   In everyone’s favorite, the Steinborn, Eric again came out first with 375. 

Bill Clark directing another Zercher Meet - the longest running meet in the USAWA.

After finishing with the regular bar lifts, it was time for the big bar to make an appearance.  To make things easy on our loaders, we decide to contest the lifts together, simply increasing the weight and the lifters would perform their lifts.  So what you would have seen is the Hand and Thigh, Hip and Harness being attempted one after another, just by different lifters.  In the Neck lift, Eric again had the top lift of 525 with both Chris and I getting 425.  Even though I did better this year in the Hand and Thigh than last year, I couldn’t duplicate my efforts at the Heavy Lift Nationals and Eric had the top lift with a 1305.  Chris did very well with a 1055 and in fact was great in all the big bar lifts despite never having done them before.  I’m not sure that he had even seen some of them.  In the Hip lift, we finally got someone else with the top lift where I was able get 1875 to Eric’s 1675.  Each year I also try to beat my old record of 2049 but once again was unsuccessful.  The final lift of the day was the Harness and I was again able to top Eric with 2445 to his 2225.  The end result of the day was Eric having the most poundage lifted, but with the magic of age, weight and a calculator, I won the event with Eric second and Chris third.  Full results are shown below.

During the morning, Dave Beversdorf also came in and set a couple bench records in the One Hand Bench.  Dave loves the bench and all variations of it and holds a number of USAWA records.

It was wonderful day at the gym, and tremendous to see everyone that showed up.  Eric and company needed to get on the road, but the rest of us ended up at Golden Corral for our normal post competition fest.  The only thing that was forgotten by both Bill and me were the Vanilla Wafers, a Zercher meet fixture for many years.

MEET RESULTS:

Zercher Strength Classic
Clarks Gym, Columbia, MO
January 28th, 2012

Meet Director: Bill Clark

Official: Bill Clark

Lifts: Leg Press, Deadlift – one arm, Hack Lift, Continental to Chest and Jerk, Clean and Press – Heels Together, Zercher Lift, Steinborn Lift, Neck Lift, Hip Lift, Harness Lift, Hand and Thigh Lift, Bench Press – Feet in Air

LIFT Joe Garcia Eric Todd Chris Anderson Mike Murdock Dean Ross Lance Foster
AGE 58 37  23  71  69  46
BWT 95.2 115.2  136.1  107.1  125.2  142.9
Leg P 400 750  800  500  450  400
DL-1 275R 275R  275R  185R  185L  185R
DL-HT 315 550  450  245  275  375
Hack 265 365  355  165  165  185
C&J 175 285  265  95  0  135
C&P 155 245  225  120  120  145
Zerch 225 385  365  205  205  135
Stein 195 375  325  145  145  0
Neck 425 525  425  125  125  305
Hip 1875 1675  1205  655  755  805
Harn 2445 2225  1505  955  1005  1005
H&T     1205 1305  1055  505  550  655
BP-FIA 225 350  315  175  175  175
Total 8180 9310  7565  4075  4155  4505
Points 8463.9 7326.0  5491.4  4395.2  4080.8  3426.8
Place 1st 2nd  3rd  4th  5th  6th

NOTES: BWT is bodyweight in kilograms.  All lifts recorded in pounds. Total is total pounds lifted. Points are adjusted points for the lynch correction and age adjustment.

EXTRA RECORDS:

Dave Beversdorf (46 years old, 299# BWT)
Bench Press – Right Arm: 170 pounds
Bench Press – Left Arm: 165 pounds

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.

Bill Clark, USAWA, and the rest of the story.

by Joe Garcia

Part One:  Our beginning.

Bill Clark (left) receiving the USAWA Lifetime Achievement Award from Joe Garcia (right).

Most of you probably know that Bill is the founder and creator of the USAWA.  Recently the organization decided to honor Bill, and a letter of appreciation and a Lifetime Achievement Award were presented to him at the Goerner Deadlift Dozen Plus One a few weeks ago.  I also thought it would be both fun and instructive to go over the history of the USAWA and some of Bill’s story.  We sat down the other day for a lunch and I interviewed him about both subjects.  Keep in mind that this is bare bones as it would take a book or two or more to get the whole picture.  We’ll start this story with a chronological line from the beginning as he tells it.

The whole entity that was to become known as the USAWA basically started in 1959 with the local boxing team that Bill coached.  The boxers wanted to lift weights, so an Olympic weightlifting team was created.  In November their first state meet was held at the Armory in Columbia. A common theme for most of the meets is that odd lifts were almost always performed whenever meets were held.

The next year 1960, Bill was appointed as Chairman of the Missouri Valley AAU.  They had eleven lifters including Wilbur Miller, Art Tarwater, and Bill Fellows.  At the same time, the prison system became a hotbed of odd lifting.  Bill worked the ‘home’ games of baseball in the prisons from 1956 through 1967, and so was very familiar to the recreation directors in the system.  He was contacted by the Feds to start a federal program of lifting which he agreed to do.  Two stories from this era:  First, at one of the prisons, they cut metal decking for the weight plates.  These weighed between 10 and 25 pounds and the lifters used a short steel bar that limited how much weight could be loaded, so for the lifters like Joe Bradford, they would load the bar with about 400 lbs, then attach another 100 or so with wire, which wouldn’t come off the ground until the bar was just under the knees. This same concept was used in later years when performing lifts like the Hip lift. The second story concerns the Federal pen at Leavenworth.  Bill had been told they made almost all of their equipment, but when he went there, they had 22 platforms with commercial looking bars.  It turns out that they bought one bar, then had the shop fabricate 21 more for the lifters.

Coming into 1961, Powerlifting and Odd lift competitions were being held in Missouri Valley. These competitions were sanctioned under the Weightlifting umbrella as there was no official Powerlifting or Odd lifting at that time.  If anyone has access to old Ironman magazines, they would be able to find results listed there from some of the meets.  Rules for the odd lifts were first created about that time and records were kept as Missouri Valley Odd Lifts.

One of the key years was 1962. This was the year that the foundation was laid to make Powerlifting a separate event from Weightlifting. Lifters like Jim Witt, Homer Brannum, and Bill were some of the main forces to achieve this goal and they journeyed to the AAU Convention in Detroit, where they asked to make PL a subcommittee under Weightlifting.  At that time there still were no sanctions for either Powerlifting nor Odd lifting.  1962 was also the year of the first National Prison Postal Meet.  This first meet was an Olympic meet with subsequent years also having Powerlifting meets.  By 1968, they dropped the Olympic meets.  Typically the regular competition would be held, and afterwards the lifters would perform the Odd lifts. 

The first National Powerlifting Championships was held in 1963 by Bill at Jeff Junior High in Columbia even though it was an unofficial one as there was no sport of Powerlifting at the time.  One of the officials sitting in a chair was Bob Hoffman of York Barbell fame.  Another event that helped further our sport was Bill got the AAU to form a new committee – Correctional Sports and by 1966, convicts were granted full AAU memberships.  The following February one of the convicts won the National Flyweight Boxing Championship.  In 1968, Jenkins Hudson of the Maryland State prison defeated Bill March in Olympic lifting, Bill being a 5 time Senior National Champion.  That same year Otis Harrison won the North American title in body building.  By the time the correctional sports program ended, there were about 1000 participant lifters nationwide.

In 1964, at the National AAU convention at the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, Texas, a vote was held to allow Powerlifting to be a separate part of the Olympic Sport.  This motion was carried in a very close vote.  Later at the same meeting, Bill put in a bid to hold the National Championships which he won, beating Bob Hoffman by one vote.  Hoffman was able to get the AAU chairman to hold another vote on the bid, this time beating out Bill’s bid by one vote.  Due to this, Hoffman went into the history books as holding the first National Championships.

During the next decade, numerous Powerlifting and Odd lifting competitions were held in the Missouri Valley area and elsewhere.  Bill started having the Double Decathlon, a forerunner to the Zercher meet.  Twenty lifts were contested, with the Zercher lift and the Steinborn always being anchor lifts.  The Steinborn was originally known as the “Rocking Squat” but Bill renamed it to the Steinborn, in honor of ‘Milo’ and let him know that they had done so.  Years later, just before his passing, Henry sent $50 for a trophy.

In 1973 Bill brought forth another proposal to the AAU membership, that of having a Masters Program.  This was quite a contentious motion but did pass on a close vote.  The following year, Bill tried to host the first Masters Powerlifting and Olympic Championships. With only 4 entrants, Bill Fellows, Bill Clark, Jack Lano and Wilbur Miller, the meet was called off.  However, in 1975 the meet was held at Columbia College with a total of 15 lifters.  They also had a track meet afterwards where they ran the 880 and threw.  Today, the National championships have over 200 contestants and the Masters program exists in over 70 countries.

Around 1981, Tony Cook from England contacted Bill about holding a Postal Odd meet between English lifters and American lifters.  This meet was held in the US at Sailors Gym over in Kansas.  Twenty five lifts where performed in one day on three platforms and a single lifter might actually have been ‘up’ on multiple platforms at the same time.  Numerous meets have been held at Sailors Gym, and in the early years of the USAWA, the Missouri Valley records were held as the standard for the USAWA, with most of them having been set at Sailors.  Sailors was owned by Bobby Fulgroat who himself was a master powerlifter and bicyclist.  He would ride everywhere including to Columbia for meets.

Bill and Tony started making plans for an international organization in 1985, and Bill flew over to England in October, 1986 to meet with Tony and Frank Allen, where the IAWA was organized.  In 1987, the USAWA was formed and the first IAWA meet was held, albeit it was a postal meet.  In 1988 the first USAWA Nationals was held with John Vernacchio as the host and also the first IAWA Worlds were held at Leicester, England with Frank Allen hosting.  As a side story, at the same time Bill was over in England in 1986, Bill Buckner committed his infamous fielding error during Game 6 of the World Series, allowing the Mets to tie the series and go on to win over the Red Sox.

From the beginning of the USAWA until 2009, Bill served as Secretary/Treasurer and starting with his first Journal on Sept 10, 1989 until his last one on October 19, 2009 wrote just under 150 Strength Journals, keeping the membership informed about meets, events and any other odds and ends that he saw as interesting.  He was also President of the IAWA for the first couple of years.  While his travels today are limited, he still hosts a few USAWA meets at the gym, notably the Zercher, Deanna Springs Memorial and the Goerner Deadlift Dozen Plus One.

Part II will continue with background information about events Bill has held plus accomplishments and achievements over the years.

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