Tag Archives: Century Club

Records, Records, Records

by Al Myers

The year is coming to an end and the opportunities to set any more USAWA records for the year is over.  Sure there is still the National Postal Meet, but the results won’t be reported for it until after the first of the year.  In my heart I knew this had to be a good year for the USAWA when it came to “broken records”.  We have had more events than normal and membership has swelled to a level that has not been seen in a long, long time.  So I did a little “counting” in the USAWA Record List and what I found was, VERY INTERESTING!

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to all members in the USAWA who have set new records within the past year.  You are now part of a RECORD BREAKING YEAR.  758 new USAWA records were established in the USAWA Record List.  This now stands in the NUMBER ONE spot of ALL-TIME!  Now this is a count of only the “records on the books” at this time – not the ones established per year as when old records are broken they disappear from the current list.  I also want to mention that in order to set a USAWA Record now you must do it in front of a certified official.  There were several “other marks” done this year at record days and postal meets which could have been records, but weren’t because they weren’t officially judged.  This pulled down the record count for the year, which in the past would have been higher when there were no guidelines on this and “ANY OLE RECORD” was put into the record list.   I’m proud that we have made this year the BEST EVER and have done it with TOUGHER RULES!!

TOP 10 TOTAL RECORD YEARS

RANK YEAR RECORDS
1 2011 758
2 2005 675
3 2002 654
4 2000 563
5 2010 553
6 2006 540
7 2003 518
8 1995 458
9 2004 448
10 1999 434

This brings us to the INDIVIDUAL record counts next.  With a year like this, you would think that the individual record counts would have been increased as well.  I have not reported on individual counts since last July, when I announced the two latest members of the CENTURY CLUB (lifters who hold over 100 USAWA Records) – Rudy Bletscher and Chad Ullom.  Well, the list is still the same lifters, just different count numbers.  There is STILL the 21 members in this exclusive CENTURY CLUB.  Our Prez Denny Habecker still leads the list and the RECORDS RACE with his 410 records, which gives him a pretty comfortable lead over Art Montini at 392 in second place.  The “top ten” is still the same lifters as it was the last time I did the count.

CENTURY CLUB

RANK LIFTER RECORDS
1 Denny Habecker 410
2 Art Montini 392
3 Al Myers 320
4 John McKean 258
5 Joe Garcia 239
6 Dennis Mitchell 229
7 Noi Phumchaona 214
8 Frank Ciavattone 212
9 Bill Clark 206
10 Bob Hirsh 201
11 Howard Prechtel 171
12 Dale Friesz 143
13 Jim Malloy 135
tie Scott Schmidt 135
15 Ed Schock 134
16 John Monk 123
17 Mary McConnaughey 117
18 Chris Waterman 114
19 Rudy Bletscher 108
20 Chad Ullom 104
21 Joshua Monk 101

This lead me to thinking just who set the most records in 2011?  So I did that count as well and below is the TOP TEN record setters of 2011.  I was quite surprised to see Mike Murdock listed with 60 records!  That made me question his total count so I recounted it and he is still short of the CENTURY CLUB.  Mike has been competing in the USAWA for over 3 years now – so how can that be??  Well let me tell you why.  I have lifted in LOTS of meets/record days with Mike and he is constantly breaking his OWN RECORDS.  Mike – that doesn’t help you one bit in your overall count. You need to “go after” records you don’t already own buddy!!!

TOP 10 RECORD COUNT FOR 2011

RANK LIFTER RECORDS
1 Al Myers 83
2 Mike Murdock 60
3 Denny Habecker 40
4 Joe Garcia 31
5 Dean Ross 30
6 Rudy Bletscher 24
tie LaVerne Myers 24
8 Art Montini 22
9 John McKean 20
10 Dennis Mitchell 19

I also want to mention that the USAWA Record List is now over 10,000 line items long!  That is A LOT OF RECORDS! We owe a huge thanks to the USAWA Records Director Joe Garcia for keeping this list up to date for us. Joe has maintained this list for over 20 years!

Welcome to the Century Club Chad and Rudy!

by Al Myers

Chad Ullom "in action" at the Ledaig Record Breakers last weekend. Chad is the only lifter in the Century Club that has done ALL of his USAWA records in the Senior Division.

I predicted this would happen this summer as Chad Ullom and Rudy Bletscher have been “knocking on the door” of joining the Century Club.  The Century Club is a club that recognizes the elite group of USAWA  lifters that CURRENTLY hold over 100 USAWA Records.  However, it didn’t happen exactly as I thought it would.  I predicted it would take place last weekend at Dave’s Ledaig Record Breaker.  This was the case for Chad but not for Rudy.  Rudy was not able to attend.   At the time, I thought it would take another day for him to make this milestone accomplishment (and a little more effort after watching Rudy’s nemesis Mike Murdock take down a couple of Rudy’s records at the Ledaig Record Breaker), but I forgot at the time that at the 2011 Annual General Meeting of the USAWA in June it was voted and passed by the membership to retroactively implement the records set at the 2011 Dino Gym Old-Time Strongman Challenge since the lifts in that competition were approved as new USAWA lifts at the meeting.  So Rudy is IN on his prior performances!  Chad knocked down several new records at the Ledaig Record Breakers putting him in as well.  We celebrated this accomplishment after he broke the USAWA Record in the Snatch on the Knees with a lift of 135 pounds. Coincidentally, both these lifters now stand at 107  USAWA records, which put them at a tie at the number 19 spot out of 21 lifters in the club.  Chad is the only lifter on the list that has done ALL of his records competing in the Senior Division (which makes him only eligible for OVERALL RECORDS).  This makes his accomplishment all that more impressive.  If you are in the Junior Division or Masters Division you have the opportunity to “double dip” on records, which means you may set or break an age group record and an overall record with the same lift.  This helps tremendously with “padding” your record count number.  I counted back through the USAWA Record list and Chad’s sits NUMBER TWO in OVERALL RECORDS (not age group records)  with his 107 (and all I will say about the guy at number 1 is that he has 141 overall records, and Chad knows him quite well as he is his training partner! ). 

There are several other lifters close to joining the Century Club that I’m keeping an eye on.  But just because you get in the club doesn’t mean that you can “sit back” and revel in your accomplishment, and spend too much time “patting yourself on the back”, because if others break enough of your records you can fall out of it.  This has happened (and it bothers me to see it) to a couple of legendary lifters in the USAWA recently, so you must keep up your involvement in the USAWA to “maintain your spot” in the Century Club.  Congratulations to Rudy and Chad – I’m very proud of both of you two, and you deserve this recognition.

Century Club

by Al Myers

Joe Garcia is moving up the Record List Count faster than anyone else! This past year he has went from 9th to 5th. This picture is from the 2011 Heavy Lift Nationals in York, PA where Joe added another USAWA record in the Hand and Thigh with this 1400 pound lift. Joe has more H & T records (17 total) than anyone else, everywhere from the 90 KG class to the 110 KG class.

A couple of years ago  I tagged the term “Century Club” as a way of identifying lifters who currently hold over 100 USAWA Records.  It has been a while since I have given an update on these record-setting lifters, so I think it is time I revisit this topic again.  I believe it has been a year (after last year’s National Championship) that I gave my last update on the current members in this Century Club.  I know I have highlighted the “records race” between Denny and Art a few times since, but now since Denny has stretched his lead over Art 401 USAWA records to  Art’s 378 USAWA Records, the drama with this has been  subdued and the  records race has taken a seat on the sidelines until Art starts to make “a run” on Denny.  

The Century Club is an ever-changing list, and it changes constantly.  It is based on CURRENT records, so it is possible to be on the list and then if some of your records are broken, you may fall out of the club.  I sadly report this has been the case this past year.  John Vernacchio’s record count has fallen to 97 records,  and now he is out of the Century Club.  No one new has joined since Scott Schmidt in the fall of 2009!  Scott was sitting at the number 20 spot when he made the Century Club in December 2009, climbed to spot 17 after last year’s Nationals, and now resides at the 15 spot.  By John falling off the list, the Century Club now stands at 19 members.  Who will be the next to join??  Two Dino Gym members are “knocking at the door” of accomplishing this.  Rudy Bletscher just BARELY missed the list this time as he currently stands at 99 USAWA Records.  Chad Ullom made a big push on his USAWA records this past year and now has 97 records.  With Chad hitting the Masters Class next year that will open up the record book for him to set more records as he will then be eligible for age group records.  I got my money on both of these guys to make the Century Club this summer! 

There were some changes in the orders and number counts, but the same names hold the Century Club down.  The top four spots on the list remained the same.  The biggest dropper was Bill Clark, as he dropped from the number 5 spot to 10th with only a decrease of records from 214 to 199.  I know the reason for Bill’s decrease in records as I’ve been lifting with this guy in meets all winter and have watched him break several of Bill’s records.  I’m talking about Mike Murdock.  The biggest increaser on the list is our USAWA Records Chairman Joe Garcia.  Joe added several new records this past year and moved from the number 9 spot to 5th overall with 226 records.  Dennis Mitchell notched up one spot to number 6. Take notice of  all the USAWA Hall of Famers who are members of the CENTURY CLUB (marked with a *).

Century Club

1.  401 Denny Habecker *
2.  378 Art Montini *
3.  274 Al Myers
4.  247 John McKean *
5.  226 Joe Garcia *
6.  223 Dennis Mitchell *
7.  214 Noi Phumchaona *
8.  206  Frank Ciavattone *
9.  201 Bob Hirsh *
10. 199 Bill Clark *
11. 171 Howard Prechtel *
12. 138  Dale Friesz *
13. 134 Ed Schock
14. 132  Jim Malloy *
15. 131  Scott Schmidt *
16. 123  John Monk
17. 117  Mary McConnaughey
18. 114   Chris Waterman *
19. 106  Joshua Monk

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