USAWA

The last three awards to be highlighted are the three lifters chosen in 2025 for induction into the USAWA Hall of Fame. The first is Mr. John Carter of Columbia, MO and Clark’s Gym. The Hall of Fame nomination form would demonstrate that someone should be a person who not only excels as a lifter but also participates in furthering the health and vitality of the USAWA. This can be done in many ways. Although John gained more than the achievements needed for induction, there are certain intangibles that would also support his accomplishments in promoting the USAWA, his leadership qualities, as well as his toughness as a competitor.

                As one of three who founded the Clark’s team in the late 1980s (along with Joe Garcia and Bill Clark), John has been a consistent presence in the gym through the years. During the early days, he was instrumental in the physical support of the gym, especially through some of the moves that brought us to our current location. Today, John has become an elder statesman and mentor to the new cadre of lifters that have joined Clark’s Gym post-Covid. As a teacher of lifting techniques and styles, he’s thorough and patient. Many of us seek out his advice and have come to adopt his energetic style in pushing ourselves to lift better.

                As a competitor, he’s demonstrated his ability to finish in the top positions when he attends meets. During the 1990s, he won four straight heavy lift championships. When he’s been to Nationals, he is consistently a top 10 finisher. Even today, he can still win meets such as the Zercher Classic, the Goerner Deadlift Dozen, or the Steve Schmidt Backbreaker Pentathlon, as he has all along, when he’s able to attend. He routinely finishes high in the quarterlies and the postals. This is in spite of some injuries that limit mobility today. He holds over 150 USAWA records even while competing with Hall of Famers like Steve Schmidt and Joe Garcia in the early days. He even proposed a lift that bears his name and is a real challenge to complete.

                In his personal life, John is small businessman / independent contractor in a business that requires one to work when hired and when the weather is favorable. This means that at times he is not able to compete as work needs to come first to keep his business going strong. When he is in the gym, the Clark’s Gym team values his presence, and the team voted enthusiastically for him to win the 2025 USAWA Courage Award winner. John has, in many ways since the beginning, been a contributor to the health and vitality of the Clark’s Gym team. In the last six years especially, he’s promoted the USAWA through his leadership and support for the next generation of Clark’s Gym team by making it a welcoming place to belong. History has shown he is a very tough competitor in any meet he competes in regularly. Congratulations John Carter as a 2025 USAWA Hall of Fame Inductee and 2025 Courage Award Winner.    

When you visit Columbia, in the heart of Missouri, you can see a lot of Civil War history, some of the nation’s first Interstate (I-70), and enjoy great barbecue or catfish. It’s the land of the Missouri Tigers (the SEC), and Kansas City Chiefs and Royals to the west or the Saint Louis Cardinals and Blues to the east. This is the location of Clark’s Gym, the 2025 USAWA Club of the year. A gym where the lifters sweat as much or more than the corn.  As possibly the largest club in the USAWA, we have members from at least five states and two Canadian provinces. In the last year going back to mid-2024, we hosted the Nationals and sanctioned a variety of interesting meets. And we’ve participated at meets remotely and in person around the country. The inside is not pretty, but we have some great old-time and modern equipment. And the Clark’s team features a mix of characters from great hall-of-fame lifters to broken-down meteorologists and even the future of weightlifting with our junior members. If you are a fan of the late Toby Keith, country singer, think of the song “I Love this Bar”. But when we’re in the gym (and even outside of it) – we’re there for each other. There is no one on the team who wouldn’t go out of their way to help out a fellow gym member. And as our leader Bill Clark has always told us – we don’t leave the gym without doing something positive! And many positive things have been done there! Congratulations to Clark’s Gym 2025 USAWA Club of the year. Pictured below is part of the team from a recent meet from left to right, Janet Thompson, John Carter, Jeff Wenzel, Tony Hose, Allison Lupo, Toby Ortega, and Travis Luther.         

The 2025 USAWA Leadership Runner-up was none other than Bill Clark, another living legend in the USAWA. Bill is pictured below preparing to perform a successful 650 lb Hip Lift at 90 something years of age. Bill has been there with the USAWA since the beginning and listening to his stories whether in sports (especially weightlifting), his career as a Major League Baseball scout, or life in general is quite interesting. He’s packed quite a bit into his 90+ years as he’s been all over the world (except Antarctica, but he just may have been there and not let us know yet). He’s a member of the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame. He’s participated and refereed in 22 different sports! And he still finds time to go birding, be involved in community outreach, and teach classes for the University of Missouri Extension.  Not sure there is much more to say other than he is very fond of his gym which is a sight to see. But even more so, he is fond of all the members of the Clark’s Gym as individuals – and cares about how we’re all doing both inside and beyond the confines of the gym. We all appreciate his leadership in the gym and beyond. Congratulations Bill Clark, 2025 USAWA Leadership Runner-up Award.