USAWA

Members of the USAWA:

Some of you may or may not have heard of things that have been happening in the USAWA from the National meeting till now.  As President of the USAWA, I would like to share how events unfolded and hope you all continue to support the organization.

7/18 – Clint Poore (President), Tony Lupo (VP), Sanjiv Gupta (Secretary), Eric Todd (Treasurer) and Kyle Frappier (At-Large) were duly elected at the Annual General Meeting.

7/19-7/26 – Due to perceived behavior by fellow board members and irreconcilable differences on how the board should behave, Sanjiv (Secretary), and Eric (Treasurer) resigned.

7/27 – Clint became interim Treasurer, and Tony became interim Secretary.

7/29 – Bill Clark was appointed Treasurer by Clint, Tony and Kyle.

7/31 – Tony resigned as VP and Joe Garcia was appointed VP by Clint, Tony, Kyle and Bill

8/10 – Based on information received from several participants at the National meeting/meet, Clint was  asked to step down by Joe.

– Upon his refusal to resign, a motion was made by Joe to remove Clint as President.  Motion carried.

-Joe was appointed President by the remaining EB, and Kyle was appointed interim VP.

8/12 – Tony resigned as Secretary due to pressures of the events occurring.

8/12 – Jessica Hopps was appointed Secretary by Joe, Kyle and Bill.

8/13 – Sanjiv Gupta appointed as VP by Joe, Kyle, Bill and Jessica.

This level of drama has not been seen by the organization since its founding in 1987.  There will be some disagreements as to who said what, what is best for the athletes, what is fair and just.  You may not agree that the current board is legitimate, but the outline of events may provide some reconciliation. Any appeal to these and other board decisions may be made through the Secretary per article 21C of the by-laws.  You may contact Jessica at usawasec@gmail.com

Regards,

Joe Garcia

President, USAWA

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.    

The 2025 USAWA Sportsman of the Year Runner up is Jarrod Gaddis from Buffville Gym. The ‘short and tall’ of his story (see picture below) would reveal he is cut from similar cloth to our Sportsman of the Year winner.  He is an accomplished lifter in his own right with the second largest Hackenschmidt Floor Press in the record books at 440 lbs. He was also the 2024 Kentucky Open Men’s Champion. He is always willing to help out as a referee and has a good eye for judging lifts. Jarrod Gaddis is a valued member of the Buffville team and is always helping out when there’s a meet, and you can always find him spotting on the competition platform or at the warm-up platform, or encouraging other lifters. He is outgoing and very polite and makes visiting lifters feel very welcome. Congratulations to the USAWA Sportsman Runner-up, Jarrod Gaddis!