Tom Ryan
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[b]Quote from dinoman on November 23, 2010, 15:18[/b]
Perth.So Frank Lamp must be staging it. Correct?
Sad news indeed. Yes, many of us knew him, including me.
Sure, I will be glad to assist you with identifications, Al.
In case anyone isn’t aware of it (as I wasn’t until tonight), there are some YouTube videos of the 1989 IAWA World Championships that I see were put up by Tim Bruner three years ago. These are: One Hand Snatch Part 1, One Hand Snatch Part 2, One Hand Deadlift 1, and One Hand Deadlift 2.
I feel that it is my duty to bring these to your attention, despite the fact that two of the videos show an old, fat, unathletic-looking lifter named Tom Ryan in action. LOL. I tried to get my weight up for these contests (I weighed in at 294) and didn’t worry about my appearance. Of course I had no idea that there would someday be a YouTube that would expose me to the world! LOL
As some of you know, the one-hand snatch was used in the national championships during the 1930s, when five lifts were contested. Back in those days, many lifters would do a one-hand squat snatch, which I admit I never tried. Only one person tried it in this contest — Phil Anderson, who was a very good athlete. As the video shows, he had mixed results, as he made a lift despite having a bad and very unstable bottom position, then went tumbling over backwards on his next attempt.
There have been very few lifts over the years in which I outlifted Steve Schmidt and in this contest we both did 110 pounds in the one-hand snatch. I was decent in that lift in my prime but hadn’t practiced it regularly in many years. I also sustained a severe injury to my left arm in the pullover and press and informed the loaders that they had better hang loose because if I lost control of the bar, I wouldn’t be able to help catch it with my left hand. They heeded my advice. LOL
There were various lifters shown in these videos who haven’t been active for about 20 years, including Bill Drybread and Paul Knauer. I needed a 1600 hip lift to beat Knauer but I didn’t have the equipment to practice the lift and had done only a few hip lifts in competition by this time, so not surprisingly the bar didn’t leave the floor.
Unfortunately, this was before steroid testing and there was one lifter who didn’t attempt to hide the fact that he used steroids regularly. Another lifter was strongly suspected of being on steroids (who may have tested positive a few years later, I’m not sure), and perhaps there were a few others as well.
It would be good if all of the USAWA/IAWA contest videos could be collected in one place.
Tom
No, Al, I’ve never met Otto. Don’t know anything about a brother.
Well, Al, I did some checking and it appears as though Ottomar Hans Ziegler of Baytown, Texas is probably still alive at the age of 91. I found an address for him. Do you want me to send him your comments about his lift? LOL Of course I’m just joking …. or am I? LOL
Well, Al, I am relieved to read that your article was written “in good humor”.
I had a long talk with Bill Clark yesterday, as he is one of several “old people” I call every four months or so. Bill believes that Otto Ziegler is still alive — at the age of 90 or so! If someone tells Otto about your comments on his lift, hopefully he will mention the “good humor” part. I mean you don’t want a 90-year old man to come looking for you. At his age he probably wouldn’t fight you, but he might bring some 300-pound brutes with him … and perhaps a weapon or two as well. LOLAnd I will have to remind myself about the “good humor” part after reading your comments about the Weaver Stick lift since you stated in your article on it a few months ago that Mark Mitchell and I hold the all-time USAWA record in that lift.
Apology accepted, Al. 🙂 I agree there is no “accurate” way to do it. How much should a 380-pound lifter be able to lift relative to what a 250-pound lifter lifts? What if the former is 6-6 and the latter is 5-11? Then the former has to move the bar much farther. Etc. Ask Jack Lano for his opinion of ranking lifters by formula. He bombarded me with articles related to this in addition to his (negative) opinions when I served on the committee to evaluate the Malone-Meltzer formula and choose between it and the Sinclair formula for Master’s Olympic lifting.
Tom
Okay, I found my national referee shirt and I was close with my guess. The shirt is very light gray with “U.S.A.W.A” in large black letters about three inches above the top of the shirt pocket, and “National Referee” in smaller letters on the next line.
It must have been circa 1990, Al. I can’t find mine yet (these things happen when you move!), but I believe they were gray with black lettering (“USAWA referee”, or something like that). I will be more specific when I finally find mine, assuming that I do so.
Al,
We have used referee shirts in the past at USAWA meets. I know that I still have at least one somewhere (gray-colored, as I recall). I don’t recall the exact lettering on it but I know that “referee” was part of it.
Tom
I think it depends on the type of meet and the level of the meet. I have done a lot of refereeing at USAWA local meets, a USAWA national meet or two, and local Olympic lifting meets. At the few Senior Nationals in Olympic lifting I have attended, I can’t recall a referee not wearing a coat and tie, but these referees, such as Peary Rader and Dave Mayor, were not competing. At USAWA meets the referees are also usually competitors. Yes, a competitor could change into a coat and tie but the atmosphere is just different. I have never worn a coat or tie when I served as a referee, nor do I recall any of the other referees doing so. A few times I have attended Olympic lifting meets as a spectator and gotten roped into serving as a referee. Once I got a free meal out of that — McDonald’s type. 🙂 I would never attend a funeral without a coat and tie, however, as I believe doing so is disrespectful.
Yes, congratulations, Chad.
Oh, I don’t know about that, Thom, but Bill and I have been close friends for a very long time.
Bill also mentioned in his newsletter that Steve Schmidt has been performing almost every weekend. This has included performing at the 2010 Missouri State Fair in Sedalia and if you go to http://kspradleyphoto.blogspot.com/ and scroll down a bit, you will see several photos of Steve in action, including bending a horseshoe for the Governor of Missouri and bending a horseshoe into a heart for the First Lady.
I can vouch for the existence of Clark’s Gym newsletter because I just received a copy, forwarded from my old address. Surprised the heck out of me because I had the impression that Bill had sworn off newsletters forever — after a 50-year run, as Thom said. He certainly sounded like it during one of our phone conversations earlier this year. Clark’s Gym has 6 new members, which undoubtedly comes as a pleasant surprise to Bill, with at least two of them interested in Olympic lifting.
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