USAWA

By Al Myers

I just updated our History Archives on the “Past USAWA Nationals”.  The one thing about history is that it is ever changing, with new things that become history once they are finished. This is an ongoing project for me, and sometimes I find that I’ve been slow to add the updates as time seems to fly by at a faster pace the older I get!

If you get some extra time and are interested in the history of the USAWA, take a look at these pages in the “History” section. (It is located on the header line of the USAWA website).  I always reread the past history as I add updates.  Today I want to share some highlights as it applies to the history of our USAWA National Championships.

• This year (2018) marks the 31st year of the USAWA National Championships, with NO YEARS being missed since the first Nationals in 1988.
• This year (2018) marks the first and ONLY time Nationals has been held in Florida.  8 states have been hosts for Nationals with Pennsylvania in the number one spot (12), followed by Ohio (6), Massachusetts (4), Missouri (4), Kansas (2), Illinois (1), and Nevada (1).
• 15 meet directors (or combinations of meet directors) have promoted the Nationals. Denny Habecker has promoted the most (5), followed by Al Myers (4), and 4 promoters with (3): Frank Ciavattone, John Vernacchio, Art Montini/John McKean, and Bill Clark/Joe Garcia.
• The top 5 lifts that have been contested at Nationals are: Zercher Lift (17), One Arm Deadlift (16), Pullover and Push (13), One Arm Snatch (12), and the Clean and Press heels together (12).  Three of these top 5 National lifts were contested at this years Nationals!
• 55 Official lifts of the USAWA have been contested at past National Championships. 22 lifts have only been contested once in Nationals.
• This year was a one day meet, but only 10 times in our history has Nationals been a one day meet.  The other 21 times it was a two day meet.  However, all 10 of these one day meets have occurrd in the past 13 years.