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.