Paul Anderson (weightlifter)

Paul Anderson

Personal information
Born	(1932-10-17)October 17, 1932 Toccoa, Georgia, U.S.
Died	August 15, 1994(1994-08-15) (aged 61) Vidalia, Georgia, U.S.
Height	5 ft 9.5 in (177 cm)
Weight	360 lb (163 kg)
Spouse(s)	Glenda Garland (m. 1960; his death 1994)
Sport
Sport	Olympic weightlifting, strongman, powerlifting
Medal record Men's weightlifting Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1956 Melbourne +90 kg World Championships 1955 Munich +90 kg U.S. National Weightlifting Championships[1][2] 1st 1955 +90kg 1st 1956 +90kg

Paul Edward Anderson (October 17, 1932 – August 15, 1994) was an American weightlifter, strongman and powerlifter. He was an Olympic gold medalist and a World Champion and two-time National Champion in Olympic weightlifting. Anderson played a big part in the manifestation of powerlifting as a competitive sport.

Early life

Anderson was born in Toccoa, Georgia, the only son of Ethel Bennett and Robert Anderson. As a teenager, he began his early weight training on his own in his family's backyard to increase his size and strength so that he would be able to play on the Toccoa High School football team, where he earned a position as first-team blocking back.^[3] He used special homemade weights that his father created out of concrete poured into a wooden form.^[4] Anderson later attended Furman University for one year on a football scholarship before moving to Elizabethton, Tennessee with his parents. There he met weightlifter Bob Peoples, who would greatly influence him in squat training and introduce him into weightlifting circles.^[3][5]

Career

In 1955, at the height of the Cold War, Anderson, as winner of the USA National Amateur Athletic Union Weightlifting Championship, traveled to the Soviet Union, where weightlifting was a popular sport, for an international weightlifting competition. In a newsreel of the event shown in the United States the narrator, Bud Palmer, commented as follows: "Then, up to the bar stepped a great ball of a man, Paul Anderson." Palmer said, "The Russians snickered as Anderson gripped the bar which was set at 402.5 pounds, an unheard-of lift. But their snickers quickly changed to awe and all-out cheers as up went the bar and Anderson lifted the heaviest weight overhead of any human in history." "We rarely have such weights lifted," said the solemn Russian announcer as Anderson hoisted 402.41 lb (182.53 kg). in the two-hand press.^[6] Prior to Anderson's lift, the Soviet champion, Alexey Medvedev, had matched the Olympic record of the time with a 330.5 lb (149.9 kg) press. Anderson then did a 402.5 lb (182.6 kg) press. At a time when Americans were engaged in symbolic Cold War battle with the Soviet Union, Anderson's strength—and his singular, tank-like appearance became a rallying cry to all.^[7]

During the 1955 World Championships in Munich, Germany that October, Anderson went on to establish two other world records (for the press - 407.7 lb or 184.9 kg - and total weight cleared - 1,129.5 lb or 512.3 kg) as he easily won the competition in his weight class to become world champion. Upon his return to the United States, Anderson was received by then Vice-President Richard Nixon, who thanked him for being such a wonderful goodwill ambassador.

In 1956, Anderson won a gold medal in a long, tough duel in the Melbourne, Australia Olympic Games as a weightlifter in the super-heavyweight class (while suffering from a 104 °F or 40 °C fever) with Argentine Humberto Selvetti in the amount of weight lifted, but because Anderson weighed in at 137.9 kilograms (304 lbs), was lighter than Selvetti, who weighed 143.5 kilograms (316 lbs), Anderson was awarded the gold medal.

Anderson could not compete in the 1960 Olympics because he had been ruled a professional for accepting money for some of his weight lifting and strength exhibitions. Thus at the 1960 Olympics the Soviet heavyweight Yury Vlasov bested records set at the 1956 Olympics, with Anderson not competing in the contest. A short time later however, not to be outdone by the Russian and to verify his position as the World's Strongest Man, Anderson lifted the same weight as the Russian three times in quick succession demonstrating unbelievable strength. The extraordinary American athlete that Anderson was solidified his position as the most dominant lifter in the world and cemented his legacy as the strongest of the strong.^{[8][9][10][11]}

Paul Anderson, 1957

In 1961, Anderson and his wife Glenda founded the Paul Anderson Youth Home, a home for troubled youth in Vidalia, Georgia. They both helped to build and support the Home with an average of 500 speaking engagements and strength exhibitions per year—notwithstanding the chronic congenital kidney disease that eventually killed him at age 61. He would perform stunts such as hammering a nail with his bare fist and raising a table loaded with eight men onto his back.

The Guinness Book of World Records (1985 edition) lists his feat of lifting 6,270 pounds (2,850 kg) in a back lift as "the greatest weight ever raised by a human being".^[10] Anderson turned professional after the 1956 Summer Olympics, and so many of his feats of strength, while generally credible, were not done under rigorous enough conditions to be official. Nevertheless, Guinness Book of World Records did cite him in its 1985 edition for a backlift of 6,270 pounds. This became the basis for his reputation as the "World's Strongest Man".^[12]

Personal life

In 1960, Anderson married Glenda Garfield. The couple were devout Christians. They had a daughter named Paula (born 1966).

Death

As a child, Anderson suffered from Bright's disease (now known as chronic nephritis), a kidney disorder, and he eventually died from kidney disease.^[13] While competing, he weighed between 275–370 lb (125–168 kg)^[14] and was 5 feet 9.5 inches (1.765 m)^[15] tall.^[3]

Legacy

Anderson's true life testimony can be heard as a dramatization through the Unshackled! radio ministries on program number 2521. Unshackled! has also produced a comic booklet telling the story of Anderson.

Paul Anderson Memorial Park, which features a large statue of him performing an overhead barbell lift,^[16] located at the corner of Tugalo Street and Big A Road in Toccoa, is named for him.^[17]

Personal records

Quotes about Anderson

• Chuck Ahrens (Muscle Beach strongman of the 1950s)

"I could do 310 in a standing one arm side press with a dumbbell, Paul could do it for reps with ease."^[21]

• Ed Coan (powerlifting record breaker)

"Though I never met him personally until the Strength Symposium in Florida, I saw films of him lifting in his heyday, with such absolute ease it was astonishing. Using his strength to benefit others is something that should make all powerlifters proud. What a great benefactor to mankind."

• Jon Cole (powerlifter of the early 1970s)

"My love and respect for Paul runs deep. His ability to lift enormous weights in limited movements surpasses all. Those who attempt to discredit him shame our sport."

• Bill Kazmaier (3-time World's Strongest Man)

"He's the king of strength. His backlift was unbelievable. But more amazing was his total commitment as a Christian."

• Don Reinhoudt (one of the strongest powerlifters of all time)

"Paul was an inspiration to me. Some of his feats may never be surpassed."

• Oliver Sacks (neurologist and Muscle Beach powerlifter)

"A lot of lifters gathered at Sydney's on Santa Monica Beach near the base of the Pier. Here, as they got pissed [drunk], their stories became more and more fantastic. One heard of deltoids like watermelons and squats of a thousand pounds. This last turned out to be a solid fact for the incredible Paul Anderson. He was squatting with almost twice as much as anyone else's maximum."^[22]

• Bruce Wilhelm (2-time World's Strongest Man)

"Absolutely no question, Paul was the strongest of the strong. His physical deterioration and prolonged illness for the last 16 years of his life was a fate unbefitting such a great strongman and humanitarian. Paul was really a powerlifter and did the overhead lifts only because powerlifting as a sport did not exist 40 years ago. He excelled and was world and Olympic champ because he was far stronger than anyone else. When I hear people talk that a powerlifter will never win an Olympic gold medal, I tell them that Paul Anderson already did it, almost forty years ago."

References

Further reading

• Anderson, Paul (with Jerry B. Jenkins). The World's Strongest Man. Victor Books, Wheaton, IL. 1975 ISBN 0-88207-651-5.
• Barnett, Bob (1968). "The Uplifting Story of Paul Anderson". Saturday Evening Post. 260 (8): 58. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
• Fair, John D. "Paul Anderson (1932-1994)." New Georgia Encyclopedia. 20 April 2016. Web. 1 June 2016.
• Ryan, Thomas P. "Paul Anderson: The Story of the "World's Strongest Man"". GeorgiaInfo: an Online Georgia Almanac. Retrieved 4 June 2016.
• Strossen, Randal J. Paul Anderson: The Mightiest Minister. Ironmind Enterprises, Inc., Nevada City, CA 1999 ISBN 0-926888-08-0.

External links

• The Paul Anderson Youth Home
• Paul Anderson Memorial Park
• Article on Anderson by Clarence Bass
• Paul Anderson, Hall of Fame at Lift Up
• Article on Anderson at the Univ. of Georgia website
• Unshackled!
• Paul Anderson at Weightlifting Exchange
• You Bet Your Life - The Secret Word Is...Money - Paul Anderson as contestant. Hulu.com. NBC Films. Airdate October 19, 1956
• Dear Paul. Wish you were here / Baldy. Dear Paul. Wish you were here, 1958, editorial cartoon by Clifford H. Baldowski, Clifford H. Baldowski Editorial Cartoon Collection, Richard B. Russell Library for Political Research and Studies, University of Georgia Libraries, Athens, presented in the Digital Library of Georgia.