Bill Kazmaier

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William Kazmaier (born December 30, 1953) is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During his illustrious career, he set over 40 powerlifting and strongman world records, and won two International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) World Championships and three World's Strongest Man titles. In the 1980s, Kazmaier became famous for his claim to be "the strongest man who ever lived" by equaling and surpassing spectacular and versatile feats of strength of famous strongmen of the 20th century. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest strength athletes of all-time,[4] and was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2017.[5]

Early career

Kazmaier is of German ancestry.[6] A star athlete in high school, he played football for two years at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before dropping out in 1974 to concentrate on lifting weights at the Madison YMCA.[7] There he learned the fundamentals of powerlifting. Kazmaier then struggled to earn a living as an oil rigger, a bouncer, and a lumberjack.[7]

Powerlifting career

At the 1978 Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) National Championships in Los Angeles, California, Kazmaier squatted Template:Convert, bench pressed Template:Convert, and deadlifted Template:Convert in the 275-pound weight class, which immediately placed him in the top rank in his first national powerlifting appearance.[7] In 1979 at age 25, he set a world record with a bench press of Template:Convert on the way to winning his first IPF World Powerlifting Championship in Dayton, Ohio.[7] His winning lifts included an Template:Convert squat, the Template:Convert bench press and an Template:Convert deadlift for a Template:Convert total.[3] He repeated the success in 1983 by first winning the United States Powerlifting Federation (USPF) National Powerlifting Championships in July and later the IPF World Championship in November for a second time.[3] He won this IPF World Championship despite two major injuries. He had a severe pectoral injury, from which he never recovered completely,[8] and shortly before the IPF Championships, had torn his hip flexors in the squat.[8]

The world record bench press in early 1979 was Template:Convert, held by Sweden's Lars Hedlund. Kazmaier moved the world record stepwise up from Template:Convert in July, 1979 to Template:Convert in November 1979 to Template:Convert in May, 1980 and finally to Template:Convert at the USPF West Georgia Open Powerlifting Championships, held in Columbus, Georgia on January 31, 1981.[7] In this competition, Kazmaier officially became the first human to bench press Template:Convert[6] (raw) in an IPF-sanctioned meetTemplate:Efn and recorded his lifetime best three-lift-total of Template:Convert,[3][9] a powerlifting world record that remained unsurpassed for more than a decade.[7] His winning lifts were: a Template:Convert squat, the Template:Convert bench press and an Template:Convert deadlift.[3] The bench press and deadlift were done raw (unequipped), while the squat was performed with wraps and a marathon squat suit.[7] This powerlifting performance is regarded as one of the best of all time.

In November 1981, Kazmaier became one of the few lifters in history to hold world records in three of the four powerlifting events at the same time by setting a new deadlift world record at Template:Convert in competition.[3][8] From 1981 onwards Kazmaier's career was affected by multiple muscle tears and injuries, preventing him from setting the bar even higher. He sustained chest, shoulder and triceps injuries, ruling out further records in the bench press.[8]

Strongman career

Kazmaier competed in six World's Strongest Man contests. In 1979 World's Strongest Man, he came in third after leading throughout much of the competition and beating powerlifting icon Don Reinhoudt in the car lift by deadlifting a Template:Convert car. In the following years, he dominated the competitions in 1980, 1981, and 1982, winning all by significant margins.[10] He was the first man to win the WSM title three times and to this day, remains one of only two men ever to win it three times in a row.[10]

In his 1980 World's Strongest Man title win, Kazmaier won five of ten events and tied for first in another. He won the log lift, engine race, steel bar bend, playboy bunny squat lift, silver dollar deadlift, and the final tug of war. The runner-up in the competition Lars Hedlund, was over 28 points behind.Template:Efn

During Kazmaier's title defense at the 1981 World's Strongest Man he won the squat event with Template:Convert (on a smith machine) for a world record, just after tearing his pectoralis major muscle while bending cold rolled steel bars in the bar bend event before.Template:Efn Kazmaier made the iconic quote "These legs, are the strongest legs, right here!" following the performance. In the next event he went on to win the silver dollar deadlift with a Template:Convert lift. After his opponent Dave Waddington failed to make the final lift, Kazmaier lifted the weight for two consecutive reps despite needing only one rep to secure the win. Of 11 events he had five wins, two second places, one third and a fourth. His wins included the log lift, deadlift, squat, loading race and engine race.

In the 1982 World's Strongest Man competition Kazmaier won the first three events. A notable performance in this WSM was his Template:Convert joint-world record silver dollar deadlift alongwith Ernie Hackett.

Despite being the reigning 3x time champion, the organizers controversially decided not to invite Kazmaier to compete in the following four WSM competitions, with Kazmaier self-claiming the reason was because he was "too dominant".[11][12] His absence cleared the way for Kazmaier's main rival, Geoff Capes, to win the title in 1983. Capes and upcoming Jón Páll Sigmarsson dominated the competition during the next several years.

He returned to the World's Strongest Man Contest in 1988, where he won three of eight events: the log press, deadlift and sack race; and took two second places including the truck pull, but was disqualified for moving his hands in the sausage forward hold, so the time was stopped prematurely. With two events to go, he was leading the field by 1 point over Jón Páll, and was the favorite to win the following Weight over bar event, in which a Template:Convert weight has to be thrown over a bar. He was the reigning world record holder of this event from 1987 Pure Strength with a height of Template:Convert. The event took place on water with boats floating around and Kazmaier's concern about his orientation on water was borne out. Although he threw the weight way higher than the bar, he failed to get the trajectory right, failing at Template:Convert. Jón Páll won the event with a clearance of Template:Convert and with four contestants coming in-between the two, Kazmaier was trailing Jón Páll by four points, a deficit which cost him too much to catch up at the final event McGlashen Stones, eventually emerging runner-up to Jón Páll.[10]

In Kazmaiers' final WSM appearance at the 1989 World's Strongest Man, he severely injured his ankle in the first event and already had a ripped biceps. He came in fourth.[10] In addition to WSM contests, Kazmaier also competed in the second and third most prestigious contests World Muscle Power Classic and Le Defi Mark Ten International alongwith several other tournaments, such as the Scottish Power Challenge, Strongbow Strongman Challenge and Pure Strength. He ended his career as a competitive strongman in 1990.[7]

With three Worlds Strongest Man titles, Kazmaier is one of the most successful competitors in the history of the contest. Strength historian David P. Webster called him "the greatest American strength athlete of all time", and a 2008 poll of experts rated him as top superheavyweight lifter of all time and "one of the strongest men who ever lived."[7] He was featured in Flex magazine in May 2008, in which a top ten list of the strongest men in history was published where Kazmaier was voted "the third strongest man that ever lived", just behind Mark Henry and Žydrūnas Savickas.[13][14]

Professional wrestling career

Inspired by Jim Thorpe, Kazmaier sought to transfer his talents to other sports, trying out for the NFL's Green Bay Packers in 1981.[7] He also trained as a wrestler with Verne Gagne and Brad Rheingans, and entered professional wrestling in 1986, with a WWF match in Calgary, Alberta on November 10, 1986, defeating David Barbie.[15] During the 1980s, he had wrestled for promotions such as Stampede Wrestling in Canada and Continental Championship Wrestling in America. He would also wrestle for Fighting Network RINGS in Japan in early 1991.

His biggest national exposure came when he debuted for World Championship Wrestling in the summer of 1991. He received several shots at Lex Luger's WCW World Heavyweight Championship but failed to win the title. He also briefly teamed with Rick Steiner, only to lose to The Enforcers in a tournament final for the WCW World Tag Team Championship. At Halloween Havoc 1991, in Chattanooga, he beat Oz by submission. At the 1991 Starrcade Battlebowl: The Lethal Lottery, Kazmaier and his partner Jushin "Thunder" Liger defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Mike Graham in Norfolk, Virginia. While in WCW, Kazmaier also wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In NJPW, his theme music was "Poundcake" by Van Halen.

Life after competition

Kazmaier opened a fitness club, Kaz Fitness Center, in Auburn, Alabama in the early 1980s. The gym closed in 2005. Kazmaier then opened, and continues to operate, S.W.A.T. gym in Opelika, Alabama.[7] Both served as a place for him to train and as headquarters for DynaKaz Inc., Kazmaier's own exercise equipment import-export company,[6] which markets fitness products worldwide.[7]

On retiring from active competition in the 1990s, Kazmaier was hired as a co-commentator for the American ESPN broadcast of the annual World's Strongest Man competition along with Todd Harris and 2006 World's Strongest Man winner Phil Pfister.[7] He also comments in the British broadcast.

Kazmaier considers his most important contributions to public life to be his work as a motivational speaker for 3D Sports Tech, addressing school and YMCA groups. "I can and I will" is the message he conveys to inspire young people to lead healthier and more productive lives.[7]

Personal life

Bill Kazmaier's nickname is "Kaz". He is the youngest child of William Bartholomew and Florence Louise Steinhoff Kazmaier. He had one brother, two sisters, and a half brother. His father owned soda water bottling plants in Burlington and Kenosha, Wisconsin.[7]

In 1974 Kazmaier read a Bible verse in Psalm 40 while at the Madison YMCA[7] and subsequently became a devoted Christian, crediting much of his success and exceptional strength to "the power of Jesus Christ."[8][16]

He lives in Auburn, Alabama and has a son, Eric.[17]

Personal records

Powerlifting

performed in official powerlifting full meets

→ former IPF world record in SHW class (+regardless of weight class) (stood until Ted Arcidi's Template:Convert in 1984)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
→ former IPF world record in SHW class (+regardless of weight class) (stood until Lars Norén's Template:Convert in 1987)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
→ former all-time world record deadlift in SHW class (+regardless of weight class) (stood until Dan Wohleber's Template:Convert in 1982)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Total – Template:Convert (Template:Convert)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". raw except for the squat which was equippedScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". (Jan, 1981)[3]
→ former IPF world record in SHW class (+regardless of weight class) (stood until John Ware's Template:Convert in 1989, which was equipped with an 80s marathon squat suit and also a bench shirt)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Strongman

→ Initially measured Template:Convert but later declared to be the above mentioned weight. Judged by Douglas Edmunds.
This lift was not surpassed until Jón Páll Sigmarsson did Template:Convert in 1987. However both were not considered official deadlift records because the weights and setup used did not allow the bar to stay at the standard 9 inches off the floor, making them slightly elevated deadliftsScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
  • Silver Dollar Deadlift – Template:Convert 18 inches off the floor (1982 World's Strongest Man) (Former Joint-World Record)
  • Hungarian Farm Cart Deadlift – Template:Convert (1988 World's Strongest Man) (World Record)
  • Car Deadlift – Template:Convert lifting two tires off the ground (1979 World's Strongest Man) (World Record)
  • Cement Block Squat (on Smith Machine/ not to parallel depth) – Template:Convert (1981 World's Strongest Man) (World Record)[21]
  • Log lift (with vintage irregular V.1 log) – Template:Convert (1988 World's Strongest Man) (World Record)[22]
→ Kazmaier held this record a total of 3 times ever since he did it first with Template:Convert in 1980 World's Strongest Man.
These wooden logs of the era were awkward in shape with a larger circumference than what are used today in mainstream Strongman. They were not machined and were highly unbalanced in weight. Kazmaier pressed these logs strict, without using leg driveScript error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".

Other

Combined lifts

  • Career aggregate powerlifting total – Template:Convert (Template:Convert)Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". (1981)
    (equipped except for the bench press which was performed raw)

Achievements

Professional Competitive Record – [1st (18),2nd (4), 3rd (4) – Out of Total(29)]
International winning percentage of 44.5%

Professional 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th INJ DNQ Total
American or other Nationals 10 1 11
International 8 4 3 3 18
Combined 18 4 4 3 29

COMPLETED CONTESTS

World Strongman Challenge – 3rd place (1988)

World Muscle Power Championships – winner (1988)

World Muscle Power Championships – 3rd place (1985)

See also

References

Template:NotelistTemplate:Reflist

External links

Template:Sister project

Template:World's Strongest Man champions Template:World Muscle Power champions Template:Iceland's Strongest Man champions

  1. ↑ The 1980 Strongbow Contest
  2. ↑ Bill Kazmaier Strongbow Superman Contest 1981
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  18. ↑ ALL TIME HISTORICAL MEN AND WOMEN'S POWERLIFTING WORLD RECORDS Template:Webarchive
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