Welcome to the Canadian Armwrestling Federation website
2008 Hall Of Fame Inductees
Barb Zalepa - Competitor
Very seldom does an armwrestler come into the sport with the raw strength and natural ability to overcome the best we have in Canada in their very first year.
She upset the field at the 1993 Nationals in Saskatchewan capturing her very first Canadian Title.
Since then she has gone on to win 13 National Titles & 5 World Titles in 3 different weight classes.
Her very presence at the table drew fear & respect from her competitors, and at one time was considered pound for pound the best female armwrestler on the planet.
A biography of Barb
It was the summer of 1992 when the world of arm wrestling had the first
chance to see then Barb Schlegel. There was a charity arm wrestling
tournament in West Lorne, Ontario. Barb, who grew up in the area, decided
to participate in the tournament. She was always good at arm wrestling and
thought that she would give it a try on a professional table. She had always
excelled at any sport that she competed at and thought that this would be
an exciting new challenge. Barb had gone undefeated as a amateur boxer
going 13-0 ( no one got past the first round), she had won a body building
contest, and had still held multiple high school track records in Ontario.
She had little trouble beating the defending champion and thought this
would be a sport that she would enjoy. The referee at that time told her that
she had more natural talent then any other woman that he had ever seen
and that she should try the next tournament which was 2 weeks away.
There would be more competition there because it was a money
tournament. That referee was Mark Zalepa.
Barb participated at the next tournament and defeated all again, including
the Ontario champion. Still not understanding the magnitude of what she
just did, she walked back to her seat and never thought anything of it. After
the tournament she was approached by the referee again and told about
the Canadian championships in Ottawa and that she would have a good
chance at doing well. She would have a much stronger class of competition
because the many time Canadian & World champion, Nancy Locke, would
be there. She decided that was the next tournament she would attend. It
was a month away and the referee, Mark, offered to help show her some
techniques and positions that might help her if she was interested. She
was very interested in finding out more about the sport because of her
background in competing at a high level she knew that nothing came easy
and she would have to practice to become better if she planned on
competing professionally.
The weekend of the Canadians had arrived. She had not had a chance to
practice with Mark because of conflicting work schedules. She did keep in
contact with Mark during that month and saw that there was more then just
the sport she was interested in. It was a huge tournament and to make it
more interesting, it was being covered by TSN (The Sports Network). Barb
placed second to Nancy but not before beating 3 other Provincial
champions. Nancy had way too much speed and experience to have Barb
give her a challenge. The fire was sparked in heart to become the best at
the sport. The fire was also started with Mark.
Within 2 weeks Mark had moved in. They had found out while at the
Canadians they had feelings for each other from the first time that met.
Unknown to Mark until years later that Barb left her boyfriend the day after
the first tournament and told her mother that she thought she met the man
she was going to be married to. Mark had the same feelings but didn't want
to scare Barb off if the feelings weren't the same way for Barb. He knew at
that time that she was destined to become the best and did not want to
spoil that by trying to ask her out. They have been together ever since and
were married October 15, 1994. Almost two years to the day of her first
Canadian championship.
Barb trained hard for the next year hoping to get the chance to beat Nancy
at the 1993 Canadian championships which were going to be held in
Regina, Sask.. She lost to Nancy again at the Ontario championships and
was more determined then ever to be on top. There was a twist to the story
that helped Barb out and that was that Shirley Issac, another many time
Canadian and World champion was going to be in the same class.
Everyone thought that Nancy and Shirley would be the two to watch. Barb
shocked the arm wrestling world by becoming the champion in the 60 kg
class with both left and right arms. Next - the WAF World championships in
Edmonton, Alberta.
The World championships went the same way as the Canadians. Barb was
not the favorite and was over looked. She walked away the 1993 World arm
wrestling champion in the women's 60kg class. It was all the drive she
needed to train harder and become a top name in the sport.
In 1994 Barb thought that she would not compete at the WAF World
championships in Sweden, but would rather try the biggest tournament at
the time which was the Yukon Jack. Barb has stated from the time that she
started the sport that she wanted the challenge of beating the best. Seeing
that the Yukon Jack was an open weight class she thought that that would
be more exciting to try. She placed third behind Dot Jones & Liane
Desfrene. She beat many ladies bigger than her and thought that this was
the direction she want to go. She wanted to win the World championships
in as many weight classes as she could. This was not an ego thing, but a
challenge to do something no other woman has ever done. To win the
World championships in 4 different weight classes.
The next year would turn out to be the most rewarding year for Barb in her
life. She achieved the greatest title on earth, Mom. On October 2, 1995 an 8
lbs 2 1/2 ounce baby boy arrived. Chase Alexander Zalepa was born and
thankfully he has Barb's huge hands. Maybe a third World champion in the
family? Only time will tell.
With a year off from the sport Barb knew that she would have a lot of
catching up to do. She trained harder then ever on her way to wining her
fifth and sixth Canadian titles. She had her focus now set on the Yukon
Jack in Orlando, Fla.. She lost again to Dot and Liane but it only intensified
her drive to prove that she could compete with bigger women. She vowed
to beat one of the ladies who had been her only obstacles over the last two
years. She wanted to beat either Dot or Liane. She accomplished that feat
in the summer of 1997 beating Liane in Ottawa.
During the winter of 1998 Barb was waiting for a tournament to start in
Huntsville, Ontario when she was coaxed into pulling the men's 135 lb
class. The class had the reigning Ontario champion plus 2 time Canadian
champion for the men in the same class. She thought for training reasons
she would try it to see how she would fair against the men. It was not a
good day in Huntsville for the men as Barb won both ladies classes as well
as the men's with the Ontario and the Canadian champion placing third and
second behind her respectively. This was just another example why many
competitors consider Barb pound for pound one of the best arm wrestlers
in the world.
Barb has many titles to her credit such as 10 time Canadian and and 6 time
World arm wrestling Champion but there is still one title she would love to
obtain - Olympic Gold Medallist. Barb, as every other professional arm
wrestler, is dreaming of the day that this great sport will some how get the
chance to show the world what great athletes it has on the Olympic stage.
With hard work and a lot of co-operation Barb hopes that this dream will
become a reality. There is no greater feeling in sport then to represent your
country at the greatest sporting event on the Planet. We all hope it can
happen.
With the future of the sport looking brighter than ever now Barb has plans
to train harder than ever to obtain the goal of a world title in 4 different
weight classes. She now has 3 with the most recent one coming in the 70kg
class at the 1998 World arm wrestling championships in Thunder Bay,
Ontario. Barb hopes to pull in the 80kg in 1999 World arm wrestling
championships in Japan. All this from a woman that weighs 134 lbs (61kg).
If there is any woman in the sport that can accomplish this feat, it is Barb
Zalepa.
Dave Hicks - Competitor
If there is a Super-Man in the sport of armwrestling, our next inductee would be him.
No single person has accomplished more, traveled further, or been a better ambassador for our country in the world of armwrestling than our next recipient.
He has captured numerous Canadian & World titles, and done it all with an infectious smile.
Highly respected the world over, he continues to show us flashes of his armwrestling brilliance to this very day.
Fred Roy - Builder
His career in organized armwrestling got off to a rocky start in 1979 finishing an unexpected 3rd in his first official tournament. From there he helped the late great John Miazdzyk organize the very first North American Armwrestling Championships and later that same year went on to found and organize his provinces armwrestling association which still runs today.
He won his first National Title in 1982 & a World title in 1985. In 1989 John Miazdzyk passed away and he was there to pick up the mantel and continued pushing John’s vision forward & becoming the CAWF President. In 1998 he became President of the WAF and has been a driving force in bringing armwrestling to where it is today.
A biography of Fred Roy
Athlete, organizer and individual.
by Debbie Roy
February 15, 1952, Fred Roy was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada. He
was raised on the family farm in the French/Canadian community of Domremy,
Saskatchewan, along with his 7 brothers and 4 sisters. Growing up in a humble
background, Fredís parents, Roger and Florence raised their family deriving their income
from mixed farming, lumber and logging camps. Hard work with little reward was nothing
new to the family clan, but still they basked in good health and great fun with the little they
had. Fred, fluent in both English and French, graduated from the local school in Domremy.
Like most young people at that time, secondary education was not an option and so he
headed straight to work in his father's local bush camps and then on to the mines of
Thompson, Manitoba, Canada, where he toiled in the INCO mines for nickel ore. After a
year of doing this work he went onto road construction, running heavy equipment,
building roads into the north country of Canada. He even purchased a motorcycle and
pursued his private pilotís license. There was a lot of work available in those years of 1969
to late 70ís. During those growing up years Fred met Debbie Bremner, with whom he
stayed in very close contact. After returning from the North Country and working a 6-
month stint as driver salesman for a petroleum company and then 2 years for a meat
packing plant, Fred and Debbie were married in 1973 and raised a family of 2 boys
Christopher and Jason and a girl, Meagan. Fred went onto drive tractor-trailer for a cattle
company and in 1975 he started his own business in the logging industry, running three
bush camps and heavy equipment to go with it. Four tractor-trailers hauled their product
to the local mills. In the late 80ís, Fred sold out the business and in 1990 he started
working for Weyerhaeuser Canada, one of the worldís largest pulp, paper and lumber
companies in the world. He works there today as a Maintenance Supervisor.
That is quite a trail to follow, as we list off Fredís many occupations, but there are
several things that stand out during this sojourn, the very physical work that was done in
many of the activities and the constant planning and executing of these plans. During his
growing years, Fred participated in every sport available to him, excelling in most but not
being a standout in any particular one. His physical strength far surpassed his physical
stature and it was only a natural migration to armwrestling. Coming from a large family, it
was easy to find someone to armwrestle against and his older brothers thought it was
great fun to set up the unsuspecting in the local bars for free drinks against the smaller
Roy kid.
In February of 1979, at the local Prince Albert Winter Festival, a local chiropractor,
Dr. Reg Martsinkiw, thought it would be great fun to have an armwrestling tournament
included in the festival. Heíd heard of some pretty tough armwrestlers in Alberta and
contacted them. These gentlemen were John Miazdzyk and Tony Senger. Dr. Reg had
them come out and organize the tournament, in which Fred entered and proceeded to get
two 3rd place finishes. Nonetheless he was hooked. He talked with John for hours, asking
all kinds of questions about the ins and outs of armwrestling. There were no local
tournaments in Saskatchewan, so, Fred traveled to Alberta to attend Johnís tournaments,
where he continued to get beat by individuals who were not as strong as he was. Debbie
traveled with him as much as was possible, especially with a growing family. She
encouraged him to get something going locally, so Fred founded the Saskatchewan
ArmWrestling Association (SAWA) and he began promoting armwrestling within the
province. It didnít take long to get a pretty big following through out the province and later
in that same year, Dr. Reg and Fred got together and planned the North American
Armwrestling Championship. Wow! What a success this was! They had quite a few
Americans up from the northern states and Canadians from across Canada, East and
West. Now Fred became involved on the National scene, traveling to where the bigger
tournaments were and promoting the smaller ones, always looking for new armwrestling
talent. John Miazdzyk, who was the president of the Canadian Armwrestling Federation
(CAWF) at the time, asked Fred if he were interested in helping to run the CAWF. Fred
threw his name into the circle and he became the Vice-President of the West CAWF. The
year of 1979 was a very busy and important year and that same year, John Miazdzyk
hosted the very first World Armwrestling Championship in Weytaskwin Alberta, Canada.
Four countries were represented, Canada, United States. India and Brazil. The world really
didnít know at the time that this was to be the catalyst that started the present World
Armwrestling Federation with over 70 member countries now! At that time the
armwrestling was run on the sitdown style only. In 1985, Fred became a member of Team
Canada and they traveled to Mexico City, Mexico. After 2 grueling days of competition,
Fred emerged with a gold medal in both arms, left and right. Wow! What a high that was
for him and now he wanted to carry on and defend his title. In 1986, Fred went to Las
Vegas after winning the right to participate in the Over the Top tournament, which was part
of the movie with Sylvester Stallone. He wanted the Worlds again! The 1986 worlds were to
be in India, but unfortunate events in that country kept the other countries out so it didnít
happen as planned. The 1987 Worlds were in London, England, where Fred experienced
his best tournament ever, although he only finished with a silver in both left and right. Now
he began getting a little more involved in the politics of armwrestling as it was getting
quite busier and John needed help. In 1988, they went to Sweden, where Fred finished 3rd
in both left and right and he represented Canada on the WAF board, as John had taken ill.
In 1989, a very tragic event threatened to upset armwrestling, not only on the National
level but the World level, when John Miazdzyk passed away from a brain tumor. At the
Western Canadian Nationals that year (up to this point there had always been several
National championships which created some confusion as to who was the actual national
champion), Fred was elected to replace John Miazdzyk as the Canadian leader. Team
Canada headed for Greece, where Fred became a Vice-president of WAF replacing the late
John Miazdzyk. Fred competed in the open tournament but his duties were taking its toll
and Fred finished 3rd once again. He had to make his mind up to either stay competing or
to get involved more heavily in the politics of armwrestling. He decided to continue to
being involved in armwrestling through the refereeing of the sport and in building a better
structure to the main body of the sport. Back in Canada, Fred took to his new post of
CAWF President with a vengeance. He traveled to the eastern part of Canada and after
meeting with all the shakers and the movers of armwrestling there, he explained his vision
of there being only one National tournament in Canada. Many thought this to be a pipe
dream and doubted that it would work. Fred told them, let us not rush into it, but let us
have only two National tournaments, one in the east and one in the west. The top one from
each class from each tournament will become Team Canada. They did this for two years,
but then Fred said, " The worlds are getting better every year, but yet we still donít send
our best. For example, our first place winner could perhaps be beat by your third place
finisher or vice versa and therefore we do not have our best on the world team." After
more debate and some concessions, the CAWF became united as one and for the last 10
years, they have been having a single Nationals with a dramatic improvement in their
showing at the Worlds.
In 1990, Fred went to the Worlds in Houston, Texas, USA. There he refereed at the
championship and participated in the General Assembly. There were some conflict with
some of the delegates and it seemed a rift was starting to form in the WAF and Fred was
destined to be involved. The WAF was growing quite fast and other forces were entering
the playing field, trying to capitalize on the growth. In 1991, the WAF was in Israel for that
yearís championship. Because of personal commitments at home, Fred did not go. In
1992, the Worlds made their stop in Geneva, Switzerland. This seemed to be the beginning
of the end for the WAF that most people knew. General Assemblies were not very
productive and Fred was growing tired of the egos that were running WAF at the time. The
very democracy that the WAF was founded on was violated to the extreme during the
election process. The President and Gen-Sec at that time duped member countries into
signing a blank sheet of paper, when asked what it was for, they were told it was an
attendance roster. Canada and several other progressive countries were not asked to sign,
nor shown the paper. At the top of this sheet the duo wrote in after the fact, that all the
below signed showed unanimous support for these two people to continue on as
President and General Secretary and therefore an election was not necessary. Fred was
very disappointed in these people. He tried to get a North American Armwrestling
Federation (NAAF) going that year, but the same people who had violated the democratic
process in WAF became involved there as well and the NAAF became merely a shell. In
1993, the Worlds came back to Canada, in which Fred participated again as referee and
WAF delegate for Canada. He also wrote the NAAF constitution that year, trying once
again to get it going. He got some co-operation from the American Armwrestling
Association (AAA) who appointed Ray Darling to the NAAF Board of Directors. Between
the two of them and in order to get going, upon mutual consent, Fred was to serve as
president for a two year term and then Ray would take over for two years and then they
hoped to have a general election to have new people involved. In 1994, Sweden once again
hosted the WAF Worlds. That year Fred chaired the General Assembly and some progress
was made. During the past several years, each Worlds had been alternating, one year sit
down style and the following year stand up style. The sit down style was becoming very
cumbersome and hard to referee properly. Stand up was fast becoming very popular and
was much easier to referee and promote. In the General Assembly Fred introduced the
motion and had it debated to eliminate the sit down style completely from the curriculum
of the WAF championship. A majority vote changed the way of doing tournaments and
stand up was to be the only style promoted on the World circuit. In 1994, Fred was asked
by then President of WAF, Bob OíLeary and General secretary of WAF, Barij Baran Das to
go to Moscow and attend the Golden Bear tournament. Once there he was to contact new
members. This was a prestigious event at which some very high profile armwrestling
leaders would be attending who were not part of WAF at the time. These included Mr. Dave
Devoto, USA, Mr. Leonard Harkless, USA, Mr. Mitsuo Endo, Japan and others. Arranged by
Mr. Igor Akhmedshin, Fred presented his pitch on WAF in front of the Russian Olympic
Committee and all others that were present. The results were very successful and WAF
came away a winner with newly acquired members. At this point and in talking to Mr.
Devoto and Mr. Harkless, Fred asked them why they had not joined forces with the AAA
and become one National body in the United States. They told him they had asked but all
their ideas and proposals had been rejected at the time and that they were basically told
they were not wanted. Fred thought this to be very odd, especially when WAF was
supposed to be trying to spread armwrestling and get as many organizations into the fold
of WAF as possible. With this information in hand and on behalf of the NAAF organization,
Fred approached the AAA and asked if it were possible to affiliate all entities in the
country of the United States under one National banner without each organization losing
its original identity, much as they had done in Canada. No answer back!
In 1995 the WAF Worlds went to Brazil. More controversy ensued, not only on the
world level but on the continental level as well. The board of directors of the AAA took
Fred aside and told him to keep his nose out of USA armwrestling business and that the
AAA was the only organization recognized to represent armwrestling to WAF in the United
States. Fred asked them what about all the talent that was being left out of the loop, what
about the following all the other organizations had, would they not be interested in
acquiring those athletes? Were not the proposals put forward by NAAF worth debating
with all interested parties? No, no, no, were the answers that came back! Fred persisted
and he was threatened to be thrown out of the organization if he continued.
On the World level, the refereeing division was running into problems with
constant battling for power and egos were tripping out. What would it all come to,
wondered Fred? Who cared who had refereed more than the other, as long as they had
quality refereeing.
In 1996 the WAF Worlds went back to the USA. Problems were getting more
intense. Now, suddenly, the then WAF leaders said Fred could not participate as a referee,
although he had done so for the last 6 years, stating WAF policy that had never been in the
constitution before. They also asked him to give the NAAF presidency over to Ray Darling,
delegating him to vice ñpresident of NAAF. Fred realized that they were trying to force him
out by any way possible, even changing policy without majority consent or debate. His
push for a better-structured WAF was not being met with open arms. The head hunting
had started. Mr. David Shead from England was expelled from WAF on trumped up
charges and exaggerated lies.
The year of 1997 took the WAF back to India, again under controversial
circumstances. Upon arrival in Guwahatti City, State of Assam, Fred was registered into a
hotel away from the host hotel. Out of site out of mind so it seemed to say. He receives a
visit from Barij Baran Das who delivers him papers of charges against Fred on behalf of
WAF. Again more trumped up charges and the head hunting continued. He made his way
to the host hotel and handed out the packages on behalf of Canada who were proposing to
host the Worlds for 1998. He then made arrangements through an interpreter to take him
to an individual who had a typewriter. Once there Fred answered all of the charges against
him, point for point and then he found a place to have them photocopied. The following
day was the Annual Congress meeting. Again they were playing silly games, giving Fred a
hard time about getting his pass to get into the meeting. The president of WAF stops him
before he enters and shows him papers that were later discerned as forged, that the
president of NAAF, who was not present at these worlds, had taken Fred out of the
position of vice-president and appointed someone else into that position, therefore taking
Fred off the board of WAF. When Fred challenged the authenticity of these papers, even if
the whole scenario was against the NAAF constitution, he entered the meeting hall to take
his place at head of the table. Sitting in his place was the alleged replacement for the
North America delegation. An armed guard came to him and pushed him out of the way
and he was asked to sit elsewhere, which he did. He conducted himself in a gentlemanly
fashion in spite of the way he was being treated by these people who were totally out of
control. When the time came to vote for the next years Worlds no other country had any
proposal except for Canada. Fred passed out the remaining world packages to the
countries that had not received them as yet. It was voted on unanimously to accept
Canadaís bid. Then it came time to take care of other business, the charges that had been
presented to Fred were read and the execution began immediately without even asking if
Fred had any rebuttal to the charges. Acting quickly with the help of the rest of the
Canadian delegation, the rebuttal papers were passed out, answering all the charges
against him. This was a move that took the board by surprise, because they did not expect
that Fred would have had the time to do all of this. When individuals demanded that Fred
have the time to answer to the charges and explain his rebuttal, the General Secretary
came out with this bit of wisdom "A majority decision has no place in this Congress." The
board pulled in their horns and said that they would take the time to read the rebuttal
(instead of doing it in Congress and having a membership vote) and come back with a
decision. The next day is the start of the tournament. Now the WAF has a problem. They
do not have enough referees, so Fred is asked to referee, even though the year before he
wasnít allowed. Rather then point out all of the very apparent deficiencies in their strategy,
Fred agreed to do it so that some of the credibility of a World championship might be
saved.
Upon leaving Guwahatti City, Fred runs into General Osman from Egypt at the
airport. In conversation Fred asks General Osman, "So we will see you at the World
championship in Canada next year?" He calmly replies, "No, I am returning home to
prepare to host the World championships in Egypt next year as I was asked by Mr. Das
and OíLeary to do so." Fred replies, " Were we not at the same meeting where the
membership voted unanimously to come to Canada for the Worlds next year?" "Yes" he
replied, " but apparently there has been some changes since you have not given the
required sanction fee." Fred goes to his luggage and checks the inside pocket of his suit
and finds the sealed envelope from the bid committee in his suit. In all the commotion he
had not given it to them. Upon arrival in Calcutta, he sends the check to Mr. Das via
registered mail, which he had to sign for to receive it. Mr. Das then claims that Canada was
breaking the law because it was illegal to give post-dated checks. He is now in contact
with the host committee in Canada. Now Fred arrives back in Canada and begins
contacting Mr. OíLeary and Mr. Das to find out the decision of the board after reviewing
the rebuttal. Three months later, they return a decision that they had expelled Fred from
WAF for life and that the Worlds were going to Egypt for 1998. Knowing of all the bogus
activity that had surrounded all of this, Fred went back to the membership and sent out a
call for a vote of non-confidence against Bob OíLeary and Barij Baran Das. The charges
were explicit, based on fact and through the only article in the constitution that could
accommodate this action. The vote for non-confidence was to take place at the World
championships in Canada. Canada went ahead with championships because it was not the
membership that had changed the location, it was a couple of scared individuals. The vote
went ahead at the Congress meeting and Das and OíLeary were removed from their posts
and an election was held to replace them. There was a majority quorum at the Congress
Meeting and the votes stood as valid. The interim President was Fred Roy, Canada and
General Secretary was Willy Deneumostier, Belgium until election year 2000, at which time
a new election would take place.
The 1999 edition of the World Championship were in Tokyo, Japan. Although the
controversy had created upheaval in the world of armwrestling, some excellent progress
was made. There was actually some real work being done in Congress. Fred was pleased
with all that took place, the defeats and the victories, because he knew that the WAF was
finally on the right track. Progress would be made. A referee training program was
introduced the year before and the decision had been made to run the clinic at every
championship. Changes were made in the constitution to stop the kind of abuse and
dictatorship they had experienced from the former administration from happening again.
The millennium edition of the World championship went to Finland. The year 2000
was filled with victories for Fred, which overshadowed the defeats. Great strides again
were taken in making the WAF championships more efficient and meetings more
productive.
2001, WAF was in Poland, gaining more strength and momentum as democracy
and a positive outlook continued to prevail in the World of armwrestling. More countries
joined the WAF.
The United States has the 2002 championships and it is promising to be a
tremendous tournament. World armwrestling unity is a big topic and the armwrestlers of
the world want it to happen. These are the people who want to see armwrestling raised to
that plain where it belongs, the goal shared by so many from so many different countries,
ultimately the Olympics.
Fred is proud to be associated with all of them and to have been a part of their past and
the future!
Fred Salvadore - Builder
Fred Salvadore was born and raised in Timmins, Ontario and was a huge promoter of the sport of arm wrestling. He organized the first ever World Wrist Wrestling Championships in Timmins in 1970. He was approached by Carling O'Keefe Breweries and, through exposure on Wide World of Sports, managed to promote the sport in a way that no one had been able to. He put on a World Armwrestling Championships for an unbelievable 12 years in a row in Timmins, Ontario.
In 1971, he organized the first ever Canadian Armwrestling Championships and that served as the introduction of the term "arm wrestling," which was previously referred to as wrist wrestling. With the showcasing of arm wrestling on Wide World of Sports, he will be remembered as a superior promoter of the sport.
John Miazdzyk - Builder
This being our first year of actually having a Canadian Armwrestling Hall of Fame, it wouldn’t be complete without honoring the man who is the very heart & soul of our great sport. Without his dedication, vision and courage, the sport of armwrestling would not be what it is today.
He hosted the very first World Championships in Alberta in 1979, and over the next 10 years did more to promote and further the sport of armwrestling than most could accomplish in a lifetime.
John passed away in 1989 at the young age of 40. It is nearly 20 years since the passing of this great legend and still he is being honored with yet another award.
Thank you John for giving us this great sport we call Armwrestling. I encourage you all to “Remember the Spirit”.