2012 Hall Of Fame Inductees
Andy Elliott - Builder
He started armwrestling in 1977
From 1978 to present he has organized and promoted over 500 tournaments (at times 30-40 a year and 3 in the same week)
2 time Canadian Champion
1997 WAF Worlds Silver medalist
1996 John Miazdzyk Award Recipient
Won the Top Promoter in Canada Award 4 times (1979, 1980, 1981, 1982)
Brenda Vergette - Competitor
An Alberta native who competed between the late 70's and early 90's
She won 8 World Titles (various organizations, including a WAF gold medal in 1982)
Won 20 National Titles (including stand-up and sit-down)
Won a Gold Bear title in Moscow in 1991
Named Canada's top female armwrestler 5 times in the 80's
Joey Costello - Builder
He has been in the sport over 25 years
Has won many Canadian Titles
Is a CAWF Master Referee
Has held the position of CAWF Vice President & also WAF Vice President
We are proud to call him "Team Canada's Captain"
Laura Webb - Competitor
She is a sweet heart of the sport.
An Alberta native who has won the second highest number of WAF Gold medals among Canadian competitors
(a total of 13 in the disabled division)
She has also won 9 National Titles
Mike Gould - Competitor
An Ontario puller who has been in the sport over 20 years
He has won approximately 20 National Titles
Won 2 WAF World Gold Medals
In 1999, he beat Eric Woelfel to win the open left hand super-heavyweight World Title in Japan.
At the time, many considered Eric to be the best left handed armwrestler on the planet.
Aside from his competitive achievements, he is also the organizer of what has become Canada's largest and most prestigious Pro/Am event, the pro classes of which feature some of the toughest competition in the world.
Mike Haigh - Builder
An Ontario native who competed and promoted between the mid 80's and mid 90's
Was elected as the Ontario director to the Canadian Armwrestling Federation in 1991
Was elected as the Ontario Armwrestling Association's first president when it was formed in 1992
He moved overseas to England in 1993, where he got involved with the sport in that country.
During his tenure as chairman of the British Armwrestling Federation, the membership level rose by an incredible 60%.
He returned to Ontario in 2005 and soon got back to hosting practices and coaching. More recently he co-founded the Durham Arm Machine, yet another elite armwrestling club
He currently serves on the OAA Executive.
Sylvio Bourque - Competitor
A New Brunswick native who can be considered an Iron-Man of armwrestling, attending every nationals and worlds dating back to at least the mid 90's
Has been armwrestling competitively since 1978
Has won 14 National Titles
Is a 19 time WAF World medalist (including 3 Golds)
Organized 2 very successful Canadian Championships in 1999 and 2003
I discovered arm wrestling at a winter carnival in a small community of New Brunswick. It was in February 1978 when I tried my luck and won the 151-180 lbs class Right Hand. I was then a power lifter (Bench Press, Squats, Dead Lifts) The best I did in power lifting was 2nd in the 165 lbs class in Atlantic Canada.
From there I competed at every winter carnival and summer festival that I could find in our province. On 2 occasions in the summer of 1979 I won overall titles while weighing at under 160 lbs. It really boosted my confidence and from there I went to Toronto and won along with John Miazdzyk and Tony Senger, the Carling O' Keefe Steve Simmons Nationals. (1979 LIght Weight) Under 160 lbs. I was just coming off a full year of University Olympic Wrestling. (very hard training) In the fall of 1979, I represented Canada in Kansas City. (All expenses paid for then) Over the years I traveled to Amos Quebec and Timmins Ontario for the 2 remarkable tournaments. Ken Taylor of Quebec and Fred Salvadore of Ontario were the 2 men responsible for them.
I moved to Alberta (Drayton Valley 1981 and Calgary 1982) to train with John Miazdzyk and the serious pullers. That's where I learned to Top Roll. John told us it should be called Hand Wrestling instead of Arm Wrestling to emphasize the importance of hand control. We competed in mostly every little town of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Occasionally I got to Kamloops and Kelowna BC and also Billings Montana. 2 trips to Reno Nevada hold a big place in my memory.
I moved to Manitoba in 1983-1984 and competed in every competition at the time in their province.
When I came back to New Brunswick, Rick Pinkney had built a solid Nova Scotia Association and it inspired me to compete there. I owe them a lot for my development. The Atlantic Canadians remains one of my favorite tournaments... In Ottawa Ontario the Gloucester Fair with Rick and Lise Blanchard was a tournament I truly enjoyed year after year. The competition was great. I also have great memories of the Port Perry tournament... I attended several nice tournaments in Quebec, I also competed in the Caribbean on the Island of Curacao.
In 1992 and 2003 I had the privilege to host the nationals. Great memories! When I reached 40 (masters class) I began chasing the WAF Worlds in Japan, Brazil, Italy, India, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Poland, Finland, England and USA. It has been a great journey with 3 Gold wins as a grand master in the Left 50 and over, under 165 lbs. So far I have 19 WAF Medals... In 1999 I was awarded the very prestigious John Miazdzyk Award.
This 2012 Hall of Fame induction is very special and I wish to thank all the wonderful people who have contributed to my development as an armwrestler.
Without the dedication of Lise Blanchard I would not have been able to see so many beautiful countries. I'm also proud to say that so far I ran over 30 Marathons including 4 Boston Marathons since 2005.