George Levasseur - Ringling Brothers Circus Strongman

George Levasseur - Ringling Brothers Circus Strongman

This spectacular elephant lifting stunt of
George Levasseur's turns the calander back to the year 1907 when the Ringling Bros. billed the Detroit-born strongman as "The Strongest Man on Earth."

Levasseur was the center ring attraction with this and other dramatic displays of his strength such as allowing a large motor car filled with passengers to drive over his body.

Another sensational stunt was known as "The Human Chain where the daring strongman would resist the pulling powers of two teams of horses tugging in opposite directions in vain to seperate his clenched arms.

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The Young Apollo

The Young Apollo
The Young Apollo -- A.K.A. Paul Anderson (yes, really) from Australia performed many unusual feats during his colorful career. He was fond of the Human Link Feat, letting a car run over him and pulling railroad cars with his teeth.

Here's The Young Apollo supporting 540 Pounds in pretty much every imaginable way.

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Dennis Rogers Airplane Human Link

Dennis Rogers' Death Defying Airplane Human Link Feat
The strength feat that put Oldtime Strongman Dennis Rogers on the map was when he successfully prevented a pair of Airforce T-34 Airplanes from taking off in the human link feat.

That's 285 horsepower on each arm -- and one wrong move meant they would be scraping Dennis off the runway. This amazing feat earned the Association of Oldtime Barbell and Strongman's (AOBS) highest award from Vic Boff.

You can see the footage with your own eyes in Dennis Rogers' 336 Pounds of Fury. DVD

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More on The Human Link Feat

Here's another look at some performances of the Human Link Feat:

An unknown strongman holds back four horses in the 1910's
A German Strongman holds back a pair of automobiles
Hermann Goerner restains the pull of a dozen men
Dennis Rogers established the all-time mark for the Human Link Feat when he held back two US Airforce T-34 Airplanes -- That's 285 horsepower on each arm!

(This incredible feat of strength earned Dennis Rogers "The Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen Highest Achievement Award" in 1993.)

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Oldtime Strongman Feats: The Human Link

One of the great traditional "feats" of Old Time Strength is the Human Link.

There's no telling who came up with it first but what we do know is that Strongmen have been perfomring this feat for well over a century -- and because it is very dangerous, always goes over great with the crowd.

Many of the great ones such as Louis Cyr, Warren Lincoln Travis, George Levasseur, Apollon and many others included the "Human Link" feat in their shows.

Here's a look at a few famous performances:

The Great Canadian Strongman Louis Cyr
holds back two draft horses circa 1896


George Levasseur upped that ante with four hourses
as he performed this feat in the Circus


Dennis Rogers, The Pound-For-Pound World's Strongest Man for the feats he performs takes the "Human Link" feat to a whole new level as seen in his great video 336 Pounds of Fury -- That's a Harley Davidson Motorcycle at full blast on both sides!

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