Madison Square Garden Archives - www.oldtimestrongman.com

Fred Winters

Posted on Tuesday, December 26th, 2017 by John Wood

It is fairly well known (at least around these parts) that Fred Winters won the Silver Medal at the 1904 Summer Olympics — the rarely seen shot above is a one-arm lift from that performance. what most people don’t know is that a few weeks before the Olympics, August 8th, 1904, Winters set a new world record in what would today be called the one-arm snatch. Winters successfully lifted a 141 lb. dumbbell from the ground to overhead, beating by three pounds the previous record set by G. W. Stoesset at Madison Square Garden, December 17, 1897.

Joseph Vitole’s Strong Teeth

Posted on Friday, October 20th, 2017 by John Wood

“… looming before my vision as a standout, was a feat by Joseph Vitole, a 155 lb. lad whom I trained right after World War I. Vitole had the most perfect teeth I have ever seen. Each tooth met the other in his bite. He had a square jaw, a stocky neck and a rugged all round build. He specialized in all teeth and jaw hobbies. He really liked to bite and grip with his jaws and this lead to the lifting of weights with his teeth alone. He had a leather “bit” which was attached to a strong chain. This chain had a link-clasp at the other end. Joe would simply wrap one end of this chain around the bar of a bell, then take a firm grip upon the leather mouthpiece, place his hands upon his lower thighs and pull with the back of his neck until the weight raised a few inches off the floor. He trained a lot with this sort of novelty lifting. gradually his poundages increased until he was absolutely sure of doing the unheard of (then) total of 550 pounds! I have seen him do this lift many times in practice. Finally, Bernarr McFadden promoted a physique contest for both men and women in 1921.

At this affair which ran for one week at the old Madison Square Garden, NYC, there were staged various unique events and one of these was a contest in teeth-lifts. I was a judge in this particular affair. Joseph Vitole then and there made an official record of 550 lbs. in the teeth-lift which, to the best of my knowledge, has never been broken. Now please check up on what I have written: Vitole weighed only 155 lbs. himself, yet with the power of his back, neck, jaws and teeth, he lifted this weighted barbell, which was officially tested and checked by many assigned for that particular purpose, and found to weigh 550 lbs. Vitole often told me afterwards that he could easily lift much more than that poundage…”

~ Earle E. Liederman

The Mighty Atom Bends Steel

Posted on Tuesday, December 8th, 2015 by John Wood

Here’s a look at “The Mighty Atom” Joe Greenstein bending a steel beam over the bridge of his nose with a little help from his friends. This extremely rare shot was taken in the ring at Madison Square Garden in 1974, the same night Slim The Hammer Man set the record for his amazing hammer lift. It was all at Aaron Banks’ big Karate show.

Andre Reverdy

Posted on Wednesday, February 4th, 2015 by John Wood

Andre Reverdy the “vest pocket strongman” from was a Massachusetts was active during the 1920’s. He weighed but 113 pounds but could bent press 168 pounds, tear cards, bend steel and, as shown above, pull a car with his teeth. He was coached in these classic strongman feats by Professor Attila. The above photo was taken at one of Bernarr Macfadden’s Physical Culture shows held at Madison Square Garden. Reverdy pulled this car full of passengers — with his teeth — the entire length of the arena.