Since the River's Edge has taken the place of the Central USA as our Fall meet, we thought it would be nice to look back through the years at some of the more memorable and some not so memorable moments of these two competitions.

Newest Addition:

Tyson Greene comes his own; breaks Holmes' 12 year old Total Record

For 12 years Chad Holmes held the 198 lb. total record with a staggering 1,692 lbs. In 2006 Tyson Green, who had been knocking them dead at 181 lbs, decided to try his luck at the next class above him. At the spacious River's Edge warehouse, the 192 lb. Greene did more than take a new weight class for a spin; he made history.

Weighing in at just 192 lbs. Tyson exchanged leads with Rodney Wood all day long until it came to the deadlift. After seeing Tyson make en effortless 611 lb. attempt, the contest was out of reach for the venerable Wood, and Greene set his sights a little higher. With the entire packed house coming alive, out roared Tyson to a 644 lb. bar. In no time, he grabbed it, and methodically, he raised the bar and wrote his way into the Missouri Mens Open record books. Tyson Greene had set a new 198 lb. Mens Open Total with a sum of 1,697 lbs! After the lift, the crowd, unsatisfied, brought him back out for what was the Missouri USAPL's first curtain call.

Lindsay Sample and the juice.....orange juice that is.

Back in the day the guys to watch at the Central USA were Leonard and Lindsay Sample. Two super tough customers that hailed from Cape Girardeau. In one of the early 90's Central USA contests we had quite a surprise. Leonard, a stalwart 220 lber, took a big squat deep. Upon coming out of the hole he had everyone within 10 feet in front of him taking cover: He literally turned into an orange juice geyser! If you've ever see "The Exorcist" and caught the scene with the projectile vomiting, just imagine the same thing, except with the color orange. After quite a few laughs and some cleanup the meet continued.

Pat Anderson presses 600!

Pat Anderson has been a familiar face at quite a few of our meets through the years. A veteran lifter and coach of a few World Teams, Pat has been around the game and is 100% powerlifting. In 2004 at the very first River's Edge, with the house lights turned down and only the platform lit up, Pat snagged a new personal best in he benchpress of 600lbs! Later that day he was awaarded the 2004 Leroy Marsh Memorial Award for his outstanding service to powerlifting through the years.

Mike Anderson dunks 800!

Also in 2004 at the first River's Edge, Mike Anderson, brother of Pat, traveled up from Georgia for the meet. What a show Mike gave us! With the house rocking and not one person still in their seat, Mike take 800 lbs for a ride for a picture perfect squat that nearly tore the roof off the place!

Quiet Man Travis Rubey hauls up 800 lbs.!

In 2003 we had no idea the 14th Central USA would be the final one, but with the building closing shortly after, it was. Travis Rubey from Rolla, MO came to the Central USA and not only lifted, but managed to do the largest deadlift ever done at this competition, a huge 800 lb. lift! Done using the conventional stance, Travis just reached down, and before you knew it he had stood up with it. This guy was old time strong and ironically, after that magnificent lift, we haven't seen the ultra-quiet Rubey since.

Lewis nails 925!

Also in 2003, Jeff Lewis brought the house down with a monsterous 925 lb. squat. The place was on fire and Pat Rankin, who was announcing, was even laying on the floor, announcing from under the table after the epic lift. What a moment.

Inaugural meet in 1990 features Mike Bridges

In 1990 Dr. Mike Cissell had a plan to run a meet down in the southern part of the state. With so many lifters from Cape it was a great idea and one that ran for nearly a decade and a half. Lifting in the very first Central USA, was none other than Mike Bridges. For the kids who are reading this, Mike Bridges was the Ed Coan before there was an Ed Coan. After a 5 year hiatus, Bridges came back in the late 80's, set numerous ADFPA records and even graced the Missouri platforms on three occasions. The highlight of yours truly was side judging while Bridges lifted. With his immaculate form, Bridges routinely went 9 for 9 receiving very few red lights in the process. Just for grins that day I felt compelled to give him a red light, and of course when he realized it was a prank, the light was quickly switched to white.

Bob Bridges pulls 710 at 165

The name Bridges is more renown in powerlifting than just about any other. Not only was there the above mentioned Mike Bridges, but his younger brother Bob was also quite a lifter. Bob was a top 165er for years and was an exceptional deadlifter. In 1993 Bob Bridges set the 165 lb. American Record Deadlift with a lift that still stands today. Bridges managed to lockout a massive 710 lb. lift, that in my mind is the best lift ever done at the Central USA.

Jay Piper remembered

In the late 80's and early 90's the Cape Girardeau team had 4 big guys you could always count on for being at the meets and kicking major posterior. Almost like the 4 Horsemen of Cape, they were Jerry Pledger, Lindsay Sample, Leonard Sample and Jay Piper. Piper hovered between 220 and 242 and was as Saturday as they came. Tragically, in 1994 we lost Jay Piper when he was killed at his job. Jay was a heavy equipment operator, and sadly one that he was operating overturned while he was in it. We were privileged to have Jay's parents present to receive an award in his honor. What a great guy.

Entire Central USA crowd sings Happy B-day to Mike Cissell

In 1997 we pulled a fast one on Dr. Mike. Not knowing that I knew that his birthday fell on the day of the meet, you can imagine how surprised he was when we all sang Happy Birthday to him at the conclusion of the competition.

Tom Voloski has one too many with Maureen Post's Grandma; feels it in the squat

Ok, so we've featured some of the great moments of these two meets, let's look at the lighter side. Tom Voloski was pretty well known in the Granite City and Madison area since he was a former Madison Police Officer, ran for a few elected offices and had been to quite a few meets. Along with that, there were a few times when he also did some announcing for us. In 1994, Tom came down on Saturday for weigh-ins since he was lifting Sunday. After the meet was over, Tom got weighed in that evening for the next morning's lifting. That's where things went awry for Voloski. Lifting at the meet earlier that day, Maureen Post and her family was ready to celebrate. Her family had come in from New York, and traveled to Cape with her just to see her lift. Among those making the trip was Maureen's 90+ year old Italian Grandmother.

One thing leads to another and Tom agrees to go to dinner with Maureen and her family. Several hours and quite a few bottles of wine later, the entire group, Grandma included, has a snoot full and are 100% blasted. I even remember seeing a highly intoxicated Tom come back to where weigh-ins were much later looking for his belt. The humorous part was on Sunday when I was trying to announce while watching Tom try to squat. On his first attempt he went down and miserably stalled at about half way up. Folks it was all I could do to catch my breath, not to mention announce, as hard as I was laughing. Word for word, Tom says, "Rick, I came up out of the hole and I didn't know where I was at...I'm still drunk." Tom managed to get one in and although very shaky, somehow managed to finished the day.

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