Bridges makes comeback

The year was 1988 and the ADFPA had began to make huge strides. As a part of the newly formed World Drug Free Powerlifting Federation, there was a certain buzz among lifters and spectators that this year's ADFPA Nationals would be especially good.

With powerlifting legend Mike Bridges qualifying at the Ozark meet earlier that year, folks began to wonder "Can he still do it?" and "Does he still have it?" Later that summer everyone found out the answer was an emphatic YES!

In one of the best squat duels this author has ever seen, 181 lbers Mike Bridges and Rob Wagner nearly set the Stouffers Concourse Hotel ablaze!. Everyone pretty well knew Bridges could squat, but at every turn, Wagner not only answered the bell, but exceeded what Mike lifted. After 2nd attempts Bridges was left with just his 644 opener on the board, while Wagner cruised with two powerful lifts of 694 and 733. Bridges decided to take the lead with an attempt at 738, and like a piston of power, he made the lift with just a little to spare.

Wagner was on a roll though. Following Bridges taking the lead, Rob decided to up the ante and not only steal first place from Mike, but also attempt a new WDFPF mark of 749 lbs. Out he came like a house of fire. With a quick setup, Wagner went into his explosive, narrow stanced dive, and proceeded to slam dunk his 3rd successful squat. With the crowd excitement approaching unruly levels, it was announced by George Huber that we would have a 4th attempt. Bridges was not to be outdone and still had something in the tank.

The call was made for 750 lbs., the minimum amount needed to erase Wagner's freshly set WDFPF record. With his methodical setup and controlled descent, Bridges took the bar down, doing a picture perfect deep knee bend and then began to slowly climb out of the hole. At this point not one person in the house was left in their seat, as they were all standing, cheering and screaming when Bridges smiled and locked out the weight. Upon racking it, he ducked under the bar near the front of the platform and thrust both hands up victoriously capping of a powerlifting battle of epic proportions, that even after 2 decades still stands out as one of the best.

Other lifters that stood out on the roster, included a slender, but muscular 148 lber who would later become one of the ADFPA/USAPL best lifters and biggest supporters. We're speaking of course of Ray Benemerito. Ray was ripped, and came in at the class limit of 67.5 kilos, winning his class by a whopping margin of nearly 70 lbs. Another big name on hand was Joe Ladnier. As a mere teenager, Joe had the distinction of topping both "Dr. Squat" Fred Hatfield and Jim Cash at 220 lbs. He made a victorious return to the platform totaling 1,923 lbs.

Other big lifts from the weekend included Bob Bridges and his shocking 705 deadlift at 165 lbs. BIG Dan McCain also hit a big lift with his 870 lb. squat at SHW on Day 2 of lifting. As a back spotter for this lift, this author literally disappeared, as I was eclipsed entirely by this massive mountain of a man. Out of the 4 Mens Nationals we've ran, Dan's squat way back in 1988 remains the largest one we've had. Who could forget the efforts of 114 lb. Roger Thompson and his stubborn ability to deadlift? Roger had an unusually wide setup and was blessed with long arms that lent themselves to big pulls. Roger had attempted a new WDFPF record of 479 on his 3rd attempt but was unable to complete the lift. Not to be denied, he went out for a 4th, and performed what seemed like a tough, 10 second lift of 479 lbs. for a new WDFPF record.

1988 Class Winners

Wagner takes Overall Best Lifter honors

1991 marked the return of the National Championships to St. Louis. Notable lifters from the 91 edition include current returning champions Dave Ricks, then at 165 lbs., and Greg Jones who captured the title at 181 lbs. Today the two are each one weight class high, but they have somehow managed keep Father Time at arms length. Another familiar name to the ADFPA National State was Rob Wagner. With his 782 squat leading his march to the title, Rob not only won the 198's, but also had to be retrieved from the pool area on day two to accept his overall best lifter award.

Members of the famous (or infamous) Missing Link Powerlifting Team also did well. Led the "The Greek" Chris Siapanides who won at 220 lbs, and Steve Scialpi, runner up at 198, this colorful group which was managed by SHW Pete Gisondi, was the ADFPA's version of the Wild Bunch.

The 275's gave us a super exciting class with the blockish Bruce Gjermo squaring of with a leaned down Eric Arnold. This one was super competitive from start to finish as the two of them rocked the Stouffers from pillar to post. With Gjermo's benchpress of 512 lbs. being the deciding factor in this outcome, he bested Arnold 2055 to 2039. Nice guy Ken Ufford of nearby Kansas, was also in the 91 event, placing 5th. Ken has the distinction of competing in 3 out of the 4 Mens Nationals held in St. Louis, only missing the 96 event.

A lifter I'd like to mention here, Shawn Cain, was the runner up at 220 lbs. While it's a major feat to be qualified to lift in this event, no lifter has been to more ADFPA/USAPL Mens Nationals than Shawn Cain. Shawn has been to 20 Mens Nationals since the meet's inception in the early 1980's. Along with that, he's placed 18 times and has won 4 of them. Shawn has been a vocal force in the ADFPA/USAPL and continues to press on as a lifter and meet director. Now in the Masters division, like a fine wine, his lifting gets better and better each year.

We were also blessed to have dignitaries from the British Powerlifting Association attending the meet. Darin and Kerry, who came over from England and stayed with John Petroff, had the time of their lives. The two especially enjoyed their Saturday night trip to the Riverfront Landing as yours truly had a very hard time getting them and newly crowned 148 lb. champion Damien Fronzaglia to leave.

St. Louisan Vae Mafuli was also on the roster for the 91 Championships. Vae was a solid and consistent place winner in the Nationals throughout the 90's. One other Super in this championship, that would go onto be very well known in the world of strength was Mark Philippi. Mark placed 5th and it was only the beginning for him.

1991 Class Winners

Stewart & Conyers crowned Best Lifters

In 1996 the number of competitors was down slightly, but the quality of lifting was just as high as ever. Tony Conyers was having the year of his life and on a roll winning not only the ADFPA National title but also the USPF and APF 148 lb. titles as well. He didn't disappoint us either, Tony posted a huge 1,703 lb. total and was the best lifter for the first day of competition. With a physique to match his lifting, when his best lifter award was presented, Tony came out, removed the shirt and with the music cranked, gave us an on the spot posing routine.

Ray Benemerito had a bit of an off day, but still managed an impressive 1800 lb. total at 181. Big benching Joe McCaullife was benching big even back then. He had the capability to go over 500 at this meet and won his class by a large sum. Today Joe has his own training center for lifters and athletes called JM Power Center located in New Jersey.

The best battle of the contest was between two lifters who are very well known. Mark Philippi, who had brought his game up quite a bit since his last visit to St. Louis, squared off against Brother Bennett Award Winner Brad Gillingham. The two fought all day long for the title in the since removed 319 lb. class, and it would go down to the last lift of the meet.

With a 2.5 kg lead over Philippi at sub totals, Brad pulled an awesome 804 lb. attempt on his 2nd deadlift. Philippi decided to use some strategy and passed his 2nd attempt DL. On Brad's third and final lift, he goes out and up's the ante for Philippi even more so, by nailing 815 lbs. After that, it was no mystery what Philippi needed: Mark needed a monstrous 821 lb. pull to tie Brad's freshly cemented total and win on a bodyweight decision. The bar was loaded and out came Philippi with fire in his eyes. In what seemed like a moment frozen in time, he hauled up 821 lbs. and topped Gillingham in an awesome display of power.

Since then, Philippi went on to compete in more World's Strongest Man competitions than any other American and is well known as one of the strongest competitors in static pure-strength events. Gillingham would only get better as well. Brad went on to win 2 IPF Open World Championships in the SHW category, and another recently in the Masters division. A handful of other competitors from this event also ventured into the world of Strongman: Karl Gillingham is a veteran of quite a few WSM contests as well as the Arnold Classic, and has been to every corner of the globe competing in the world of Strongman. 275 lb. champion Nick Best is currently one of the top US Strongmen and travels the world regularly competing in the sport.

1996 Class Winners

Ricks wins coveted BL award, spearheads IPF World Team

By 1999 thanks to the internet, the world had became much smaller, the ADFPA had changed it's name to USA Powerlifting and was now a member of the IPF. The meet had also morphed into an entire weekend, and was now being contested over a three day period. As an IPF World Qualifier things were ran a bit more meticulously than in the past, but the song for the most part remained the same: The lifters came and did they ever lift!

A few of the lifters who won in 1999, will also have the distinction of being a returning champion this summer, 8 years since they were last here. They are Ervin Gainer , who not only won in 1999, but also won last year in 2006. Since the 114's have been eliminated, that makes Ervin our last 114 lb. Open Champion. He welcomes the task of moving up to the 123's this year to challenge Doc Holloway. We are expecting major sparks to fly in this class. Wade Hooper is another who won in 99, and won last year as well. Although he is still setting World Records, today he is the 165 lb. Kingpin, whereas before he was in the 148's. The other lifter that will be in St. Louis this summer, who also won way back in 1999 is Dave Ricks. Now retired from the Navy, Dave hasn't slowed down and, like he did in 1999 when he won by nearly 40 kg's, he intends on showing the younger crowd a thing or two this summer.

In 99, Tim Taylor won yet another National title at 132 lbs. with his steady and balanced brand of lifting. Most memorable was his Herculean Deadlift of 556 lbs. In the 198's we had two lifters who needed no introduction: Ray Benemerito and Rob Wagner. Rob jumped out to an early lead which was cut down after the benchpress. Once the bar hit the floor, like so many before have found out when dealing with Ray, it was over. Rob gave a great strength seminar at the end of the day that was very well received. Most entertaining was 198 lb. 3rd place finisher Joe McAuliffe, whose ability to present his questions to Rob were a little impaired due to his method of post-meet rehydration.

Tony Harris marched through the 220's, repeating as the champion for this class, and for his efforts he earned the cover of the September/99 issue of Powerlifting USA. That evening several of the Friday and Saturday lifters gathered out front of the Renaissance Hotel (formerly Stouffers) and hopped on a bus provided by Dr. Mike Cissell. What a ride. The first stop was a nearby store where the guy working appeared to have been partaking in his store's libations. I'll not soon forget the site of Kirk Karwoski holding out a case at arm's length saying "PUT ANOTHER ONE ON..". Lifters added case after case as he stood solid. The trip included the likes of Jason "DEEPSQUATTER" Burnell, the Benemeritos, Joe Mac, Greg Page, Wade Hooper, Steve Mann, Trey Cunningham the ageless wonder Odd Haugen and a host of others who were on the loose.

In the SHW class, Brad Gillingham won the title again, but his friend Sean Culnan had one of his best days and was just 55 lbs. back. Spotting these guys was a pleasure since we had help from Pat Rankin, John Kruszynski and Wayne Eillerman, three big strong St. Louisans with very extensive strength pedigrees.

1999 Class Winners