Who has lifted the INCH Dumbbell at Bodyweight or less?

[David_wigren]

You could have the same thing for powerlifting. Look at Eddie Berglund who has a lifting range of no more than a few cm in the bench press. He has the world record in the 60-70kg something weightclass. In most competitions, even the worlds I think he beats the winners in the weightclasses above him. One could just as easily argue that a division based on arm length would be better.

[Mikael Siversson]

15 minutes ago, David_wigren said:

Hand size vs bodyweight is a totally different topic. IMO bodyweight is the best way to go for a number of reasons. First reason is, how would we even be able to accurately measure peoples hands before competitions? As long as you don’t have absolutely giant hands it would be easy to position your hand so that it will measure 1/4-1/2” smaller than what it actually is. It would basically make the whole thing boil down to being just an honor system. Bodyweight is an accurate and accurate asy way to seperate different athletes. Secondly, bodyweight makes a huge difference. Sure, the forearms don’t weigh much. But when you are bigger overall it’s going to be easier to pack on muscle to your forearms. In over 5 years I’ve been armwrestling I have never seen a 80kg or 90kg puller have as big of forearms as some of the competitors in the open weightclass. It’s not even close. 
 

I also like armwrestling as an example since it is also hand size dependent. If armwrestling as a sport were just as small as grip, it would be easy to think that hand size is the biggest factor. All you need is one freak like a prime Allen Fisher to show up at a local club and dominate every single puller there regardless of bodyweight. Dude is maybe 180lbs but with freakishly massive hands. If that happened it would be easy to think that hand size was the biggest factor. However since armwrestling as a sport is bigger, you have tons of freaks in every weight class. Sure, Allen could still show up at a local tournament and wipe the floor with every single puller there regardless of their bodyweight. But put him against the heavier freaks and he’ll have absolutely no chance in hell. I mean Imagine Allen Fisher against Tim Bresnan. Allen has giant hands and Tim has very small hands. Yet Tim wouldn’t break a sweat against Allen.
 

If gripsport was 100 times bigger and you had 100 Kodys and Tanners in every weight class. I’m sure bodyweight will sort itself out to be the biggest determining factor.

Granted, if someone has tiny hands like sub 7”. It’s going to be difficult to compete against someone who has 9” in an event like thickbar. But assuming people are in a relatively normal range of 7.5-8.5” (medium size hands to very large hands) then bodyweight will be the biggest factor IMO.

Now you are applying logic. That doesn't go down well here lol.

[Florian Kellersmann]

I give probs to Bruce White for his work as a grip pioneer, rebuilding the inch dumbbell, training and lifting it. That was really cool! By the way, Mikael, have you lifted the Inch DB yet? Just asking out of curiosity, no offense. But in my book his pinch feats are made on his own made equipment and these lifts are not a good way to judge his strength and compare him to people from today that compete and lift on the same tools as many many others. To many factors are involved in pinch feats, esp. individuell friction of the implement, overload, different diameters etc. 

By the way, I know competitive guys try to make a lower weightclass for a competition, but never heard of someone who is trying to make a certain weight for a grip feat like an Inch lift or a Blob lift. 

 

[Mikael Siversson]

15 minutes ago, Florian Kellersmann said:

I give probs to Bruce White for his work as a grip pioneer, rebuilding the inch dumbbell, training and lifting it. That was really cool! By the way, Mikael, have you lifted the Inch DB yet? Just asking out of curiosity, no offense. But in my book his pinch feats are made on his own made equipment and these lifts are not a good way to judge his strength and compare him to people from today that compete and lift on the same tools as many many others. To many factors are involved in pinch feats, esp. individuell friction of the implement, overload, different diameters etc. 

By the way, I know competitive guys try to make a lower weightclass for a competition, but never heard of someone who is trying to make a certain weight for a grip feat like an Inch lift or a Blob lift. 

 

Right now I would probably pull an Inch to lockout if it weighed in the low 70ies (in kilograms) which it does not, so, sadly, the answer is no. Btw Bruce's Inch replica weighs about 79k (I weighed it).

It is true that we will never know exactly how Bruce would compare to current grip athletes in the pinch (i.e., lifting on eg a Euro device) but it is clear that he was exceptionally strong for his size and not just in grip. The diameter he used is pretty standard so it does not deviate from what others use. 

Edited December 25, 2020 by Mikael Siversson

[Hubgeezer]

On 12/25/2020 at 3:31 AM, Florian Kellersmann said:

I give probs to Bruce White for his work as a grip pioneer, rebuilding the inch dumbbell, training and lifting it. That was really cool! 

 

The last few days, I had been thinking about Bruce White and the Inch Dumbbell and wondering  what the heck he was doing down in a corner of the world isolated from the majority of the billions of people inhabiting Planet Earth.

The following are a series of comments, observations, recollections and rehashing of things regarding the Inch Dumbbell. The hard core folks here will know much of it. Some pieces, not the case.

This past week, I emailed Randy Strossen and asked him what he thought of Bruce White. He told me he was communicating with him in the early 1990s, and the first time he ever went to Australia , he planned on visiting him. He figured it would not be a long trip, but then discovered it was a more than a 2000 mile trip from whatever place he was staying to where Bruce lived. Nope, no visit. He also said that Bruce, at that time, did not have a telephone! Their communications had been by letter writing.

The Original Inch Dumbbell resided in England for its first 90-100 years of existence, until American Kim Wood purchased it from David Prowse. It was during the period that David Prowse (former British weightlifting  champion and the actor that portrayed Darth Vader in the first three Star Wars movies) owned it (roughly 1970-2000) that the original Inch dimensions would have been provided for “replicas” to be manufactured. 
 

My understanding that the first wave of “replicas” were produced by the Staver Foundry, and first sold during 1999 by IronMind, and Sorinex. Staver has long since closed(established 1920, filed for bankruptcy in 2006). Lots of places have been selling them in recent years.

Common knowledge is that WSM Bill Kazmaier, in 1990, cleaned and pressed the Inch Dumbbell. It is said that he “continentaled” the Clean, but other than that, it is not disputed. Well, how did that happen? It was not one of the Staver replicas, was it? Was it David Prowse’s? Nope. It was Bruce White’s. According to a profile of Bill Kaz on “American Strength Legends”, Kazmaier “flew down to Australia” to perform the feat.  Bruce White’s replica, probably the only replica in history up to that point.

Hence the quote from Florian Kellersmann above.

A few other quotes from “posters” on the IronMind Forum from some years back regarding White and/or the Inch:

A thread begun 6-17-11 called Thomas Inch Dumbbell Replicas” had a post by James Graham that stated: “Bruce’s Replica is safe and well in Western Australia.” Obviously, Mikael has seen it, as he mentioned it on this thread.

There was another thread on the IM Forum,  begun by Florian Kellermann on 2-10-13 called “Inch DB with ‘small’ hands. Post #15 on 2-11-2013 by CHRIS JAMES stated: “Bruce White, a small man, weighing around 140 pound deadlifted the Inch lots of times and was extremely good at pinch lifting also. By the way, Bruce White made a trip from Australia to England to meet Dave Prowse (Darth  Vader and once Britain Strongest Man) who once owned the original Thomas Inch Dumbbell and took down the exact measurements of the bell and had a replica built of his own.”

So, the dimensions of the Inch Dumbbell. It is always reported that the Inch Dumbbell has a diameter of 2 3/8s of an inch. What are the Staver Replicas? 2.48 inches. Is that a lot? Well, it’s .105 inches, isn’t it? If we are talking “hand size”, do we differentiate between a hand size of 7.6 inches and 7.495 inches?  I don’t know about “we”, but yes  some do. It would not surprise me if it translated into 5 pounds on bell-picking power.
 

i suspect that if Bruce White flew to England, measured the original, and oversaw the manufacturing of a Replica, it is  closer to the “original” in all respects.

And to throw in a few other comments for the heck of it, by chance, in June 2008, I found myself sitting across from David Prowse over dinner at a restaurant in Newark New Jersey the night before the 25th AOBS Dinner. There  was a group of around a dozen of us, in which no person knew many of the others. Someone asked Dave if he wanted to join us, and he did. Here I was, sitting across from Darth Vader! He didn’t say a word for 10 minutes, and I thought “Geez he probably is tired of talking about Star Wars...heck, I know I know!”: and then....I  carefully said “You used to own the Inch Dumbbell didn’t you?” And from there, he never stopped talking! Everyone at the table listened. He told of first seeing it in a shed, resting snuggly in a crate. That enabled him to be able to pick it up immediately, as the crate prevented the “spin”. He quickly learned it didn’t work that way once it was out of the crate. I asked him a question that to my knowledge had never been asked of him  before: What did he pay for it? He told me...

Edited December 26, 2020 by Hubgeezer

[Tommy J.]

45 minutes ago, Hubgeezer said:

The last few days, I had been thinking about Bruce White and the Inch Dumbbell and wondering  what the heck he was doing down in a corner of the world isolated from the majority of the billions of people inhabiting Planet Earth.

The following are a series of comments, observations, recollections and rehashing of things regarding the Inch Dumbbell. The hard core folks here will know much of it. Some pieces, not the case.

This past week, I emailed Randy Strossen and asked him what he thought of Bruce White. He told me he was communicating with him in the early 1990s, and the first time he ever went to Australia , he planned on visiting him. He figured it would not be a long trip, but then discovered it was a more than a 2000 mile trip from whatever place he was staying to where Bruce lived. Nope, no visit. He also said that Bruce, at that time, did not have a telephone! Their communications had been by letter writing.

The Original Inch Dumbbell resided in England for its first 90-100 years of existence, until American Kim Wood purchased it from David Prowse. It was during the period that David Prowse (former British weightlifting  champion and the actor that portrayed Darth Vader in the first three Star Wars movies) owned it (roughly 1970-2000) that the original Inch dimensions would have been provided for “replicas” to be manufactured. 
 

My understanding that the first wave of “replicas” were produced by the Staver Foundry, and first sold during 1999 by IronMind, and Sorinex. Staver has long since closed(established 1920, filed for bankruptcy in 2006). Lots of places have been selling them in recent years.

Common knowledge is that WSM Bill Kazmaier, in 1990, cleaned and pressed the Inch Dumbbell. It is said that he “continentaled” the Clean, but other than that, it is not disputed. Well, how did that happen? It was not one of the Staver replicas, was it? Was it David Prowse’s? Nope. It was Bruce White’s. According to a profile of Bill Kaz on “American Strength Legends”, Kazmaier “flew down to Australia” to perform the feat.  Bruce White’s replica, probably the only replica in history up to that point.

Hence the quote from Florian Kellersmann above.

A few other quotes from “posters” on the IronMind Forum from some years back regarding White and/or the Inch:

A thread begun 6-17-11 called Thomas Inch Dumbbell Replicas had a post by James Graham that stated: “Bruce’s Replica is safe and well in Western Australia.” Obviously, Mikael has seen it, as he mentioned it on this thread.

There was another post on the IM Forum,  begun by Florian Kellermann on 2-10-13 called “Inch DB with ‘small’ hands. Post #15 on 2-11-2013 by CHRIS JAMES stated: “Bruce White, a small man, weighing around 140 pound deadlifted the Inch lots of times and was extremely good at pinch lifting also. By the way, Bruce White made a trip from Australia to England to meet Dave Prowse (Darth  Vader and once Britain Strongest Man) who once owned the original Thomas Inch Dumbbell and took down the exact measurements of the bell and had a replica built of his own.”

So, the dimensions of the Inch Dumbbell. It is always reported that the Inch Dumbbell has a diameter of 2 3/8s of an inch. What are the Staver Replicas? 2.48 inches. Is that a lot? Well, it’s .105 inches, isn’t it? If we are talking “hand size”, do we differentiate between a hand size of 7.6 inches and 7.495 inches?  I don’t know about “we”, but yes  some do. It would not surprise me if it translated into 5 pounds. 
 

i suspect that if Bruce White flew to England, measured the original, and oversaw the manufacturing of a Replica, it is  closer to the “original” in all respects.

And to throw in a few other comments for the heck of it, by chance, in June 2008, I found myself sitting across from David Prowse over dinner at a restaurant in Newark New Jersey the night before the 25th AOBS Dinner. There  was a group of around a dozen of us, in which no person knew many of the others. Someone asked Dave if he wanted to join us, and he did. Here I was, sitting across from Darth Vader! He didn’t say a word for 10 minutes, and I thought “Geez he probably is tired of talking about Star Wars...heck, I know I know!”: and then....I  carefully said “You used to own the Inch Dumbbell didn’t you?” And from there, he never stopped talking! Everyone at the table listened. He told of first seeing it in a shed, resting snuggly in a crate. That enabled him to be able to pick it up immediately, as the crate prevented the “spin”. He quickly learned it didn’t work that way once it was out of the crate. I asked him a question that to my knowledge had never been asked of him  before: What did he pay for it? He told me...

Excellent post, Mike! Very cool read

[Hubgeezer]

4 minutes ago, Tommy J. said:

Excellent post, Mike! Very cool read

Thanks Tommy! Spending 90 minutes typing on Christmas night, I was hoping SOMEONE would like it. I intentionally ended the post in a way to see if anyone gave a rat’s arse and was curious enough to ask the obvious question

[Tommy J.]

10 minutes ago, Hubgeezer said:

Thanks Tommy! Spending 90 minutes typing on Christmas night, I was hoping SOMEONE would like it. I intentionally ended the post in a way to see if anyone gave a rat’s arse and was curious enough to ask the obvious question

Lol, Well what did he pay for it??? The suspense is killin me!

[Tommy J.]

13 minutes ago, Hubgeezer said:

Thanks Tommy! Spending 90 minutes typing on Christmas night, I was hoping SOMEONE would like it. I intentionally ended the post in a way to see if anyone gave a rat’s arse and was curious enough to ask the obvious question

Also, did he say who’s shed it was in? I’m curious at the exact history of the bell. Who owned it after Thomas inch? And if it was only 1 person, why did they have it tucked away in a shed?

Edited December 26, 2020 by Tommy J.

[Tommy J.]

Btw I think Prowse passed away recently.. sad deal

[Hubgeezer]

7 minutes ago, Tommy J. said:

Also, did he say who’s shed it was in? I’m curious at the exact history of the bell. Who owned it after Thomas inch? And if it was only 1 person, why did they have it tucked away in a shed?

Oh man, you are making me work! 
 

I think there have been five owners:

1. Thomas Inch 

2. Reg Park and/or Reg Park Barbell Company

3. I used to know but I don’t any more. The serious veterans here from the UK know. I think it was during his ownership that it hit the “low” of disinterest.

4. Dave Prowse

5. Kim Wood

So I asked “What did you pay for it?” He paused and then casually said “50 Quid”. Then I asked “When was that?” That time, when he paused, you could see the wheels rolling around in his head, and he said “Around 1971”.

I posted that date on the IM Forum, and a knowledgeable person (Steve Gardener) reminded me that in an old issue of the now defunct excellent David Horne publication Iron Grip (published in the early 2000s) that in a phone call in 1998 between the two Davids, Prowse told Horne that he acquired it in “the late 1960s”. 
 

So, when did Prowse get it, late 1960s or 1971?  No one will ever know. But the way Prowse’s face was working to remember, even though it was 10 years after the 1998 conversation between Horne and Prowse, I’m going to go with 1971. And, Prowse had his first decent movie role in a movie made in 1971 (A Clockwork Orange), so maybe he didn’t hesitate to drop 50 Quid on a frivolous implement now that he received some kind of paycheck...

[Tommy J.]

10 minutes ago, Hubgeezer said:

Oh man, you are making me work! 
 

I think there have been five owners:

1. Thomas Inch 

2. Reg Park and/or Reg Park Barbell Company

3. I used to know but I don’t any more. The serious veterans here from the UK know. I think it was during his ownership that it hit the “low” of disinterest.

4. Dave Prowse

5. Kim Wood

So I asked “What did you pay for it?” He paused and then casually said “50 Quid”. Then I asked “When was that?” That time, when he paused, you could see the wheels rolling around in his head, and he said “Around 1971”.

I posted that date on the IM Forum, and a knowledgeable person (Steve Gardener) reminded me that in an old issue of the now defunct excellent David Horne publication Iron Grip (published in the early 2000s) that in a phone call in 1998 between the two Davids, Prowse told Horne that he acquired it in “the late 1960s”. 
 

So, when did Prowse get it, late 1960s or 1971?  No one will ever know. But the way Prowse’s face was working to remember, even though it was 10 years after the 1998 conversation between Horne and Prowse, I’m going to go with 1971. And, Prowse had his first decent movie role in a movie made in 1971 (A Clockwork Orange), so maybe he didn’t hesitate to drop 50 Quid on a frivolous implement now that he received some kind of paycheck...

Holy moly... so he basically paid back then what we pay today for a replica. But he paid that for the real deal!

did some poking. The equivalent to 50 quid in USD is about $66. Assuming both currencies kept up equally with inflation since 1971, and with today’s inflation taken into consideration, he payed basically $426 for the Original Inch!

incredible! I think anyone here would gladly pay triple that for the original and not even bat an eye.

[Mikael Siversson]

There is a picture of it sitting on a scale I brought to the gym in Belmont where it was stored (they later moved to another location in Perth). 

https://www.oldmanofthestones.com/blog/wallace-challenge-dumbells

 

[Hubgeezer]

5 minutes ago, Tommy J. said:

Holy moly... so he basically paid back then what we pay today for a replica. But he paid that for the real deal!

did some poking. The equivalent to 50 quid in USD is about $66. Assuming both currencies kept up equally with inflation since 1971, and with today’s inflation taken into consideration, he payed basically $426 for the Original Inch!

incredible! I think anyone here would gladly pay triple that for the original and not even bat an eye.

You know, it may be more than that. For many years, I think the translation was $2.40 of pound versus dollar. And heck, I thought 50 was a steal. After your calculations, and the fact that it was probably low, maybe it was a fair price at the time.

[Tommy J.]

Also, taking Bruce’s Inch replica history into consideration, I’d almost place equal, or even more value in Bruce’s bell. I hold Kaz in high regard given his strongman and powerlifting accolades. He’s the only* pro strongman to consecutively hold WSM titles AND multiple powerlifting records at the same time! And he’s the only strongman that has ever been banned from competing in WSM for, literally, being too strong. (No bullshit! That happened!) I could go on and on.. but I’ll leave that for another topic.

what I’m getting it is that Kaz, to my knowledge, was the first man to manhandle the bell. Replica or not, nobody at that point, to my knowledge, was able to continental clean it besides Kaz? And it took another 20+ Years before Mark Henry took aim at actually fully cleaning it. So yes, while Bruce’s bell was an obvious replica, one could say, with some merit, that Bruce’s replica could have as much, or even more “cool factor” value than the original. ...given that Bruce’s bell was not only lifted by the lightest man ever at that point (Bruce himself) but also was the same bell continental cleaned by Kaz himself.

so just for posterity sake, BW debate aside, was Bruce the 2nd man to be credited with lifting an inch dB? As in- 2nd man ever? Or was there anyone else between Bruce and Thomas Inch?

[Hubgeezer]

8 minutes ago, Mikael Siversson said:

There is a picture of it sitting on a scale I brought to the gym in Belmont where it was stored (they later moved to another location in Perth). 

https://www.oldmanofthestones.com/blog/wallace-challenge-dumbells

 

Awesome stuff! Thanks Mikael

[Mikael Siversson]

Just to clarify, it is now with 'All-Round Weightlifting WA' (and has been in their possession for decades).

Edited December 26, 2020 by Mikael Siversson

[Mikael Siversson]

When I visited the Belmont All-Round Weightlifting WA gym I was accompanied by Johnny Domino. We both tried it but could only get one side off the ground and not by much lol. Another man at the gym got it halfway up (tilted). He had obviously tried it many times before as he was one of the regulars at the gym.

[Tommy J.]

Btw I’m beginning to wonder how good of a showman/strongman Thomas Inch himself even was... or if everyone he called to the carpet (per say) was even strong that attempted to lift it?.. was he just grabbing random malnourished peasants from the crowd of onlookers to pick on them? What?... why so few lifters if he was a showman that reportedly challenged so many with the bell?

ive personally found near 10 first time inch DB lifters myself over the years. Some with respectable strength sport exploits under their belts, and some who were seemingly no-name blue collar strong guys. First time lifters as in- guys who had never even seen one before, and then lifted it! I did so just by showing up with it and talking shit to everyone who walked by. And I’ve maybe only taken it to events/large crowds and set up shop less than a dozen times.

so are people in general stronger today than they were back then? Or do I just know how to pick them? Lol! I’ll never know.

but personally, I find it odd that there isn’t much history out there on more people having lifted the original or Bruce’s replica.

was Bruce simply that far ahead of his time on grip strength?

have PEDs simply changed the game that much since the days of Thomas Inch?

so many question marks for me. But I admit that it’s turned into an interesting topic.

Edited December 26, 2020 by Tommy J.

[Hubgeezer]

12 minutes ago, Tommy J. said:

S

so just for posterity sake, BW debate aside, was Bruce the 2nd man to be credited with lifting an inch dB? As in- 2nd man ever? Or was there anyone else between Bruce and Thomas Inch?

Tommy, there is a classic book that some may feel a bit old fashioned, but it is one of the most critically acclaimed books in Strength History: The Super Athletes. Published in 1970, written by David Willoghby, it is 665 pages long. It starts at the beginning, and I mean the beginning, of the shit we crave. Such as Sir William Wallace and Robert the Bruce had more Grip Power than anyone on this forum.

There were two pages on the Inch Dumbbell that, for its time, as good as anything that existed. Inch even blew off Willoughby’s inquiries as to any facts about the bell. Until Reg Park owned it, no one knew spit about it. 
 

So , Willoughby said in 1956, at an event, a guy lifted it “almost to knee height”. Then a guy “raised the bell approximately to knee height, when it slipped from his grasp and crashed to the floor.” A Scottish Games athlete took a shot at it, “pulled it chest high!”

From there, I think the thing became too numerous to count/track/etc. 
 

Then there was what David Prowse told me he could do with it, I imagine unverified/not documented/etc.

[Tommy J.]

2 hours ago, Hubgeezer said:

Tommy, there is a classic book that some may feel a bit old fashioned, but it is one of the most critically acclaimed books in Strength History: The Super Athletes. Published in 1970, written by David Willoghby, it is 665 pages long. It starts at the beginning, and I mean the beginning, of the shit we crave. Such as Sir William Wallace and Robert the Bruce had more Grip Power than anyone on this forum.

There were two pages on the Inch Dumbbell that, for its time, as good as anything that existed. Inch even blew off Willoughby’s inquiries as to any facts about the bell. Until Reg Park owned it, no one knew spit about it. 
 

So , Willoughby said in 1956, at an event, a guy lifted it “almost to knee height”. Then a guy “raised the bell approximately to knee height, when it slipped from his grasp and crashed to the floor.” A Scottish Games athlete took a shot at it, “pulled it chest high!”

From there, I think the thing became too numerous to count/track/etc. 
 

Then there was what David Prowse told me he could do with it, I imagine unverified/not documented/etc.

I will be picking up that book! Thank you for the reference!

[Hubgeezer]

1 hour ago, Tommy J. said:

I will be picking up that book! Thank you for the reference!

I should warn you, it’s not 100% about Strength. But for some reason used ones (the only ones out There) use to be pretty cheap.

EDIT: Dang, used ones are no longer 10 or 15 bucks.Still, if  you keep digging, I imagine there are deals. Mine is a used one my brother bought for me in a used bookstore in the 90s

My favorite stat in it was that he believed George Washington to be the world’s first 23 foot long jumper. Willoughby was one serious researcher. ‘Ol George was quite a wrestler too according to the book

Edited December 26, 2020 by Hubgeezer

[Kaesar83]

7 hours ago, Tommy J. said:

Holy moly... so he basically paid back then what we pay today for a replica. But he paid that for the real deal!

did some poking. The equivalent to 50 quid in USD is about $66. Assuming both currencies kept up equally with inflation since 1971, and with today’s inflation taken into consideration, he payed basically $426 for the Original Inch!

incredible! I think anyone here would gladly pay triple that for the original and not even bat an eye.

You should calculate what £50 in 1971 is now worth today instead, then convert to USD. Seeing as the original price was in GBP it makes more sense and you don't need to worry about differing exchange rates between 1971 and today.

Edited December 26, 2020 by Kaesar83

[Hubgeezer]

3 hours ago, Kaesar83 said:

You should calculate what £50 in 1971 is now worth today instead, then convert to USD. Seeing as the original price was in GBP it makes more sense and you don't need to worry about differing exchange rates between 1971 and today.

Heck, I am an accountant and I didn’t even think about that! I’ll let someone else do that. Good catch.

Edit, several hours later: couldn’t resist. It comes to $953.28 today.

Edited December 26, 2020 by Hubgeezer

[Hubgeezer]

10 hours ago, Hubgeezer said:

 

So , Willoughby said in 1956, at an event, a guy lifted it “almost to knee height”. Then a guy “raised the bell approximately to knee height, when it slipped from his grasp and crashed to the floor.” A Scottish Games athlete took a shot at it, “pulled it chest high!”

 

I think I will shut up after this post, as I am getting too far off topic. I was going to quote more from one of the “Inch” pages from Willoughby’s book, got to thinking, dig a quick Google search, then came across something I thought was cool as heck. My intent was to save a few of you from splurging for an old used book, but now I hope some UK Highlands Game enthusiast chimes in, maybe someplace else on a new thread.

From page 164 of Willoughby’s book:

“Next, the well-known Scottish Games athlete, Henry Gray, was called out from the audience and asked to make a try. Gray, a big rangy fellow standing 6 ft. 4 in. and weighing 252 pounds, was already somewhat of a celebrity from having lifted and carried the famous Dinnie stones. Grasping the handle of the Inch dumbbell, Gray pulled it chest high! If only he had known how to turn the bell over, he could have “cleaned” it. But whether he could have then gotten the bell from the shoulder to arm’s length overhead is a question. Gray was known also as one of the two or three men ever to toss the famous Braemar caber, which was 19 ft. in length and weighed close to 120 pounds.”

So I Googled “Henry Gray Highlands Games”, and saw his July 2017 Obit. Heck, he was a Legend, famous, etc. There was even a photo of him shaking the hand of an awestruck Queen Elizabeth more than 50 years ago. One Obit said “Mr. Gray was reputed to have the strongest grip in Europe and seldom trained nor lifted weights.”

The president of the Braemar Royal Highland Society was quoted “Henry was a nice man, he always had a mischievous smile on his face.”

I like to imagine that the 20 something year old Mr. Gray had that mischievous smile on his face as he was walking up to the original Inch 64 years ago to do what no man ever did and could not do for another four decades.

 

Edited December 26, 2020 by Hubgeezer