Bill Kazmaier

Early career Kazmaier is of German ancestry. A star athlete in high school, he played football for two years at the University of Wisconsin–Madison before dropping out in 1974 to concentrate on lifting weights at the Madison YMCA. There he learned the fundamentals of powerlifting. Kazmaier then struggled to earn a living as an oil rigger, a bouncer, and a lumberjack. and shortly before the IPF Championships, had torn his hip flexors in the squat. Kazmaier moved the world record stepwise up from in July, 1979 to in November 1979 to in May, 1980 and finally to at the USPF West Georgia Open Powerlifting Championships, held in Columbus, Georgia on January 31, 1981. a powerlifting world record that remained unsurpassed for more than a decade. He was the first man to win the WSM title three times and to this day, remains one of only two men ever to win it three times in a row. His absence cleared the way for Kazmaier's main rival, Geoff Capes, to win the title in 1983. Capes and upcoming Jón Páll Sigmarsson dominated the competition during the next several years.

He returned to the World's Strongest Man Contest in 1988, where he won three of eight events: the log press, deadlift and sack race; and took two second places including the truck pull, but was disqualified for moving his hands in the sausage forward hold, so the time was stopped prematurely. With two events to go, he was leading the field by 1 point over Jón Páll, and was the favorite to win the following Weight over bar event, in which a weight has to be thrown over a bar. He was the reigning world record holder of this event from 1987 Pure Strength with a height of . The event took place on water with boats floating around and Kazmaier's concern about his orientation on water was borne out. Although he threw the weight way higher than the bar, he failed to get the trajectory right, failing at . Jón Páll won the event with a clearance of and with four contestants coming in-between the two, Kazmaier was trailing Jón Páll by four points, a deficit which cost him too much to catch up at the final event McGlashen Stones, eventually emerging runner-up to Jón Páll.

Professional wrestling career Inspired by Jim Thorpe, Kazmaier sought to transfer his talents to other sports, trying out for the NFL's Green Bay Packers in 1981. During the 1980s, he had wrestled for promotions such as Stampede Wrestling in Canada and Continental Championship Wrestling in America. He would also wrestle for Fighting Network RINGS in Japan in early 1991.

His biggest national exposure came when he debuted for World Championship Wrestling in the summer of 1991. He received several shots at Lex Luger's WCW World Heavyweight Championship but failed to win the title. He also briefly teamed with Rick Steiner, only to lose to The Enforcers in a tournament final for the WCW World Tag Team Championship. At Halloween Havoc 1991, in Chattanooga, he beat Oz by submission. At the 1991 Starrcade Battlebowl: The Lethal Lottery, Kazmaier and his partner Jushin "Thunder" Liger defeated Diamond Dallas Page and Mike Graham in Norfolk, Virginia. While in WCW, Kazmaier also wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In NJPW, his theme music was "Poundcake" by Van Halen. He retired from wrestling in 1992.

Life after competition Kazmaier opened a fitness club, Kaz Fitness Center, in Auburn, Alabama in the early 1980s. The gym closed in 2005. Kazmaier then opened, and continues to operate, S.W.A.T. gym in Opelika, Alabama.

He lives in Auburn, Alabama and has a son, Eric.

Personal records Powerlifting performed in official powerlifting full meets Squat – equipped in 80s marathon squat suit (Jan, 1981) (Unofficial World Record) → Initially measured but later declared to be the above mentioned weight. Judged by Douglas Edmunds. Silver Dollar Deadlift – 18 inches off the floor (1982 World's Strongest Man) (Former Joint-World Record) Hungarian Farm Cart Deadlift – (1988 World's Strongest Man) (World Record) Car Deadlift – lifting two tires off the ground (1979 World's Strongest Man) (World Record) Cement Block Squat (on Smith Machine/ not to parallel depth) – (1981 World's Strongest Man) (World Record) Log lift (with vintage irregular V.1 log) – (1988 World's Strongest Man) (World Record) → Kazmaier held this record a total of 3 times ever since he did it first with in 1980 World's Strongest Man. Dumbbell press – dumbells x 17 reps (1980 World Strongbow) Wheelbarrow carry (no straps) – (40m course) in 14.40 seconds (1980 World's Strongest Man) (World Record) Weight over bar – over (1987 Pure Strength) (Former World Record) Stone block throw – for (1987 Le Defi Mark Ten International) (World Record) Sack carry – for 200m course in 42.63 seconds (1987 Le Defi Mark Ten International) (World Record)

Other Inch dumbbell press – first man to press the legendary dumbbell overhead (World Record) and also the fifth man to lift it above the knee (1990) Seated military press – x 3 reps (1988) (Unofficial World Record) Dumbbell shoulder press – dumbbells x 5 reps and dumbbells x 10 reps (1981) Snatch – Clean and jerk – Barbell cheat curl – (1985) (Unofficial World Record) Side laterals with miniature Louis Cyr dumbbells (with a slight hold) – dumbbells x 6 reps (1988)

Combined lifts Career aggregate powerlifting total – (1981)(equipped except for the bench press which was performed raw) Career aggregate Supertotal (Individual 5 lift PR weightlifting & powerlifting total): + + + + =

Achievements Professional Competitive Record – [1st (18),2nd (4), 3rd (4) – Out of Total(29)] International winning percentage of 44.5% Professional 1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th INJ DNQ Total American or other Nationals 10 1 11 International 8 4 3 3 18 Combined 18 4 4 3 29

COMPLETED CONTESTS

Pure Strength 4 Team Challenge – winner (1990) World's Strongest Man – 4th place (1989) Pure Strength 3 Team Challenge – 2nd place (1989) Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1989) World's Strongest Man – 2nd place (1988) World Strongman Challenge – 3rd place (1988) Pure Strength 2 Team Challenge – winner (1988) World Muscle Power Championships – winner (1988) Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1988) Pure Strength – Ultimate Challenge – 2nd place (1987) Le Defi Mark Ten Challenge – winner (1987) Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1987) Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1986) World Muscle Power Championships – 3rd place (1985) Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1985) Scottish Power Challenge – winner (1984) World's Strongest Man – winner (1982) World's Strongest Man – winner (1981) Strongbow Superman Contest – winner (1981) Strongbow Strongman Contest – winner (1980) World's Strongest Man – winner (1980) World's Strongest Man – 3rd place (1979)