Jim Williams

Early career Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Williams was exceptional in size and strength from a young age. By the time he was 12 years old, he weighed 200 pounds and excelled in both football and track and field. Williams reached the state finals in the shot put four times, ultimately winning once. Even when he weighed 340 pounds, he was capable of dunking a basketball.

Powerlifting career Williams' first major goal was to break the world record of 615 pounds of Pat Casey, the first man to bench press 600 pounds. Williams broke Casey's world record in 1971 at the Eastern USA Open, pressing 635 pounds, which was recognized as the American record. Although he never did it in competition, Williams had reportedly done 700 pounds Williams always lifted in a raw fashion – supportive equipment was not available in his day, and a two-second pause at the chest was required. raw with ace-bandage wraps (2235 lbs (855/655/725), which later weighed out at 2240 lbs (860/655/725)) on 5/6/1972 (AAU)

Powerlifting gym records (unofficial) Squat: 900 lbs raw

Death Williams died on January 23, 2007, at age 66, after having diabetes for over 12 years.

Quotes about Williams Former super heavyweight world powerlifting champion John Kuc said about Williams:

"Jimmy had more potential than anyone other than Paul Anderson. I truly think with proper training he could have totaled over 2,500 pounds without equipment."

Iron game historian Dr. Terry Todd, said Jim Williams was one of the strongest super heavyweight lifters he had ever seen: "I would definitely place Jim Williams’ benching in the top ten, along with such stalwarts such as Paul Anderson’s squat, Bill Kazmaier’s dumbbell pressing, Vasily Alekseyev’s cleaning, Zydrunas Savickas’ overall power, Mikhail Koklyaev’s pull, Andy Bolton’s deadlifting and Mark Henry’s grip strength."

Joe Ladnier, multiple time World Champion: "I never met Big Jim, but he was one of the strength legends that I admired from Day 1. R.I.P. Big Jim."