John Davis (weightlifter)

Representative

• Born: January 12, 1921
• Birthplace: Smithtown, New York
• Died: July 13, 1984
• Place of death: Albuquerque, New Mexico

Sport: Weightlifting

Early Life

John Henry Davis was born on January 12, 1921, in Smithtown, New York, and was reared in Brooklyn. Of slight build, he was interested in all forms of sports to build his body. He enjoyed gymnastics, handball, running, and swimming. Like most boys, John also tried to emulate many of the strong men of the day. One day as he was playing, John lifted a large rock over his head on a dare. A local weightlifter named Steve Wolsky saw the feat, recognized the raw power in the young boy, and invited him to his gym to try lifting barbells.

John took quickly to weightlifting. During John’s athletic career, Olympic-style weightlifting competitions consisted of three lifts: the press, in which the barbell is lifted, or cleaned, to the chest and then pressed overhead with the legs kept straight; the snatch, in which the barbell is lifted overhead from the floor in one motion; and the clean and jerk, in which the barbell is lifted to the chest and then, with the use of the legs, thrust overhead. Within a year, John began winning competitions against more seasoned lifters and was attracting the attention of those in the sport. By age sixteen, he could clean-and-jerk 300 pounds over his head.

The Road to Excellence

The most dominant weightlifting club of the period was the York Barbell Club in York, Pennsylvania. Bob Hoffman, the owner of the York Barbell Company and the coach of the York Barbell Club, noticed the teenager’s natural strength and talent. Under Hoffman’s direction, John’s progress was rapid.

John’s first national meet was the 1938 Junior National Championships held in Cleveland, Ohio. Following that meet, John competed in the 1938 National Championships in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, where he, weighing 194 pounds, finished second in the heavyweight division. The competition was the last time John was beaten for fifteen years.

In 1938, John, then only seventeen years old, was selected as an alternate on the U.S. team competing in the World Weightlifting Championships in Vienna, Austria. While en route to the competition, the team’s light-heavyweightlifter became ill and was not able to compete, and John quickly lost 15 pounds to compete as a light-heavyweight. Miraculously, he won the world championship with a total lift of 815 pounds. In so doing, the teenager defeated Louis Hostin of France, the 1932 and 1936 Olympic champion, and former world champion and world-record holder Fritz Haller of Austria. Soon after the championships, John proved that his victory was not just luck when he set a new world record in the clean and jerk by lifting 352 pounds.

The Emerging Champion

When John returned to Brooklyn, he took jobs that allowed him to dedicate more time to training. The dedication paid off, with John easily winning light-heavyweight national titles in 1939 and 1940. In 1941, he moved up to the heavyweight class and immediately broke the world record total of 1,000 pounds by 10 pounds. He repeated as national heavyweight champion in 1942 and 1943.

John received the praise and respect of the sporting world, and he was offered full citizenship by Egypt, England, France, Germany, Sweden, and Spain. At home, however, he still had to fight for the consideration given so freely elsewhere. An African American, John did not enjoy many of the privileges that his fellow American competitors appreciated. While traveling throughout the United States, he had to abide by segregation laws that did not allow him to mingle freely with his white teammates and competitors in many public places. However, he used this prejudice to his advantage by developing a strength and dignity that allowed his accomplishments to represent him.

In 1943, John was sent to the South Pacific as a member of the U.S. Army. While serving, he contracted malaria, which haunted him the rest of his life. Had World War II not caused the cancellation of the 1940 and 1944 Olympic Games, John would surely have added two Olympic medals to his many titles. As it was, he had to wait until 1948 to win the only title that had eluded him.

With the war over in 1945, John returned home 45 pounds lighter from his bouts with malaria. The World Weightlifting Championships were scheduled to resume in Paris the next year, however, so he immediately began training. After winning the U.S. heavyweight title in 1946, John defended his world title in Paris and successfully defended it the next year in Philadelphia. In 1948, he added the elusive Olympic title to his collection by winning the gold medal in the heavyweight division at the London Games.

Continuing the Story

After defending his title for the fifth time at the 1949 World Weightlifting Championships in The Hague, John gave a demonstration in Paris. He became only the third man in history to lift the Apollon Bell, a 365-pound railroad axle and wheels. As John’s popularity on the world sporting stage grew, it became apparent that he was not simply a one-dimensional athlete. An ardent fan of classical music and the possessor of a rich baritone voice, John took singing lessons in hopes of breaking into opera. One of John’s personal highlights of the 1949 championships was not the competition but the chance to see the largest collection of recordings by his musical idol Richard Tauber.

At the 1950 World Weightlifting Championships, once again in Paris, John gave a memorable display of the strength not only of his body but also of his character. During an intense competition with Jakov Kutsenko of the Soviet Union, John snatched 325 pounds, a total that would easily have won him the competition. However, although all the judges ruled that it was a fair lift, John acknowledged that his knee had touched the floor, a violation, and refused to accept the judges’ decision. On his next attempt, he successfully completed the lift again. He earned not only his sixth world championship but also the respect of the lifting world, including the Soviets.

John’s undefeated string stretched another three years to include the 1952 Olympic title and a fifth-place finish in the Sullivan Award balloting for the nation’s top amateur athlete. His fifteen-year winning streak came to an end at the 1953 U.S. National Championships when he was beaten by Norm Schemansky. John continued lifting until a severe leg injury at the 1956 Olympic trials forced his retirement at the age of thirty-seven.

Following his competitive career, John was employed as a corrections officer with the New York State penal system, establishing fitness programs for juvenile delinquents. He retired in 1984, when it was discovered that he had inoperable cancer brought on by a long-time cigarette habit. He faced his death as he had lived his life, with dignity and strength. He was honored as a special representative for the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, but died only days before the start of the Games.

Summary

Pound for pound, John Davis was the first weightlifter who truly deserved the title strongest man in the world. For many years, he was the model for young weightlifters to emulate, and he remains a genuine legend in weightlifting.

Bibliography

Appiah, Anthony, and Henry Louis Gates. “John Henry Davis.” In Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience. Rev. ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.

Hickok, Ralph. A Who’s Who of Sports Champions. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1995.

Wallechinsky, David, and Jaime Loucky. The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. London: Aurum Press, 2008.