Article from Healdsburg.towns.pressdemocrat.com:

"Ex-’Mr. America’ Jimmie Payne dies at 85

Tuesday, January 31st, 2012

By CHRIS SMITH

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
 
Long-ago “Mr. America” and repeat World Wristwrestling champion Jimmie Payne, a pioneer bodybuilder of short stature and Herculean personality, died Friday at age 85.

Payne, a Healdsburg resident since 1962, was a skinny kid in Alameda when he met fitness icon Jack LaLanne and was inspired to begin lifting weights and practicing feats of strength.

He and LaLanne, 12 years his senior, became friends for life. Together they operated gyms, designed muscle-building equipment and, mostly through the 1950s and ‘60s, performed stunts that made the TV and endeared them to millions.

See photos of Jimmie Payne 

LaLanne would swim from Alcatraz to Fisherman’s Wharf — while handcuffed, and Payne would perform dip after dip while hand-standing on a bar suspended from a helicopter.
 
“The stuff we did in those days, nobody did,” Payne said in a interview last year with The Press Democrat.

One of his proudest achievements was his TV show, “Junior Mr. & Miss America Club,” that was broadcast on the Bay Area’s Channel 2 every Saturday in the late 1950s. His two older children, Jim Jr., who lives now in Texas, and Cathy, who died in 2010, demonstrated exercises for the kids at home.

“For him, that stood out more than anything else that he did,” Jim Payne said.

Fitness training and a healthy lifestyle were like religion to Jimmie Payne. He packaged his extraordinary strength and agility with his love of performing and for years made extra money at Bay Area nightclubs. He emceed, told corny jokes and showed off the tricks a man of steel is capable of.

“When you’re in show business, you’ve got to do everything,” he said. “So I did everything — but sing!”

Well into his 70s, Payne could take hold of the grips on two floor stands and raise himself into a rod-straight handstand.

Until an infection hospitalized him for several days three weeks ago, he was still taking in light workouts two or three times a week at the large gym and racquetball facility he once owned, Healdsburg Community Health and Fitness.

Payne suffered renal failure about five years ago and since then underwent regular dialysis. He survived the recent infection and was in the midst of a dialysis treatment when his heart failed and he died Friday morning.

He was born in 1926 in Oakland. As a child, his family lived in Alameda near Neptune Beach.

“It was kind of the Muscle Beach of Northern California,” said his son Jim. “That’s where he met Jack LaLanne.”

"Payne was in his teens when he started pumping weights and practicing hand-stands. World War II was on when he joined the Navy at age 17 in 1943.

He returned to Alameda after the war and, following friend and mentor LaLanne’s example, opened his first gym in Oakland.

He stood about 5-foot-6 and weighed about 150 pounds when International Federation of Body Builders declared him “Mr. America” in 1950.

Over the course of nearly five decades, he ran his own gyms and worked for other gym owners as a trainer and a charmed, beloved presence on the workout floor.

He was a major figure at Petaluma’s former, nationally televised World Wristwrestling Champions. He called the action and four times — in 1964, ‘66, ‘74 and ‘75 — beat all comers to win the title of World Champion.

His wife of 59 years, Jane, died in 2003.

In addition to his son Jim, Payne is survived by son Mark Payne of Healdsburg, daughter Penny Murray of Alexander Valley, adopted son Kevin O’Connell of Duncans Mills, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of his life will be held at 1 p.m. March 11 at the Friedman Center in Santa Rosa.

His family suggested that in lieu of flowers or donations, mourners buy a gym membership and use it."


Very sad to hear about Jimmie's passing! He was a true legend of our sport!
Our sympathies go out to his family and friends!

See thread on Northeastboard...

Here's a list with the pre-registered Kazakhstanian competitors that are expected to show up at Golden Arm 2012 in Eskilstuna, Sweden the 25th of February.

1. ALIYEV  AKHMED
2. VERINA  TATYANA
3. TARASSOVA  ANTONINA
4. KUNTUGANOVA  ZHULDYZ
5. JUSSUPOV  MAMED
6. BALASHOV  ALEXANDR
7. FARAJOV  VALI
8. TALGAT  ZHANDOS
9. TRUBIN  DMITRIY
10. SULEIMANOV ASSAN
11. MATCHENKO  VLADIMIR
12. ALIYEVA  YELENA
13. TRUBINA  TATYANA
14. TARASSENKO  YEKATERINA
15. KULEBER  DIANA
16. VERBITSKAYA  DARYA
17. KARAVAYEVA YULIANA
18. MOISIADI  DIANA
19. RYSBEKOV  YESKENDIR
20. USSIPBAYEVA AIDYN
21. KIM  VIKTOR
22. KARSYBAYEV ARMAN
23. ABILDA  YERZHAN
24. TAGABAYEV  BERIK
25. KHASSANOV ZHANALY
26. RAIKHANOV  SHYNBOLAT
27. MALIKOV  RUSTAM

Seems like Golden Arm gets extra tough this year!
Are you ready for some tough pulling??

See tournament info for Golden Arm 2012...

The last few days we've gotten a great addition to the armwrestling family!

Felicia Rydstedt and Roine Eklund got their little Hugo Göran Eklund and Alison and Neil Pickup got their Rylan Jaxon Pickup.

Here's a message from Felicia Rydstedt on facebook:

"Yesterday 25/1 at 10:49 AM little Hugo Göran Eklund came out in the daylight. 50 cm and 3590 gr."

Info from SvenskArmsport.com (Swedish federation site):

"Log in to www.vatternbrytarna.se - There you will find a link to the live broadcast from this weekend's Swedish Nationals in Motala.

Friday and Saturday  27-28/1 2012.

The championship starts at 12.00 both days" (Swedish time)

Photo: Erik Hammar

2012-01-27 Charlie

"Dear Friends,
I would like to invite you once again to the XV Golem's Hand international armwrestling tournament, which is taking place in Zidlochovice, Czech Republic on February 4th, 2012.

All the best

Zuzana Svobodova
CAA President

Radek Klein
CAA Vicepresident"

www.armwrestling.cz

Results from IWC World- and International

Wristwrestling Championships - 1980-81

IWC World- and International Wristwrestling Championships - 1980-1981.

Patton, Whitfield, Brzenk Sr, Walker, Rosencrans, Bath, Fisher, Miazdzyk, Dean, Zumwalt, Lengyel and others.

See the results on ArmwrestlingHistoryChannel.com...

Message from John Milne on Northeastboard.com: 

"http://www.inthehook.com/off_the_hook

Scroll down to the pic of Devon and click play.

Devon talks about Brzenk, The Monster, Cadorette, Ron Bath, ArmWars and even fires off a shot at Bob Brown.

If you've got half an hour to kill click the link and enjoy.

Includes real language, you may not find it suitable for your wife or kids but whatever."

Message from Eric Roussin on Northeastboard.com:

"This June I'll be running a tournament at the Toronto Pro SuperShow -- a fitness expo similar to the Arnold Classic (but smaller).

The open event will feature only one open unlimited right hand class. A quintuple elimination format will be used, and there will be cash prizes to the top 25 finishers!

A few extra details:

Every round, all pullers will be lined up by weight (heaviest to lightest). Pullers will be matched up with other pullers of similar weight, who have the same number of losses. If the pullers have faced each other in a previous round, they will pull different opponents who are the next closest in weight. I will do whatever I can to ensure pullers receive no more than a single bye during the tournament, and that as much as possible, pullers will not go against pullers they've already faced. However, due to the quintuple elimination format, there are bound to be some rematches, and it's even possible that some pullers will receive two byes. This occurrence is only likely if the number of entries is very high.

In this format, lighter competitive pullers have the potential to finish ahead of heavier pullers, as the heavier pullers pull first each round, and there's a possibility that they may burn themselves out.

We'll be running three tables at the same time.

Although the event is billed as a quintuple elimination event, playoffs will be run slightly differently. Once we have five pullers left, there will be one puller with no losses (Puller A) , one with one loss (Puller B), one with two losses (Puller C), one with three losses (Puller D), and one with four losses (Puller E). Puller E will first face off against Puller D. If Puller D wins, Puller E is eliminated. If Puller E wins, then they pull again, to determine who goes on. Regardless who wins, the winner goes on to pull Puller C. Once again, if Puller C wins, then the other puller (Puller D or E) is eliminated, even if he does not yet have five losses. Basically, the lower bracket puller only has one shot to beat the higher bracket puller, while the higher bracket puller always has two chances. This will help speed up the end, and is still relatively fair.

To provide an idea, I ran a simulation with 57 pullers. In this format, some pullers pulled 20 times.

If anyone has any specific questions about the event format, please let me know.

The Quebec Enduro Open which took place in 2010 was run in a very similar fashion. It was a lot of fun. If you really like to pull, this is a great event to attend!"

----------------

One Open Right Hand Class!

Quintuple Elimination!

Cash Prizes to the Top 25!

1st - $250
2nd - $200
3rd - $175
4th - $160
5th - $150
6th - $145
7th - $140
8th - $135
9th - $130
10th - $125
11th - $120
12th - $115
13th - $110
14th - $105
15th - $100
16th - $95
17th - $90
18th - $85
19th - $80
20th - $75
21st - $70
22nd - $65
23rd - $60
24th - $55
25th - $50

Plus, a triple elimination right hand open women's division with cash to the top 4:

1st - $100
2nd - $75
3rd - $50
4th - $25

And, a novice division featuring two double elimination right hand classes (medals to the top 3):

0-176 lbs
177+ lbs

June 2nd, 2012

Toronto Pro SuperShow

Toronto Metro Convention Centre"

See the full tournament info on TorontoProSuperShow.com...