Johnny "Iceman" Walker

[Cristian Anghelache]

Johnny Walker The "Iceman" (1)


" Think you train hard for arm wrestling? Then try Johnny Walker’s technique of strapping 20-pound sandbags around his wrists and wearing them all day at work.

And when you’ve finished work, go home and do your “real” arm wrestling training including preacher curls and table-top curls with heavy dumbbells, stretch-band pulls and one-arm pushups. Finally, to prepare for opponents who have quick top-rolls, toss a 50-pound dumbbell into the air and catch it on the way down…over and over again. (But don’t drop it on your toes.)

I first saw Johnny compete when Wide World of Sports televised the Yukon Jack arm wrestling tournament in 1983. It was easy to see why they called him the “Iceman.” He’d step up to the table, put down his elbow and stare coldly into space. It was as if his opponent didn’t exist. When the referee said “Go,” Johnny’s arm was a blur of motion. Most matches didn’t last two seconds.

It was his explosive power that won him so many world and national titles between 1977-2000. He says he “lost count” of the titles he holds. Visitors to his College Park, GA, home are blown away when they see the hundreds of trophies in his basement. Some even try to pull his exercise stretch-bands…and give up in embarrassment. "

Super Classic 1985 - Johnny Walker, USA VS Clay Rosencrans, USA - World of Armwrestling.com




Johnny Walker in 80's



Johnny Walker with Virgil Arciero, Clay Rosencrans and John Woolsey
- The Plaza in Las Vegas - April 2005

Sursa: armwrestling24h.blogspot.com/2010/12/johnny-walker-iceman-1.html

[Cristian Anghelache]

Johnny "Iceman" Walker in Livin To Pull Arm Wrestling Documentary

[Cristian Anghelache]

Johnny Walker The "Iceman" (2)


Johnny started late

" Most successful arm wrestlers start in their teens or early 20s. But not Johnny, who was 36 when he entered his first World Professional Arm Wrestling Association (WPA) tournament at Six Flags Over Georgia in 1977.

“I did nothing to prepare,” he said, “and hadn’t even arm wrestled before. But I was a mechanic and picked up heavy car parts all day. I knew I was strong because I could lift the front-end of a VW Beetle.” He won the 175-pound class.

Johnny was also blessed with enormous hands and arms. His neighborhood friends used to call him “cockstrong” when he was a boy, he said, meaning he had a wiry strength like a rooster.

“My long fingers allowed me to give opponents a full hand grip,” he said, “which usually gave me control.” He took hand control in his second tournament and won the 175-pound class at the WPA event at Houston’s Astro World the same year. From then on, he competed in a long succession of WPA and World Arm Wrestling Federation (WAF) contests all over the nation. And he seldom--if ever--lost. "

Sursa:

[Cristian Anghelache]

Johnny Walker The "Iceman" (3)


But then came John Brzenk

“ I was a lucky guy to be able to travel to all those contests,” said Johnny, whose winning ways won him a full travel sponsorship by the Miller Brewing Company. “They paid for everything…airfare, hotels and food…for ten years. They even flew me to Japan and Europe for various tournaments. Funny thing is, I didn’t drink beer.”

Johnny remembers many long, grueling matches with John Brzenk, who at the time was a young man. “He was gunning for me from the start,” said Johnny. “I had the advantage of hand strength at first, but as I got older I got weaker, unfortunately.” After a few years of trying, Brzenk finally beat Johnny in the 198-pound Yukon Jack finals in 1985.

Johnny said he enjoyed pulling John, but his toughest opponents were John Woolsey and Bob Howell, two men who went on to win many arm wrestling championships and became legends in their own right. He fondly remembers the many practice sessions he had with Cleve Dean and Bert Whitfield. His last contest saw him beat a young Cobra Rhodes at Yukon Jack when he was 55 years old in 2000.

Perhaps his fondest memory, however, was the time he pulled at a contest at the Imperial Palace in Las Vegas.

“A little boy saw me coming and yelled my name,” said Johnny. “He got permission from his father to sit with me during the entire tournament. After I won my class, I presented the boy with my first place trophy. The following year, I saw his father in Vegas and he told me that his boy slept with the trophy in his bed. I later learned that the boy is now a young man and arm wrestles.”

Retired at age 65 from a 30-year career as a manager at the Kellogg Company’s waffle processing division in Atlanta, Johnny says he really misses “all the great people he met all over the world.” During his prime, he had 15.5-inch forearms and 17-inch biceps.

His training advice for up-and-coming arm wrestlers: “Think about the chimpanzees and how they can climb from limb to limb with ease. You’ve got to develop that kind of power to be good at this sport. ”

Sursa:

[Cristian Anghelache]

Johnny Walker



The Iceman

" D.O.B: 01 January 1945

Residence: College Park, Georgia

Country: USA

Education: ...

Religion: Baptist

Fight Style: Various

Biceps: 43cm / 17 in

Forearm: 40cm / 15,5 in

Height: 185,5cm /6'1 ft

Weight: 80kg/175lbs - 90kg / 198 lbs.

Nickname: The Iceman

Started armwrestling: Summer 1976 at the WPAA Southeastern Championship at Six Flags over Georgia - I won it. The same year I went to the WPAA World Championships in Culver City later that year and took 5th place. In 1977 I went to the WPAA World Championships in Houston and took my first world title.

Toughest match: One was a win over Bobby Hopkins at an AWI tournament in Las Vegas in the mid-80s. and John Buononato in a five minute match at a Las Vegas event in 1988.

Toughest Opponent: John Brzenk, John Woolsey and Bob Howell.

Best training advice: Important to work on overall conditioning, which includes running and lots of pushups.

Goal:...

Achievs: Multiple World and National Champion
- 10 times Champion of WWC in Petaluma (year after year)
- 3 times Yukon Jack Champion

Biography: soon "

Johnny Walker vs John Brzenk







Sursa:

[Cristian Anghelache]

Johnny Walker - FUNNY PHOTO



THE ICEMAN Johnny Walker



Sursa:

[Claudiu Goretchi]

Cred ca acum vad al doilea motiv pentru care ii spuneau "Iceman", in primul film scrie ca era "frozen food manager" .

[Cristian Anghelache]

arm wrestling johnny ゛ice man゛walker



www.youtube.com/user/armskaoruwildcarl

[Cristian Anghelache]

Feb 4, 2011 15:32:51 GMT 2 Cristian Anghelache said:

Johnny Walker vs John Brzenk

John Brzenk pe facebook: " His hand size and strength made you feel helpless before the go. "

[Aron Szekely]

A-ti vazut careva filmul livin to pull cu Johnny Walker? Dak da unde se poate gasi?

[Cristian Anghelache]

Sept 25, 2012 10:49:05 GMT 2 Aron Szekely said:

A-ti vazut careva filmul livin to pull cu Johnny Walker? Dak da unde se poate gasi?

Documentarul se poate gasi doar aici: www.livintopull.com/store1.htm

Daca skandenbergul era un sport mai popular, s-ar fi gasit si pe torrente.... Dar cum nu este cazul, poti ajuta producatorii cumparandu-l... ;D

[Ciprian Valean]

Eu am încercat sà-l plàtesc, dar erau probleme cu pretul. Era afisat un pret promotional si când sà plàtesc era altul. Am trimis un email, dar nu mi s-a ràspuns niciodatà.

[Aron Szekely]

Deocamdata nu il cumpar, dar mi-ar fi placut sa-l vizionez.