Cleve Dean: "I’m coming back to arm wrestling and I’m going to win again."" Cleve Dean is perhaps the best known heavyweight arm wrestler in the sport’s history. His string of national and world titles between 1978 and 1986 is matched by only a few pullers in his class. But when you get to know this man, who at his prime stood 6’8” and weighed 450 pounds, you realize that there’s a lot more to Cleve Dean than just his arm wrestling ability. I found out in a recent conversation.
Q: Are you retired from arm wrestling…or do you ever get the feeling you want to pull again?:
Cleve: I’m coming back to arm wrestling and I’m going to win again.
Q. When are you coming back and why aren’t you arm wrestling now?
Cleve: You have to realize that I’m now in what I call “repairs.” In other words, I’m getting my body repaired…including a back operation and left knee replacement. I’ve already had my right knee replaced and the right hip has been replaced twice, as well.
Q. When will the operations be completed and you can start training again?
Cleve: I’m already in training, despite my physical problems, and I figure I’ll be in full, hard training by next spring. I now walk using canes, but after the operations I’ll be able to stand at the arm wrestling table and pull hard.
Q. How do you now train for arm wrestling?:
Cleve: Since I stand using canes, I can’t handle the free weights yet. But I do a lot of cable-weight pulling and stationary bicycling that involves both my arms and legs. This keeps my heart and lungs in good shape.
Q: Aren’t you a little old to be making a comeback…and what are your goals?:
Cleve: Heck, I’m only 57 and I figure I can be world champion again. I’d like to also compete in challenge matches and eventually go to the Olympics if the sport becomes an Olympic sport.
Q: You must really love arm wrestling?
Cleve: I enjoy the sport for many reasons and not just because I’m very competitive. I like the people who arm wrestle, the comraderie, how it makes me feel, and traveling to see different places and how people live. Arm wrestling is not just about being the best or toughest. It’s really about sportsmanship and friendships.
Q: How and when did you get started in arm wrestling?
Cleve: My daddy was a Georgia sharecropper who, along with my mother, had the desire and willingness to work hard and save money until they could buy a farm of their own. I grew up in a home where we believed in the Lord and discipline.
Q: Were you always a large person?
Cleve: Yes…by the eighth grade I was 6’6” in weighed 285 pounds. The high school didn’t have a football uniform that would fit, so I didn’t play. But I couldn’t do that anyway because my family raised hogs and there was too much work to do on the farm.
Q: Did you start arm wrestling in school?
Cleve: I knew I was competitive when I pulled friends, cousins and classmates, but I didn’t know at the time that arm wrestling was an organized sport. My barber, who was an arm wrestling referee, told me about the state tournament in Columbus, GA, and I decided to try my hand at the sport. The contest promoter was Rick Hughes and he held that 1977 contest in a Ford car showroom.
Q: How did you do?
Cleve: I came in second place and was beaten by a heavyweight named Steve Woodall. I think I could have beaten him but I had just pulled someone else in a contest that lasted more than four minutes. My arm was exhausted. Woodall and I went on that year trading first place victories in many other contests in Georgia, Florida and Alabama. One of our contests lasted 30 minutes.
Q: When was your first national championship?
Cleve: I won my first nationals in Atlanta in 1978, then went on to win the world contests in Petaluma and Scranton that year. I repeated these victories in 1980, 1983, 1984 and 1985.
Q: I heard you were offered a job in professional wrestling. Is that true?
Cleve: Yes, but I decided I didn’t like the sport. Sure, I was capable of doing that kind of acting, but I didn’t want to set that kind of example for the kids and adults who respected me as a person and athlete.
Q: What did you want them to think about you as a person and an athlete?
Cleve: I believe that God comes first in everything. And I also believe In manners, politeness, helping others and personal values such as not smoking, drinking and doing drugs. I’ve spent a lot of time since 1977 giving talks in schools, churches and retirement homes about God, prayer and personal values. This, plus arm wrestling, has been my mission in life.
Cleve has had his share of personal challenges, especially when the crops on his family farm were destroyed by Hurricane Kate many years ago. He had to sell the farm and start his own mobile home business in Pavo, GA. But all that is long behind him now. And he looks forward to getting through his operations, repairing his body, training…and becoming world heavyweight arm wrestling champion once again.
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