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I can’t tell you how much fun it was to see the Lost
Battalion Hall Weightlifting website, now up and running. The
website brought back so many memories. I’m sure all of us, at one
time or another reminisce about the memories we have of this
hallowed hall. It is hard to believe the level of excellence in the
sport of weightlifting that emanates from this humble facility.
The website shows just how far LBH has come. I recall years ago
bringing a friend with me, who was a member of Jack Lalane Fitness
Center. He likened LBH to a boiler room! But somehow or other this
basement gym was and still is a hotbed of strength development.
I first visited LBH in 1964. My big brother Steve took me. We lived
in Far Rockaway, and would take the ‘A’ train to Liberty/Rockaway
Blvd., then take a bus up Woodhaven Blvd. to Queens Blvd. It was
about an hour trip. My brother pointed out Gary Hanson, an
internationally ranked lifter, who was training at LBH at that time.
I seem to recall membership at that time was one dollar, and I’m not
sure everyone paid it either! A dollar to train alongside world’s
record holders, men considered to be amongst he strongest men in the
world. So many strong guys trained there, and my memory is fuzzy
about who they all are. I also met Morris Weissbrodt.
I am sure that as the website develops, we will see some mention of
Morris and Artie Drechsler. It seems these two guys are almost
synonymous with LBH. Morris ran the gym for years; I guess he
originally instituted the weightlifting program at LBH.
I remember Morris hosting a weightlifting clinic one Saturday
afternoon at LBH, circa 1966. Morris would discuss training and
technique and show movies of guys like Paul Anderson, and Norbert
Schemansky lifting the Apollon bell, a railroad axle with two wheels
that weighs 366 pounds with a thick bar and no rotation.
Morris also went to Poland, and spent some time with the great
Polish lifting team. When he returned, I recall another clinic, with
Morris showing films and excitedly reporting the training techniques
of the Polish lifters. Morris loved Bazanowski, at that time
considered the best lifter in the world, and couldn’t say enough
about this great lifter. Those clinics were inspiring. He introduced
the blocks for partial pulling and the "new" Polish style of
pressing. Remember the press?
LBH also hosted a marathon power lifting meet in the early days of
the sport. It seemed like the meet went on all day and night, with a
load of lifters and a load of world records being set. The record
lifts had to be weighed, and with so many records being broken, it
slowed the contest down tremendously.
The open meets at LBH were awesome. Here you would get the best
lifters from the region, some of the best lifters in the country. It
was nice to see Tommy DiFilippi’s picture on the website. Tommy
snatched 352 pounds in an open meet in 1985, maybe the heaviest
snatch ever made in the building [see webmaster's notes below].
Morris got genuine pleasure from seeing a lifter succeed. I recall
Morris introduced Eddie Rodriguez at a novice meet (1964) as the
"teenage lifting sensation". Eddie was 16, weighing under 198
pounds, and clean and jerked 300 pounds! Morris definitely made a
difference.
Artie Drechsler goes way back in LBH history. Five decades, he is a
‘lifer’. I remember Artie progressing before our very eyes, and
witnessing one of his greatest days, when Artie broke several Junior
World Records out in Brentwood, Long Island. Sometimes Artie would
share the squat racks with me, even though it meant unloading and
re-loading 200-300 pounds between sets!
It’s great to see other ‘lifers’, like Joe Triolo, Lenny Bacino,
Joel Jessinowski, Tommy Hughes, still loving it, keeping it going
after all these years. Tommy Hughes and I spent many a day
travelling in Morris Weissbrodt’s car to some teenage contest or
another… having fun, talking about lifting and songs by the Four
Seasons, and everything else… growing up, just being a part of what
Lost Battalion Hall is all about.
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Picture from the Aug 1965 issue of
Strength & Health
The 1965 Lost Battalion Hall Weightlifting Team.
Morris Weissbrodt, top left, began it all.
Bill Webster another LBH lifter from 1968.
Webmaster's Notes:
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Eddie Issacs was a lifter at the Lost Battalion Hall back in the
60s. Formerly a NYC schoolteacher and currently a psychologist
Eddie emailed me this composition in 2004 to post on the
website. I had lost it on my computer, and I couldn't find it
until May 25, 2005, so here it is. Eddie has maintained his
physical fitness over the years and in my estimation is a
"lifer", so maybe we'll see him as one of our new "old" lifters.
Whadya say Eddie? Eddie can be reached at
justpickin@earthlink.net.
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Tom DiFilippi had the heaviest snatch at that time. Since then,
I believe that Krastev, the former super heavyweight world
champion from Bulgaria, had snatched at least 210 kg or 463lbs
at the Lost Battalion Hall.
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Morris Weissbrodt is rightly remembered as the "Father of the
Weightlifting Program at the Lost Battalion Hall". We hope to
have more on Morris in the future.
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Artie Drechsler had the Junior World Record in the Press, and is
still active in the weightlifting world. He currently coaches
the Invictus Weightlifting Team and has some excellent lifters
in his stable.
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