I was 13 when I first met Morris Weissbrot at a local meet back in 1968 at I believe the Mosholu-Montefiore Y in The Bronx. I trained at the East New York YMHA in Brooklyn with a bunch of guys; we had no coach and all we knew about Olympic lifting was through the “Bible”, Strength & Health magazine. That’s where I learned about Morris; through some arrangement he visited Poland in the early 60’s and worked with the Polish National weightlifting team for a while. I was really “bitten” by the Olympic weightlifting bug so at my impressionable age I was in awe by being in the same room as Morris Weissbrot. After the meet I got up the nerve to talk to him and got around to asking about the Lost Battalion Hall lifting program. He said anyone can train there if they could afford it. I was crushed. Here I am, a kid from the housing projects just scraping by and not being able to afford the gym membership to the Mecca of Olympic lifting in the NYC area! My disappointment must have shown because in his next breath he assured me I could afford to workout there; it cost $1.00 (I don’t remember if that was per workout or per year).

Morris Weissbrot imparted strict technique to his lifters as demonstrated by this picture perfect clean by Barry Rubenstein.

I continued to regularly train at the East New York Y but looked forward to an occasional Saturday workout at LBH (it was a 2- bus ride to get there, about 1 ½ hours). All the names I’d read about trained there; Artie Dreschler (Jr. World Record press and total; I take credit as one of the spotters for his 600 lb. squat), Larry Mintz (one of only a few ever to win both Olympic and Power Sr. Nationals), Lenny Waxman, Stan Bailey (lifted in the 1972 ? Olympics for Trinidad-Tobago), Dave Sheppard (silver medalist in the 1956 Olympics), Jim and Butch Curry (1980 U.S. Olympic team member), Teddy Ritzer, Ed McCarthy (A shot of him pressing at the 1964 Olympic Tryouts was included in the intro to ABC’s Wide World of Sport every week.), Alex Parczych (great splitter in the 181’s), Alex Mijitarian, Jerry Hannan and others who escape my aging mind. Morris would be there, encouraging me and my Brooklyn buddies. Those Saturday workouts kept me inspired for weeks.

Eventually the athletic director of the ENY Y decided our small group needed an Olympic lifting coach so he got in touch with Morris. Apparently Morris put out the word and over the next few years we were supplied with the following LBHers (sorry if I forgot anyone): Tommy Hughes, Luis Anguiera (great technician), Leslie Rudy, Carl Stalnaker (what a beast) and finally, when no one else wanted to travel to the far reaches of Brooklyn, Morris eventually took over coaching the East New York YMHA weightlifting team. A few of the names I still remember on the team were Mel Schwartz, Larry Aronofsky, David Lowenthal, Lonnie Gross (went as far as the Sr. Nationals) and me.

Morris wrote out training routines for each day he coached us. This was for each guy on the team. The workout varied according to our individual strengths and weaknesses. Often included were what he called “1-1- and 1’s”. This was for the snatch or clean and it involved a 3 rep set, the first rep being a power clean or snatch, the second from the high hang, and the third from the low hang. This was really good for developing speed and motor pathways.

Eventually the ENY Y closed down and some on the team lost interest. I and some of the other guys met Morris at LBH when we could and he continued to coach us as before but now we lifted on the LBH team. I soon moved out of the projects and moved to Flushing, not far from LBH. Now I could train there all the time (like I died and went to heaven).

At meets Morris usually was the announcer but worked with us during warm-ups. I’ll never forget one particular meet held at the McBurney Y. I tried a 300 C & J for the first time, made it but lost it behind me waiting for the down signal. I obviously got three red lights (Neal Wasserman was the head ref) but incredibly Morris argued with them about turning down the lift! This is an example of how Morris fought for his lifters (even if it admittedly was a losing cause).

Geoff Fleming has a nice story about Morris (sorry Geoff). Geoff mentioned to Morris that he was looking to buy a York Olympic set so during one of Morris’ trips to York he brought one back for Geoff.

Morris announced at meets a lot. I remember one meet at the Harlem Y were he worked the announcers table using two microphones, one for the warm-up room and the other for the meet. All of a sudden he let out a long howl. I and most others thought he was cheering on the lifter but we soon saw that he was holding both microphones and was getting electrocuted (apparently thru a short circuit). I think Rudy Sablo came to his rescue. After a few minutes Morris continued the announcing duties.

My work took me out of NYC and I saw less and less of Morris. He retired as a math teacher and the NYC Parks Department and became a snowbird, living in Florida during the winters and in upstate New York in summer. A few years ago before he died I called Morris. He was dealing with health issues yet it took only a moment for him to remember me. We talked about old times and had a few laughs.

Morris Weissbrot was a great guy and is missed by many. Our lives are richer for knowing him.