Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, May 24, 1990 TAG: 9005240110
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER SOUTHWEST BUREAU
DATELINE: WYTHEVILLE LENGTH: Medium
About 160 visitors from Holland, Spain, the Netherlands, England, Scotland, the Dominican Republic, Japan, West Germany and the United States assembled for the World Arm Wrestling Championships that ended Saturday.
In a darkened gymnasium inside the Wytheville Community Center, people gathered around illuminated tables to watch competitors in 12 divisions strain to pin down their opponents' arms.
The organization - one of two promoting arm-wrestling worldwide and trying to get the sport away from its barroom image and into the international Olympics - also conducted some business, electing M.G. Harmon of Wytheville as its president for North America.
Harmon, a gymnasium operator who already was president of the World Arm Wrestling Council, had brought not only the national but now the international WAWC-sponsored competitions to his hometown. He predicts that one day the sport, already popular overseas, will be on a par with baseball and football in this country.
The council elected Mitsu Endo of Japan as its Asian president and Adrie DeGraff of the Netherlands as president for Europe.
Folks in Wytheville took the international visitors in their stride. Fran Emerson at Words & Music, a local restaurant and gift shop, was impressed with their politeness. Sherrie Parks at El Matador Hair Studios was impressed by their size - at least that of the woman whose hair she worked on, whose height she estimated at more than 6 1/2 feet.
A few misunderstandings did occur. A Japanese contestant flying into the country simply bought a car to drive to Wytheville, learning only after he was pulled over about the requirement for a U.S. driver's license, not to mention license plates for the car. A woman competitor from the Netherlands was surprised to find that a local motel does not allow topless swimming in its pool (in her country, she insisted, tops for women's bathing suits are not even sold; she had to go back and put on her bra).
First-place winners in the various divisions came mostly from the United States: Rick Laton of Albemarle, N.C.; Junior Hostler, Charleston, W.Va.; Bryan Croft, Boynton Beach, Fla.; David Moracco, Glen Burnie, Md.; Kevin Johns, Punta Corda, Fla.; Gerald Beatty, Memphis, Tenn.; Gordon Griffiths, Baltimore, Md.; Bobbie Rogers, New Martinsville, W.Va., and Wendie Rogers, Fort Irwin, Calif.
Only Achim Edel of West Germany, Katsuo Namba of Japan and Helen Van Arendonk of the Netherlands among the overseas contestants won first places.
Virginians won a number of places among the top six finishers in various divisions. They included second places for Ben Beverly of Dublin, men's right-handed middle division; Becky Watson, Max Meadows, women's light, and Ann Pierce, Atkins, women's middle; a third place for Cheryl Watson, Max Meadows, women's heavy; fourth places for John Kincer, Wytheville, men's right-handed light-heavy; Ricky Wells, Bassett, men's right-handed heavyweight; Robbie McCraw, Galax, men's right-handed super-heavyweight, and Robin Thomas, Pulaski, women's middle, and sixth places for Randall Fletcher, Narrows, men's right-handed light-heavy, and John Kincer, Wytheville, men's left-handed, middle.
Two Southwest Virginians doubled up to place twice: Terry Roberts, Woodlawn, fourth in men's right-handed bantam and sixth in men's left-handed light, and Terry Romans, Wytheville, sixth in men's right-handed super-heavyweight and fifth in men's left-handed heavy.
by CNB