AAU ESTABLISHES POWERLIFTING HALL OF FAME

Written by: Hal Pittman  

An Amateur Athletic Union Powerlifting Hall Of Fame has been established by AAU Strength Sports Executive Committee.  Inaugural members elected to the AAU Powerlifting Hall of Fame will be inducted at the 2013 AAU Single-Lift and 3-Lift World Championships this Fall, and their names will be commemorated on a perpetual plaque that will reside at AAU headquarters in Orlando, Florida.

The AAU conducted its first three-lift AAU-sanctioned powerlifting meets in the United States in 1964.  As the oldest sports federation in America conducting powerlifting competitions, the Strength Sports Executive Committee voted in 2012 to establish an AAU Powerlifting Hall of Fame to recognize the men and women who have competed and influenced the sport of powerlifting.  Steve Wood, Sport Chairman of AAU Strength Sports, says the criteria for election to the Hall of Fame will mean only a select few will be admitted annually.  

“To be eligible,” Wood says, “men and women must have lifted in multiple divisions, raw or equipped, and traveled to multiple National and World meets.  Applicants must have also demonstrated a minimum of five years of active participation in AAU Powerlifting events to be considered.”

The AAU Powerlifting Hall of Fame selection committee will only consider what athletes have done in Amateur Athletic Union competition. 
 
The inaugural class inducted in the AAU Powerlifting Hall of Fame will include those awarded one of the annual awards distributed by the AAU Powerlifting Executive Committee – either the Brother Bennett Award or the Barbara Beasley Award – and three others.  These awards were in the past presented by the AAU to those who provided sustained, noteworthy service to AAU, and these individuals will therefore be included among first-year Hall of Fame inductees.

For future nominees, the Hall of Fame Selection Committee will solicit and evaluate applications containing a detailed resume, using a point system based on participation and records set in AAU-sanctioned competition.  




AAU Powerlifting Hall of Fame – Inaugural Class of 2013 

Larry Larsen – Co-founder of modern AAU Powerlifting
Gordon Santee
Robert Cortes

Brother Bennett Award recipients 
1999 Joe Pyra
1999 Al Seigal (Posthumously)
2000 Don & Fran Haley (Posthumously)
2001 Paul Wrenn (also, recipient of the President’s Award)
2002 Barbara Beasley (Posthumously)
2003 Steve Wood
2004 Harry Halverstadt
2005 Steve Rogers
2006 Ray Cross
2007 Robert Bolster
2008 Howard Huffman
2009 Dave Mansfield
2010 William DePorter
2011 Martin Drake

Barbara Beasley Award (Retired) recipients 
2005 Judy Wood
2006 Elaina Bolster
2007 Jill Meads
2008 Nancy Halverstadt
2009 Ivy Schuler
2010 Connie Wilson