Frank
Spellman established two Olympic records en route to a gold
medal at the 1948 Olympic Games in London. His clean and jerk
of 336.25
pounds set a new Olympic Middleweight
record, as did his record-setting
total lift of 859.5 pounds (390 kgs.).
In 1954, Spellman established a new
World record at the National (U.S.)
Squat Championships, with a squat lift
of 510 pounds at a personal weight of
170 pounds. In 1946, his press of 257.75
pounds set a U.S. Middleweight record.
He bettered that mark two years later
with a press of 260 pounds and upped
it again in 1950 to 261.75 pounds.
Representing the York Barbell Team
of York, Pennsylvania, Spellman won
his first U.S. championship, the Middleweight
Junior title, in 1942. In 1946,
and again in 1948, the year of his
Olympic victory, Spellman won the
U.S. National Middleweight title. He
captured the North American Middleweight
crown in 1949. And, in 1961, at the age of 39, he won
his third U.S.
National Middleweight championship.
Spellman also placed third at the
1946 World Championships in Paris and
second in the World event the following
year in Philadelphia. At the U.S. Nationals,
in the years he did not win a gold
medal, the Pennsylvanian finished second
in 1947, 1949, 1952 (Lightweight),
1954 (Light Heavyweight), and third in
1951. In 1950, Spellman took the Middleweight
gold medal at the World Maccabiah
Games in Israel.
Spellman enjoyed a long and successful
career as a weightlifter, winning
his last championship in 1971 at the age
of 49.
Frank Spellman has been elected to
the United States Weightlifting Hall of
Fame, the Helms (Amateur Athletic
Federation) Hall of Fame, and the
Porterville Quarterback Hall of Fame.
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