old time strong man story Fiusdale Jowett

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nothing to do with bullworkers but interesting all the same!

Fiusdale Jowett was born in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, to

Jowett, a builder and joiner, and Eliza Scarborough Jowett, nee Bown, a

practical nurse, on Dec. 23, 1891.

When he was six months old he fell from his mother's lap to land against the

fireplace and irons. As a result he was critically injured and hospitalized

several times over the course of the next few years. Indeed, at the age of 8 his

parents were told that he would not live to be 15 and that he would never walk

again.

When an uncle took him to see Eugen Sandow, the famous " Hercules " of the

nineteenth century, and the young learned that Sandow, too, had once been

diagnosed as fatally ill, the boy met his epiphany and was fired with the desire

to follow in the footsteps of this great man. Against the advice of his doctors,

the 11 year old began physical fitness training at the Old Navy Hall in

Bridlington, Yorkshire, where the family had moved to. At the age of 15, instead

of meeting his expected demise, became the international gymnastic

champion in his age group, and by the age of 18 had won world titles in

featherweight, lightweight and welterweight boxing, plus acclamations in both

junior weight lifting and catch-weight. He was named " Best developed man in

England " and later " Most Perfectly Developed Man " . These were but two of four

international titles he would win in his lifetime.

wanted very much to help other people as he had himself been helped; he

began to think about creating training courses, and eventually establishing a

school and training centres. He went to Europe to study with leading physical

culturalists of the time (physical educationists), haunting libraries and

bookstores in search of details about human anatomy.

At the age of 19 he went to Canada in search of his dream. He did not achieve it

quickly. settled in Inkerman, Ontario, where for 11 years (with the

exception of a 3 year stint in the Canadian Expeditionary Forces in WWI) he

toiled as a blacksmith, all the while honing his ideas on muscular development,

working out ideas for physical equipment that would allow these ideas to work.

The blacksmith work paid the bills; it supported himself, his wife, Bessie Hilda

Bouck (Oct 1, 1896-Jan 15, 1984), an accomplished musician and vocalist, whom he

married on Oct 15, 1913, and his only daughter Frances Phyllis Eliza, known as

Phyllis (Apr 30, 1916- Apr 9, 199?).

Phyllis trained side by side with her father, beginning her first weight lifting

at the age of two with a set of one and a half pound mahogany barbells which her

father made for her. She was not allowed to watch wrestling, however, as her

father deemed it " un-ladylike " . Men from miles around would came to the

gymnasium above the shop where gave lessons in wrestling, weight-lifting,

and judo. He also loved to entertain at the local fairs - straightening out

horse shoes, snapping chains around his body, lifting 550 lb barbells off the

ground with one finger, and one-handing 160 lb anvils above his head. To

Phyllis, all this seemed normal.

During these years, continued to train and build. At 154 lbs, lifting 310

lbs, he became the first man in America to lift double his body weight. At 176

lbs, he lifted 340 lbs in a clean and jerk. At 192 lbs, he became the first

North American to one-arm swing more than his own weight, pulling up 210 lbs. In

Chicago, he won the title " World's Best Developed Body " . Over the course of his

lifetime, he was to win some 300 medals in all.

In 1923, , by this time well known for both his own achievements and his

perceptive writings on physical culture, was offered a job teaching physical

education in Pittsburgh. From there moved to Philadephia, where he

founded the Jowett Institute for Physical Culture, later opening offices in New

York City. He established a very successful mail order business, for which he

wrote and sold booklets with titles like " How to Mold a Mighty Wrist " ,and " How

to Mold Mighty Arms " .

One booklet, " Molding Mighty Muscles " , which sold for 25 cents, sold 25 million

copies. Here, he also introduced and began manufacturing sports equipment of his

own invention and design: the revolving, plate-loading barbell , the coil-spring

chest expander, and the Seat of Health, a cast-iron rowing machine that could be

folded into a suitcase. The latter item was so popular that song writers

Parish and Perkins wrote a top hit " Seat yourself in the seat of

Health and you'll be sitting pretty all day " . In 1927, he published a book

called " The Strongest Man that ever Lived " , about Louis Cyr, a Canadian

strongman who was so famous that one Montreal newspaper ran a black banner

headline on the day he died.

By the late 30's, controlled five corporations, and had offices in

Australia, New Zealand, parts of Europe, Britain, and the Far East. His students

included Tom Mix, the Weider brothers, and ny Weissmuller (Tarzan).

Weissmuller was so impressed with the Seat of Health that he endorsed it free of

charge.

An accident in 1940 left with a broken back and temporary paralysis, and

in its wake he began to lease out his businesses and move toward what was for

him semi-retirement.

In 1945, the family returned to Canada and lived quietly, restoring Trelawny

Manor, a stately house which had formerly been in his wife's family, and whose

history dated back to 1797 and United Empire Loyalist days. But remained

active; in 1956, at the age of 64, he lifted a 245 lb dumbbell above his head

with one hand, much to the amazement of the reporter who captured the event on

film. He worked tirelessly for his community, helping to establish the new

community of Riverside Heights when the St. Lawrence Seaway Development Project

led to the flooding out of their home community of Riverside in 1958. As

People's Warden of Holy Trinity Anglican Church, led the drive to move

the 200 year old church, stone by stone, from its old location to the new.

In 1968, the year before his death, was presented with the Molson Trophy

in Montreal, honouring him as the man who had contributed more than anyone else

to bodybuilding. died of cancer on July 11, 1969 and is buried at St.

Lawrence Seaway Union Cemetery. His gravestone reads, in part, " A humble man who

carried his meritorious achievements with quiet dignity and thanksgiving. "

's daughter Phyllis had no children, and in 1997 donated much of 's

memorabilia (scrapbooks, photo albums, medal, files and manuscripts) to the

Todd-McLean