Frank Beeler Masters Bench Press World Champion and World Record Holder:
My friend Frank has started radiation treatment at Stanford. He has melanoma that has spread a bunch. I will not forget the first time I met Frank Beeler. It was in the warm up room at bench nationals in 2003. The competition was in Newark New Jersey, just a spit down the road from the Rahway Prison. The hotel and parking lot had a fence topped with razor wire that surrounded the entire complex.
It was only my second competition and I was very nervous as you could imagine. There were maybe 50 or 60 people jammed in a very tight room. There seemed to be about a half dozen guys trying to put a bench shirt on this half bald cannonball looking guy in one corner. I later learned his name was “Slade”. I saw other massive guys close to my age with names like Pat Dennis, Fred Dini, CJ Batten, John Blackmon, Kevin Hutchinson, Kevin Johnson, and Dan Gaudreau, just to name a few.
I slipped over against a wall and tried to find a place to put my gear. It was wall to wall stuff. I found a little spot and pushed my bag into it. I knocked a shoulder horn off the top of the bag next to me. I picked it up and was trying to balance it back in place when this big “grizzly bear kinda guy” asked me if he could help me. He was smiling so I figured I was safe and mumbled an apology.
Things got real hectic for a while. I saw the big bearded guy make a couple of unsuccessful attempts at over 500 pounds. Being new to the sport I didn’t know what they called him for but I knew it wasn’t lack of strength because this guy was benching in a white t-shirt. On his last trip to the platform he smoked 540 lbs in that white t-shirt. As you have surmised that guy was Frank Beeler.
Twice I have had the honor of being invited to lift at SHW with Frank on the Masters World bench press team. It was not a competition because I am not any where near the lifter Frank is, but it was a pleasure. I have lost a weight class or two since then but I still lift in the same session with the big guys. In Charlotte last summer “Hutch” and I helped Frank get into his shirt. He benched a cool 590 lbs that afternoon.
I got my money on Frank. He is a world class competitor and a world class guy. Hey Frank, “I love you man”!! I too will pray for your speedy recovery.
My friend Frank has started radiation treatment at Stanford. He has melanoma that has spread a bunch. I will not forget the first time I met Frank Beeler. It was in the warm up room at bench nationals in 2003. The competition was in Newark New Jersey, just a spit down the road from the Rahway Prison. The hotel and parking lot had a fence topped with razor wire that surrounded the entire complex.
It was only my second competition and I was very nervous as you could imagine. There were maybe 50 or 60 people jammed in a very tight room. There seemed to be about a half dozen guys trying to put a bench shirt on this half bald cannonball looking guy in one corner. I later learned his name was “Slade”. I saw other massive guys close to my age with names like Pat Dennis, Fred Dini, CJ Batten, John Blackmon, Kevin Hutchinson, Kevin Johnson, and Dan Gaudreau, just to name a few.
I slipped over against a wall and tried to find a place to put my gear. It was wall to wall stuff. I found a little spot and pushed my bag into it. I knocked a shoulder horn off the top of the bag next to me. I picked it up and was trying to balance it back in place when this big “grizzly bear kinda guy” asked me if he could help me. He was smiling so I figured I was safe and mumbled an apology.
Things got real hectic for a while. I saw the big bearded guy make a couple of unsuccessful attempts at over 500 pounds. Being new to the sport I didn’t know what they called him for but I knew it wasn’t lack of strength because this guy was benching in a white t-shirt. On his last trip to the platform he smoked 540 lbs in that white t-shirt. As you have surmised that guy was Frank Beeler.
Twice I have had the honor of being invited to lift at SHW with Frank on the Masters World bench press team. It was not a competition because I am not any where near the lifter Frank is, but it was a pleasure. I have lost a weight class or two since then but I still lift in the same session with the big guys. In Charlotte last summer “Hutch” and I helped Frank get into his shirt. He benched a cool 590 lbs that afternoon.
I got my money on Frank. He is a world class competitor and a world class guy. Hey Frank, “I love you man”!! I too will pray for your speedy recovery.
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