Gripping action: Arm-wrestlers' tourney comes to town
LANCASTER - The smell of sweat, testosterone and Saturday morning's breakfast hangs thick in the air.
Ron "High Chief" Klemba, who looks a little bit like Alice Cooper if the aging shock-rocker had been chiseled out of a slab of granite, walks away from the arm wrestling table set up outside of Michael's Bridge Diner and takes a long pull from the gallon of water he is keeping beneath the official's table.
"Not bad for someone who is almost 50," Klemba said, his back turned to the spectators, before taking another swig of water.
Klemba's opponent, Scott Chmielewski, a short, bear of a man, stomps around in a Red-Bull-fueled rage, smoking a cigarette and shaking his right arm like he's trying to get the blood flowing again. Chmielewski's formidable bicep muscle is most likely torn, if not worse, from the epic match with Klemba.
Klemba and Chmielewski have to pull - arm wrestle - one more time to determine who will take first place in their weight class.
Despite the obvious pain he's in, Chmielewski steps up to the table and locks up with Klemba, his bicep twitching like there is an electrical current running through it. Klemba easily defeats Chmielewski to take first place in his weight class, and after the match the two shake hands, Chmielewski a little less enthusiastically because of his torn bicep.
As Klemba is presented with his $700 cash prize, Chmielewski starts goading him in a way that is only half-kidding.
"I think my arm deserves at least $50 of that money," Chmielewski yells to Klemba. "That's all right; I'll see you in two weeks at the Pier."
Klemba, a 49-year-old psychologist from Connecticut, gives a pained look at the possibility of having to go through another match with Chmielewski.
Klemba said he got into arm wrestling after he was in a car accident and he was limited on what type of athletic activities he could do. He said it is also a therapeutic way to get out his aggressions after sitting in an office all week.
A family affair
On Saturday, Gleason hosted the first Grip and Growl Arm Wrestling Tournament at his Lancaster diner, in honor of his father, who was an undefeated state champion for 15 years. The tournament also fell on his father's birthday, and Gleason couldn't think of a better way to honor his dad.
"He was undefeated in his organization for 15 years and he held five titles in Massachusetts," said Gleason, who also arm wrestled at the professional level for about a year. "He could take 225 ponds on a bar, put it up over his head and wiggle it around. He was a lumberjack and his strength was just tremendous."
Gleason's tournament, which he managed to organize in two months and was sanctioned by the IAF (International Arm Wrestling Federation), attracted some of the region's strongest competitors.
While this year's tournament only featured five different male weight classes, Gleason hopes to be able to add a women and children's bracket at the next competition.
"To me this is a family sport," Gleason said.
And judging by some of the competitors, Gleason is right.
A father and son both showed up at the tournament to compete, and the Vigeant family was well represented by Rob Vigeant Jr. and his two cousins, Rob and 14-year-old Ryan, whose technique is already garnering him some recognition by his peers.
The rules of a tournament are fairly simple: elbows of the wrestling are must remain on the pad at all times, if a wrestler starts early there is warning - two warnings is a loss - and if hands slip apart during a match the contestant's hands are strapped together. Also one hand must also remain on the handgrip on the table at all times.
Referees also watch to make sure a competitor's arm doesn't get caught in a bad position - where the wrestling hand is no longer in line with the wrestler's shoulder.
"Once your hand gets outside of your shoulder is when you can easily break your humerus bone," Klemba said. "Routinely, that is where the injury happens. Once your hand is outside your shoulder it only takes about 10 or 15 pounds of pressure to get a spiral fracture. I've probably seen a dozen or so arm breaks in the last five years."
Contestants can wrestle above their weight class, which Vigeant, Klemba and Chmielewski did, however, a wrestler cannot drop down in class to compete below his weight.
Matches can run anywhere from mere seconds to eight- or 10-minute marathons.
When contestants step to the table they have one minute to lock their hands in a grip that both approve of. If the two can't settle on a grip the two referees will place contestants' hands in position, at which point neither is allowed to so much as flinch or they will be disqualified.
Size doesn't matter