Frank Isaac Spellman (September 17, 1922 – January 12, 2017) was an American middleweight Olympic champion
weightlifter
Olympic weightlifting, or Olympic-style weightlifting (officially named Weightlifting), is a sport in which athletes compete in lifting a barbell loaded with weight plates from the ground to overhead, with each athlete trying to successfully lift ...
. He won a
gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
at the 1948 Olympics, and a
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...
and a
silver medal
A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...
at the World Championships in 1946–47. He also won a gold medal at the
1950 Maccabiah Games
The 3rd Maccabiah ( he, המכביה השלישית) took place during Sukkot from September 27 to October 8, 1950, with 17 countries competing. It was the third edition of the Maccabiah Games and the first held since the independence of the State ...
.
In the US, Spellman won the 1946 and 1948
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...
(AAU) National titles. He resumed competing in 1961 and won another AAU title that year.
Early and personal life
Spellman was born in
Malvern, Pennsylvania
Malvern is a borough in Chester County, Pennsylvania. It is west of Philadelphia. The population was 3,419 at the 2020 census. The borough is bordered by Paoli Pike on the south, Sugartown Road on the west, Willistown Township on the east, and ...
, to Sara, an Austrian immigrant and seamstress, and David, a German immigrant and stone quarry foreman who died at forty-eight years of age, and was Jewish. He had four siblings.
From the ages of seven to seventeen, he lived in the Downtown Jewish Orphan Home in
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
; he subsequently lived in
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south and the Schuylkill River to the west.Kevin Farley (January 12, 2017) "Remembering Frank Spellman," teamusa.org.
Drafted in 1942, Spellman served in the
United States Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
for three years during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. In 1944, he fought in the
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive (military), offensive military campaign, campaign on the Western Front (World War II), Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted fr ...
.
After returning from World War II, he lived in, and was a machinist in,
York, Pennsylvania
York ( Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Yarrick''), known as the White Rose City (after the symbol of the House of York), is the county seat of York County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located in the south-central region of the state. The populati ...
. Employed by
York Barbell
York Barbell is an American-based international manufacturer of fitness products. Bob Hoffman, named "Father of World Weightlifting" by the International Weightlifting Federation, bought the Milo Barbell Company and founded York Barbell in 1932. ...
, he represented the York Barbell team. In 1952, he moved to
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...
, where he lived for eighteen years before relocating to Florida.
In addition to weightlifting, Spellman was a professional photographer. He later lived in
Gulf Breeze, Florida
Gulf Breeze is a city in Santa Rosa County, Florida. It is a suburb of Pensacola, and is in the Pensacola Metropolitan Area. The population estimate was 6,900 in 2020. Gulf Breeze is located just north of Pensacola Beach, and south of Pensaco ...
.
Spellman died on January 12, 2017, at the age of ninety-four at Baptist Hospital in Gold Breeze. He had two brothers, Charlie and Harold, two sisters, Ethyl and Frances, and six children: Danny, Kevin, Katie, Yvonne, Larry, and Steve. In addition to photography, he had enjoyed woodworking and playing music as hobbys.
Weightlifting career
In 1942, Spellman won the US middleweight junior title in weightlifting.
Spellman won a
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...
press
Press may refer to:
Media
* Print media or news media, commonly called "the press"
* Printing press, commonly called "the press"
* Press (newspaper), a list of newspapers
* Press TV, an Iranian television network
People
* Press (surname), a fam ...
of 257.75 pounds. He also won the US
Amateur Athletic Union
The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...
(AAU) middleweight championship.
He won a
silver medal
A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...
gold medal
A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture.
Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...
at the
1948 Olympics 1948 Olympics may refer to:
*The 1948 Winter Olympics, which were held in St. Moritz, Switzerland
*The 1948 Summer Olympics
The 1948 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XIV Olympiad and also known as London 1948) were an internation ...
in Men's 75 kg Weightlifting when he was twenty-five years old, setting Olympic middleweight (165 pound) records in the clean & jerk (336.25 pounds) and the total lift (859.5 pounds). That year he set a new US middleweight record with a press of two hundred and sixty pounds. He also won the US AAU middleweight championship.
In 1949 Spellman won the
North American
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Ca ...
middleweight title, and finished second in the United States championships.
Spellman competed at the
1950 Maccabiah Games
The 3rd Maccabiah ( he, המכביה השלישית) took place during Sukkot from September 27 to October 8, 1950, with 17 countries competing. It was the third edition of the Maccabiah Games and the first held since the independence of the State ...
in Israel, and won a gold medal at middleweight. That year, he set a new American middleweight record with a press of 261.75 pounds.
In 1951 he finished third in the US championships. In 1952, he finished second at lightweight in the US championships.
In 1954, he established a new world record during the American squat championships with a squat lift of five hundred and ten pounds; he weighed one hundred and seventy pounds at the time. Spellman finished second in light-heavyweight during the American championships.
Spellman resumed competing in 1971, at the age of forty-nine, and won his third national AAU middleweight title that year.
Halls of Fame
Spellman was elected to the United States Weightlifting Hall of Fame, the
Helms Athletic Foundation
The Helms Athletic Foundation, founded in 1936, was a Los Angeles-based organization dedicated to the promotion of athletics and sportsmanship. Paul H. Helms was the organization's founder and benefactor, funding the foundation via his ownership ...
Hall of Fame, and the Porterville Quarterback Hall of Fame. Spellman was inducted into the
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...
in 1983.Class of 2003/2004: Weightlifting , Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Accessed February 2, 2011.
International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame ( he, יד לאיש הספורט היהודי, translit=Yad Le'ish HaSport HaYehudi) was opened July 7, 1981 in Netanya, Israel. It honors Jewish athletes and their accomplishments from anywhere around ...
. Accessed February 2, 2011. In 1990, he was inducted into the
Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame
The Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, in Beverly Hills, California, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring American Jewish athletes, other sports personalities, and teams from Southern California who have distinguished themselves ...
. He was then inducted into the Philadelphia Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in its class of 2003/2004. In 2011 he was inducted into the Chester County Sports Hall of Fame.