Douglas Ivan Hepburn (September 16, 1926 – November 22, 2000) was a Canadian strongman and weightlifter. He won weightlifting gold medals in the

1953 World Weightlifting Championships The 1953 Men's World Weightlifting Championships were held in Stockholm, Sweden from August 26 to August 28, 1953. There were 70 men in action from 19 nations. Medal summary Medal table ReferencesResults(Sport 123)Weightlifting World Champi ...

as well as the

1954 British Empire Games Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The fir ...

in the heavyweight division. He is also known as the first man to

bench press The bench press, or chest press, is a weight training exercise in which the trainee presses a weight upwards while lying on a weight training bench. Although the bench press is a full-body exercise, the muscles primarily used are the pectorali ...

400, 450, 500, and 550 pounds (raw). During the 1950s he was publicly known as the "world's strongest man" for his many feats of strength. Hepburn has been inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame (1953),

Canada's Sports Hall of Fame Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (french: Panthéon des sports canadiens; sometimes referred to as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame) is a Canadian sports hall of fame and museum in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Dedicated to the history of sports in Canad ...

(1955), and the B.C. Sports Hall of Fame (1966).

Early life

Born in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

with a deformity to his right foot (

club foot Clubfoot is a birth defect where one or both feet are rotated inward and downward. Congenital clubfoot is the most common congenital malformation of the foot with an incidence of 1 per 1000 births. In approximately 50% of cases, clubfoot aff ...

) and a vision distortion called esotropia ( cross-eyes), Hepburn had to go through surgery multiple times during his childhood. He began lifting weights as a high school teenager at the Vancouver

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

, and upon dropping out of school, tried to find work that he could balance with his lifting. Having escaped the Second World War because of his foot, he set about becoming the strongest man in the world.

Career

Weightlifting

Hepburn entered competition in 1948, and set an unofficial Canadian record (300 lbs. clean & press) at his first competition. He took the U.S. Open title in 1947, by pressing 345 lbs. Hepburn set another Canadian weightlifting record in 1950 and went on to win a gold medal at the 1953 World Weightlifting Championships in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

with a 1030 lbs Olympic 3-lift-total. After years of trying to attract public interest, the win in Stockholm had finally catapulted him into the media spotlight. During his preparations for the 1954

British Empire Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

in his hometown of Vancouver, the whole city got behind him, and he was given $150 a week while training in a gym by then-mayor Fred Hume. At the Games, Hepburn would claim another weightlifting gold medal in the heavyweight division by lifting a total of 1040 lbs (370 lbs press - 300 lbs snatch - 370 lbs clean & jerk) to set a new Games record becoming a Canadian national hero. He was awarded the

Lou Marsh Trophy The Northern Star Award, formerly known as the Lou Marsh Trophy, the Lou Marsh Memorial Trophy and Lou Marsh Award, is a trophy that is awarded annually to Canada's top athlete, professional or amateur. It is awarded by a panel of journalists, wit ...

in 1953 and was named

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

's Man of the Year for 1954.

Personal weightlifting records

* Clean and press - 381 lbs * Snatch - 300 lbs *

Clean and jerk The clean and jerk is a composite of two weightlifting movements, most often performed with a barbell: the clean and the jerk. During the ''clean'', the lifter moves the barbell from the floor to a racked position across the deltoids, without res ...

- 383 lbs

Strongman

While training for the weightlifting championships, Hepburn performed as a strongman at two to three shows a week across Canada, ripping licence plates, crushing cans of oil, and lifting weights with his baby finger, as well as more traditional lifting: shoulder presses, squats, bench presses, two-handed curls. His accomplishments as a strongman were nothing short of astounding. Some of Hepburn's career best lifts include: * Clean and Press 381 pounds (173 kg) * Press off the Rack: 450 pounds (204.5 kg) * Push Press off the Rack: 500 pounds (227 kg) * One-Arm Military Press: 200 pounds (91 kg), and 37 reps with 120 pounds (54.5 kg) * Two-Hand Barbell Curl: 260 pounds (118 kg) * Bench Press: 580 pounds (263.5 kg) * Squat: 800 pounds (363 kg) * Deadlift: 800 pounds (363 kg) * Crucifix: 110-pound (50 kg) dumbbells in each hand * One-Arm Side Hold-Out: 120 pounds (54.5 kg) * One-Arm Side Press: 250 pounds (113.5 kg) Hepburn also became the first man in history to

400, 450, 500, and 550 pounds. He set a series of bench press world records in the early 1950s: In November 1950 he pressed 400 lbs (181.82 kg), in 1951 he pressed 450 lbs (204.55 kg), and finally 500 lbs (227.27 kg) in December 1953. Like his father and stepfather, Hepburn battled with

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

and consequently experienced depression. After his triumphs in the early 1950s, he became a professional wrestler for a brief period of time.

Wrestling

After his successes as a weightlifter, he became a

professional wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. He was originally approached by

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

-based wrestling promoter

Joe Malcewicz Joseph Malcewicz (March 17, 1897 – April 20, 1962) was an American professional wrestler and a promoter, best known for his nickname "The Utica Panther". He is an overall three-time world champion under different incarnations and recognitions. ...

, but Hepburn turned down the offer. He later got involved in the business when he agreed to perform feats of strength at wrestling events promoted by

Whipper Billy Watson William John Potts, (June 25, 1915 to February 4, 1990) was a Canadian professional wrestler best known by his ring name "Whipper" Billy Watson. He was a two-time world champion, having held both the National Wrestling Association title and the ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

promoter

Frank Tunney Francis Martin Tunney (November 12, 1912 - May 10, 1983) was a Canadian professional boxing and wrestling promoter, based in Toronto. Biography Early life He was educated in Markham, Ontario, and went to a business college after high school. His ...

. In December 1954, he signed what was announced as a five-year contract with Tunney. After being trained by Watson and Pat Fraley, Hepburn defeated Frank Marconi in his debut match on March 27, 1955. He later wrestled Yukon Eric and Fritz Von Erich and partnered with

Antonino Rocca Antonino Rocca (born Antonino Biasetton; 13 April 1921 – 15 March 1977) was an Italian Argentine professional wrestler. He tag teamed with partner Miguel Pérez. He was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame as a member of the class ...

and Watson. Hepburn quit working for Tunney in 1956; he had one more brief stint as a wrestler while working for Cliff Parker in

before retiring.

Personal life

Hepburn was a singer and songwriter, releasing a Christmas tune, the "Hepburn Carol". He had literary ambitions and had a large output of essays and poems and other writings. At the age of 37, Hepburn opened his own gym."Lifting Himself Up, The Doug Hepburn Story"
mwrig.com. Retrieved 25 January 2022. In his later years, he custom built gym equipment and marketed protein powder and other sports supplements. Hepburn suffered from

and was concerned about his health so became a

vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetarianism m ...

in the mid-1970s. He died of a perforated ulcer at age 74.

References

External links

1954 NFB short film about Doug
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hepburn, Doug 1926 births 2000 deaths Canadian male weightlifters Canadian male professional wrestlers Lou Marsh Trophy winners People associated with physical culture Canadian strength athletes Canadian disabled sportspeople Businesspeople from Vancouver Professional wrestlers from Vancouver Weightlifters at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Canada Commonwealth Games medallists in weightlifting World Weightlifting Championships medalists