By Artie Drechsler ©2024
Ultimate Recognition as Weightlifting’s Greatest of All Time
When the world’s governing body for the sport of Olympic-style Weightlifting, the International Weightlifting Federation (IWF), commemorated its 100th anniversary in 2005, Tommy Kono was delighted to learn he was among those invited as special guest to a formal celebration that would be held in Istanbul, Turkiye.
Once the ceremonies got under way, Tommy was surprised when then IWF President, Tamas Ajan, brought Kono to the podium and presented him with a plaque that read “Best Weightlifter of 100 Years”. While Tommy was humbled to receive such a deeply profound honor from the sport’s worldwide governing body, those who know the history of the sport were not as surprised as Kono was.
In fact, a poll conducted by “World Weightlifting” (the official magazine of the International Weightlifting Federation) in 1982 had ranked Tommy as the greatest weightlifter of all time. Why was Tommy Kono held in such high esteem by the weightlifting community? Several reasons support their judgment.
First, Tommy Kono won eight consecutive World Championships/Olympic Games, being undefeated on the world stage from 1952 through 1959. His first “loss” came in 1960 when, hampered by injuries, he took a silver medal at the Olympic Games. He never was injury free after that, but managed to win a bronze medal at the 1961 Worlds Championships and a silver at the 1962 Worlds Championships.
As remarkable as Kono’s medal winning streak was, his accomplishments with regard to World Records were even more astounding. According to the IWF’s data, Kono set 20 World Records between 1952 and 1962. Tommy counted 26 records and I believe his meticulous record keeping.
The six records not recognized by the IWF were duly made in sanctioned competitions, with international referees judging the lifts and a certified scale weighing the lifter and barbell. Therefore, the lack of IWF recognition likely occurred because during the 1950s there were many instances in which the appropriate record paperwork was never filed. This is unlike the situation today, where there are competition secretaries who certify results and records at all major competitions, and world records can only be made at certain specified international events.
While that level of record breaking had been unprecedented up until that time (partly because this was a pre-performance enhancing drug era), two other factors make Kono’s accomplishments with respect to records even more extraordinary.
One factor was that Kono had multiple records in each of the three lifts that were contested during his lifting career: the press, the snatch, the Clean and Jerk (C&J) and a three lift total. This kind of balanced record making was relatively uncommon in weightlifting history and it suggests just how well rounded a lifter Tommy was.
But what is perhaps even more amazing about his record making, unique in fact, is that he made records in four separate bodyweight categories during an era when there were no changes in those bodyweight classes.
To be specific, he made records in 67.5 kg. bodyweight category, the 75 kg. category, the 82.5 kg category and the 90 kg. category. That is an achievement still unmatched in weightlifting history, and one that will likely never be equaled, let alone surpassed.
Finally, what makes Tommy Kono’s achievements even more remarkable is that he had such humble beginnings, a subject we are about to discuss.
His Surprising Beginnings as a Sickly Youth
It is highly likely that if you had polled those who knew Tommy Kono as a boy, few would have given him much of a chance of having a normal life, and none would have ever predicted he would become a weightlifting legend.
His struggle to rise from the most modest physical beginnings to become a legendary weightlifting champion is truly one of the greatest stories in the history of sport. That story is a tribute both to Tommy and to the life-changing sport he chose to pursue.
Born on June 27th, 1930, Tommy grew up a sickly, undersized, child, who was required to wear thick glasses from an early age. His health was so poor that he missed nearly a third of his grammar school education (and all of his PE classes), as a result of the severe asthma that he battled every day.
His brother took Tommy’s measurements just before his 12th birthday and noted that Tommy’s bodyweight was only 74 lbs. As if his health didn’t present enough of a problem for this frail youth, a new challenge would soon be added to the ones he already struggled with.
In a shameful chapter of US history, on February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066. That act forced more than 100,000 Americans of Japanese ancestry into interment camps for the balance of World War II, even though most of these people were loyal to the US.
Tommy’s family was one of those that suffered this terrible humiliation and financial catastrophe, when they were “relocated” from their home in Sacramento, CA to a detention facility in Tule Lake CA, near the Oregon border.
As a result of this forced relocation and detention, these innocent people, had useful years of their lives stolen from them and many lost virtually all of their property.
Most people who were forced through such an experience would consider it a major setback, not to mention a horrible injustice. Many would react by developing a level of bitterness toward the country that did this to them and would permit such bitterness to become a profoundly destructive force in their lives.
Fortunately for the sport of weightlifting, and for his own life, Tommy Kono didn’t react to this kind adversity in the way that most people do. Instead, he saw his situation as a challenge, discovered means for meeting the challenge and emerged as a stronger person for the experience.
Within his experience with unjust incarceration, Tommy found this key to overcoming adversity and rose to be one of the greatest heroes in US sports history, bringing profound glory to himself and his beloved country. The US had made a mistake, Kono would not allow that to stop him.
Having his family interred in a prison camp caused Tommy to spend far more time with his father than would a boy his age in a more typical family setting. His father saw his son’s fragile physical state and worried ceaselessly about Tommy’s future, from a physical standpoint, but also a mental one. He was committed to protect his son’s health, but also to protect him from a world that might well ridicule his son’s physical frailty.
While his father worried, Tommy found the nuggets of a solution. First, he noticed that his asthma had improved as a result of his forced relocation to a desert area. He was actually feeling stronger every day.
Second, pressed into close proximity with so many other families who were suffering the injustice his family was, he developed a number a deep friendships. Two of those friendships were to start Kono on the beginning of his career in the Iron Game. The friendships were with Ben “Ace” Hara and Tad Fujioka (both of whom went on to become physicians).
Ben and Tad were several years older than Tommy and they had something the young Kono admired greatly. They had the kind of muscular physique and strength that earned them the admiration of all the boys in the camp. They were the opposite of what Tommy was, but the symbol of what he wanted to become.
Both boys told Tommy that the “secret” of their muscular physiques was the program of weightlifting that they carried out on a regular basis. Tommy was amazed to learn that his friends had developed their muscles (i.e., were not naturally muscular) and thrilled to hear that they believed he too could develop his body using the kind of training they did.
This kind of information generated great hope in Kono, as well as a burning desire to follow the example of his friends. Perhaps, he thought, with hard enough work, he might at least raise himself to the “normal” range in terms of size, strength and bodyweight – and maybe even more than that. Maybe he could be like Ben and Tad! Should he permit himself to have such a dream?
Young Kono decided that even if there was only a small chance for success, he would take it. He began to train with Ben and Tad in earnest. There was a problem however.
That problem was Tommy’s parents, particularly his father. Learning of their son’s plan to train with weights, Tommy’s parents became very concerned. Given all the myths about weight training that were rampant in that era, Tommy’s parents feared that the exertion of weight training might damage the health of their very fragile son. Tommy’s father warned him of the dangers of weight training and told him not to do it. The senior Kono even went so far as to talk to Ben and ask the boy to discourage Tommy from attempting to lift.
Ben faced a dilemma. He respected the elder Kono and his right to look out for his son, but Ben also felt obligated to his friend Tommy. So the boy decided to tell Tommy of his father’s visit, but left the decision to Tommy about whether to begin training or not. If Tommy wanted to go forward and train, Ben would help him.
Tommy was normally very respectful of his father and his father’s wishes. But this time, regardless of what his father had to say, Tommy had reached one conclusion, Ben and Tad had the muscles he wanted and they knew how to get them. Tommy would not miss his chance to get some muscles of his own.
He began training with his friends in secret, and almost immediately began to see some modest results. Once he saw those results, there was no stopping him. The Iron “bug” had bitten deeply and it would never let go – not for the rest of Tommy’s life.
Essentially following the instructions in the York Barbell Courses that came with their “Big 12” weight set his friends had brought into the camp, Tommy got bigger and stronger with each passing month. And, through some special additional training on Tommy’s part, his lungs got stronger along with his muscles.
While conducting his weight training, Kono worked to improve his breathing as well, at first by blowing into a paper bag. Asthmatics, like many others with diseases affecting the lungs, find it harder to exhale than to inhale. By practicing blowing up paper bags, Kono was able to improve his lung function (he would eventually be able to blow up a rubber hot water bottle until it burst – an incredible feat for a boy who had trouble breathing at all at one point in his life).
By the time his family was released from Tule Lake in December of 1945, Kono weighed about 120 lbs.and he could military press 115 lbs. He could snatch about the same weight and C&J 140 lbs. (although he didn’t practice the snatch or C&J very much). The boy had begun lifting in the split style, but by the time he left the camp, he had converted over to the squat style, first in the clean and later in the snatch.
Soon after his family resettled in their original town of Sacramento, Tommy looked for a place to train. He found it at the Sacramento YMCA. While the equipment at the “Y” was relatively limited, and Tommy had to train in the midst of a number of other sports programs.
However, the boy took to his workouts with even greater enthusiasm than before. He learned to concentrate with someone banging away at a speed bag right next to him (and as you will learn later, the concentration Kono developed in Sacramento was to become one of his hallmarks) and he flourished in his new environment.
The Beginnings of a Legendary Career
After he had been training at the Y for some time, Tommy became friendly with Mitz Oshima, a nationally ranked Olympic style weightlifter who lived in the area. At the beginning of 1948, Mitz told Tommy he was planning to lift at a competition in San Jose, CA in March. Tommy asked Mitz if he could accompany him to the meet and Mitz readily agreed. Kono had been following the sport of weightlifting in magazines such as Strength & Health, for some time and was interested in seeing a full-fledged competition.
Two weeks prior to the San Jose competition, several local lifters who Tommy did not know showed up at the Sacramento Y. They told Kono they were planning to form a team that would compete at the upcoming event Mitz was attending. They encouraged Tommy to join them, especially since he was already planning to go to San Jose.
After briefly pondering this offer, Kono decided to join the Sacramento team and he abandoned his bodybuilding exercises in order to focus on the Press, the Snatch and the C&J. At the competition, Tommy managed to press 175 lbs., snatch 185 lbs. and C&J 225 lbs, lifting in the 148 ¾ lb. category. His press was lower than he had expected, partly because he had to press after a referee’s signal, something he wasn’t used to. But he was satisfied by his performance overall.
And it turned out that not only had Kono competed, he placed second! This sickly, underweight, pathetic boy of only a few years ago had transformed himself into a weightlifting medalist, even if only a local one. Tommy’s early success fueled his vivid imagination with dreams of further improvement.
The second contest of the year (in that area) was to occur at Tommy’s own Sacramento Y, and it was to be held only 2 weeks after his first competition. He of course entered this competition and improved on his lifts considerably, moving them to 185-190-245.
Late in 1948, Tommy entered his 3rd competition, which was held at the Berkeley, CA YMCA. At this meet, Tommy pressed 200, snatched 200 as well, and lifted 260 lbs. in the C&J.
On February 26, 1949, less than a year after his first competition, Tommy totaled 700 lb. for the first time, with lifts of 215-215-270, winning first place.
A little more than a year later, in March of 1950, Kono had moved his total up to 745, making this fast rising 19 year old one of the most outstanding lifters in his area of the country.
In April he moved his total up still further, to 780. Such a total made him a viable contender for the upcoming Nationals, but Kono didn’t have the money even to travel to Southern CA competitions, let alone to a Nationals on the other side of the country (in Philadelphia).
By this time, the local press had gotten the idea that Tommy was performing at a high level and began to rally the public for support of their young champion. He received a donation from the West Sacramento Athletic club, but no one else, so was far short of what he needed for the trip. But his family felt he should go and they came up with the rest of the money.
Tommy arrived by plane in plenty of time for the competition, but soon realized that he was in an entirely new milieu. Whereas he had always been surrounded by supporters in Northern CA, in Philadelphia the Californian had no one to help him during the competition.
His chief competitors were the perennial national champion in the 148 lb. category, Joe Pitman (who was to go on the win the World Championship later that year), and another fast rising lifter, an 18 year old athlete from NYC, named Dave Sheppard (who would go on to became a multi-time National Champion, Olympian and World Recor Holder). In contrast to Kono’s “solo act”, both Pitman and Sheppard had entire entourages supporting them.
Tommy soon recovered his mental equilibrium and decided to make the best of the situation. He pressed 220 lb., to Dave’s 210 and Joe’s 230.
In the snatch, Tommy made 235, as did Pitman, but Sheppard made a new National Record in the snatch with 252. So at the end of the Snatch competition, Pitman led with a “sub-total” of 465, Sheppard was right behind with 460 and Kono had a 455.
Pitman and Sheppard opened their C&J’s with 300 lb. and Kono did so with 305. Now Kono was even with Sheppard and lighter man (so technically ahead of Dave), but Tommy was 5 lb. behind the still lighter Pitman.
Sheppard took 310 for his second attempt and failed. Pitman then failed with 310 after a long period of preparation. Each lifter decided to repeat with 310 and Kono waited for the outcome of their 3rd attempts before deciding what he would do. His opener had felt strong, so 315 or more seemed possible. It was at this point, intentionally or not, that Joe gave Tommy a lesson in weightlifting tactics.
During this era, there were no time limits for actually taking an attempt in competition. Instead, one had to mount the platform within 3 minutes of being called to the bar, but once the lifter was on the platform, there was no limit on how much time one could expend before actually making an attempt.
While Sheppard, approached, attempted and missed his last attempt at 310 without expending much time, Pitman had an entirely different approach. For his final 310 attempt, he approached the bar carefully, as Kono worked himself into a frenzy backstage to prepare for his assault on Joe.
But, after approaching the bar, Joe moved back away from it, and began his concentration routine all over again. He repeated this process several times before finally taking and missing his last attempt.
By this time, Kono was exhausted from preparing himself to lift so many times and he was unable to make the mere 10 lb. increment from his 1st attempt that he needed to win. It was a bitter loss for Kono, as he felt he could have made the 315 he attempted had he taken it immediately.
However, he soon learned to adjust his mind to a delay of any duration. And while Joe’s long psyche-up caused Tommy to lose the competition on this occasion, he had learned a lesson in tactics that he never forgot. In fact, he used this same tactic to assure a victory at the 1957 World Championships (more about that later).
Kono had an opportunity to take another run at Pitman later in the year, at the World Team Trials, which were held in NYC. Sadly, just before the competition started, Tommy’s mother died and he had to return to Sacramento, forgoing his opportunity to compete.
The Sacramento star continued to improve the following year, and he expected to give Joe Pitman the contest of his life at the upcoming Nationals, but then fate intervened.
In early 1951, Tommy received notice that as of March of 1951 he was drafted into the US Army. The draft had been activated as a result of the US’s involvement in the Korean War.
Following his physical, Kono was told his poor eyesight would prevent him from serving in the infantry, so he was offered a choice of several alternative roles. Tommy chose to be a cook because cooks worked one full (very long) day but then off the next day (he planned to train on his off days). Being a cook sounds like a relatively safe job, but in the Korean War there was one hitch.
The North Koreans had developed the habit of sniping and otherwise killing US cooks, on the premise that such attacks would demoralize the US troops and make them hungry. There was actually a shortage of cooks in Korea, because of this phenomena, and cooks were now expected to carry weapons to protect themselves at all times.
However, before Tommy could become a cook, he had to complete his basic training (all the while thinking about the upcoming Nationals, but not being able to train for them). A week before the competition, the young soldier managed to convince his lieutenant that he had a chance to win the Nationals (which were being held in Los Angeles that year). The lieutenant agreed to grant Tommy a leave to travel to Los Angeles and compete, as soon as basic training was over later that week.
Upon the close of basic training (3 days before the Nationals as it turned out), Kono was on a bus to LA. Almost immediately after his arrival he took his first workout in months. Later that day, he trained again. By the next morning he was sore, but he decided to take another light workout, then rest for a day and compete.
With only this little bit of training, Kono was able total the same 760 he’d done the prior year. It wasn’t enough to challenge Pitman, but Tommy did manage to 2nd once again. He was thrilled with his performance, feeling that if he could lift this much with virtually no training, next year there would be a different outcome.
After returning to base following the Nationals, Kono completed cooking school and was assigned as a cook at his base. That military base, Fort Ord, was near San Francisco, which had considerable lifting activity going on, so the young soldier was able to train with some weightlifters on his days off from cooking.
A Likely Tour of Duty in Korea Changes to a Path to the Olympics and International Glory
Before long, the young soldier received notice that he was to be sent to Korea, to replace cooks who had been wounded or killed. When he reported to Camp Stoneman to be shipped overseas, he learned that he had been taken off the list of those who were disembarking because “EM (enlisted man) is candidate for the Olympics” (according to papers received from Washington D.C., Dept. of the Army).
Fortunately for Kono, the Army had become aware of the Olympic potential of his young recruit, partly through the offices of Olympic Coach, Bob Hoffman. So Tommy was assigned to a gym as a physical instructor, instead of serving as a cook. This turn of events certainly would help Kono’s lifting career, and it might have even saved his life.
Working in a gym, he progressed rapidly in his lifting, and by November of 1951 he had increased his total to 840, while weighing about 154 lb.
In January of 1952, he made his first American Record, a 264.5 press in the 165 ¼ lb.bodyweight category. He continued to improve over the next few months and by May of that year, he totaled 815 lb. in the 148 ¾ lb. category at the Junior Nationals, the highest total ever made by a lifter in that category anywhere in the world.
At the end of June, Kono won his first National Championship, in the 148 ¾ lb. category, snatching an American Record 253.75 in the process and earning himself a spot on the 1952 Olympic Team. This was a particularly meritorious accomplishment when one considers that record high temperatures at the trials in NYC felled many a more experienced lifter.
A month later, at the Helsinki Olympic Games, Tommy repeated his total from the Nationals and in the course of so doing , made his first World Record, a 259 lb. snatch. His performance earned him the gold medal.
Four years after entering his first competition, Tommy Kono was the Olympic champion. Little did he know, when he hastily decided to enter that first competition in San Jose, that this would be the result.
When Tommy returned to his room at the Olympic village, Kono learned an important lesson from John Davis, who roomed with Tommy in 1952, at the Helsinki Olympic Games . Davis, considered by many to be the greatest lifter in the world at the time, was on his way to winning his last Olympic Games.
The very evening of Kono’s victory, Davis sat the young man down and essentially told him “You are now the Olympic Champion, with all of its well-earned joy and glory. But with that honor comes a responsibility. You will for the rest of your life represent the Olympic movement. So in your every behavior, you must uphold the rich and solemn tradition that has been handed down to you.” This was a lecture that Kono never forgot, and always strived to be guided by.
The young soldier was transferred to Germany immediately after the Games, as was fellow Olympian Clyde Emrich. But there was a period of a few weeks during which their assignments were unclear. In seems that Tommy and Clyde had given up their uniforms when they left the US for the Games, but the US Army in Germany had no record of that, so would not issue new uniforms to the men, and they were confined to the base until the record keeping problem was resolved.
Once this was done, Tommy and Clyde were assigned to gyms on separate bases in Germany, Tommy in Mannheim and Clyde in Heidelberg. While the bases were too far apart for these teammates to train with each other very much, an opportunity soon appeared for them to lift together on a regular basis.
German weightlifting officials learned that Kono and Emrich were in Germany and requested that these men be permitted to appear at local weightlifting competitions. Weekly weightlifting tournaments were the norm in Germany and the Germans wanted the US Olympians in their midst to provide exhibitions at these tournaments. Tommy and Clyde appeared to packed houses everywhere they went and were able to get some great lifting sessions in on a weekly basis. Both of them improved dramatically over the months they were able to lift together in these competitions.
By February of 1953, Tommy, who was now lifting in the 165 ¼ lb category, made lifts of a 280.5 lb. press, a 275 snatch and a 352 C&J, thereby becoming the first lifter of that bodyweight ever to total over 900 lb. (actually 907 lb.).
In March, Tommy’s service was over and he returned to Sacramento. He competed in the AAU National Bench Press and Squat competition (a precursor to the sport of powerlifting) and won both events in the 165 ¼ lb. category, with lifts of 330 lb. bench press and a 440 squat, respectively (it was the first of several such events Tommy was to compete in over the next few years, always with great success).
At the weightlifting Nationals that year, Tommy won the 165 ¼ lb. category, with a total of 915 lb. (though not recognized as a World Record, his total was the highest ever recorded by a 165 ¼ lb. lifter up to that date).
In August of the same year, Kono was part of the US team that traveled to Stockholm for the World Championships. There, Tommy made lifts of 120 kg. in the Press and Snatch, and 167.5 kg. in the C&J, for a total of 407.5 kg. or just under 900 lb. The C&J and total were recognized as new World Records.
By December, Kono had increased his bodyweight to 170 lb. Competing in San Jose, he made a new American Record press in the 181 ¾ lb category of 296 lb., and a new total record of 935 lb. It seemed that whatever Tommy weighed, he could excel and he decided at this point to compete at 181 ¾.
In 1954, he won the Nationals in his new category. Then, in October, he traveled to Europe to begin what was to become a record-breaking spree. First, he made a 379.5 lb,World Record C&J, at a tune-up meet in Copenhagen on October 4, 1954. At the World Championships, five days later, he made lifts of 140 kg., 122.5 kg. and 172.5 kg, for a total of 435 kg. The C&J and total were new World Records.
One week later, Tommy won the Mr. World competition. The following day, he reduced his bodyweight to enter the 165 lb. category once again, and lifted a World Record breaking 410 kg. total, which included a World Record breaking 131 kg. press.
Back in the 181 ¾ lb. category in March of 1955, Kono won the Pan American Championship in Mexico City. His total was a World Record 437.5 kg,, which included a World Record press of 143.5 kg..
Later that year, Tommy decided to move to Hawaii. He had given an exhibition there in 1953 and immediately fell in love with the islands. Making such a move had been on his mind since that time. It was tough to leave his family and friends in Sacramento, but a business opportunity had presented itself and Tommy could not let that chance to realize his dream of relocation to pass him by. He has never regretted his decision and has become one of Hawaii’s most illustrious citizens.
Kono repeated as World Champion in October of 1955, in Munich, and 3 days later won the first of his three Mr. Universe titles. Though undoubtedly inevitable, it is sad in certain respects that the Iron Game’s weightlifting, physique, powerlifting and strongman traditions have diverged over time.
At one time, men with great physiques and great strength were one in the same. Bodybuilding and weightlifting competitions were held together and, there were many instances of athletes competing in both events.
Perhaps the most famous example of a competitor excelling in both events was the great John Grimek, two time-Mr. America, and Mr. Universe. John was undefeated throughout his long bodybuilding career but many have forgotten that he was a National Champion and Olympian in weightlifting before he became truly famous as a bodybuilder (his strength in other lifts such as the bench press and squat would have made Grimek a “triple threat” had the sport of powerlifting existed in his era).
Tommy Kono too was also a triple threat. In addition to his Olympic and World Championships in weightlifting, and his success in powerlifting precursor events mentioned above, in addition to the physique events previously mentioned, Kono won the 1957 and 61 FIHC Mr. Universe titles (the International Weightlifting Federation was called the Federation Internationale Halterophile et Culturiste or FIHC at that time and it often conducted bodybuilding competitions together with weightlifting competitions).
So the sickly youth from Sacramento not only became one of the world’s strongest men, he developed one of the top physiques in the world at the same time.
Tommy Displaying His Physique
With his trip to Mexico City for the Pan Am Games in March, a trip to Russia in June, exhibitions in the Middle East in June and July, a trip to Munich for the 1955 World Championships in October and another trip through the Middle East for 35 days in December, 1955 was easily the year in which Tommy racked up the most air miles of his life. But now it was time to get serious, the 1956 Olympic Games were only months away.
Tommy began 1956 by making World Records in the press three times, twice in the 165 ¼ lb. class (293.5 lb. and 295.5 lb.) and once at 181 ¾ (317.5 lb.). While he failed to total at the Nationals that year, Tommy won the Olympic Trials with a 940 lb. total in the 181 ¾ lb. category and secured a spot on the Olympic Team going to Melbourne in October.
In Melbourne, Tommy did not disappoint. He made lifts of 140 kg. in the press, 132.5 in the snatch and 175 kg. in the C&J, for a 447.5 kg. in the total. Two of his snatch attempts were Olympic Records and his C&J and total were World Records, securing him the gold medal.
Three days later, lifting overweight, Tommy tried to break Norbert Schemansky’s 399 lb. C&J record in the 198 ¼ lb. category. Tommy shouldered 402.25 lb. but was unable to rise from the bottom of the clean.
After the Games, Kono returned to Hawaii, where early in 1957 he broke World Records in the press in the 181 ¾ lb. category, with 319 lb. and 321 lb. It seemed that 1957 was starting as a banner year. Then a near disaster was once again converted by Kono into a advantage.
Two weeks prior to the Nationals, the door of the car he was seated in crushed Tommy’s hand, when the occupants of the car shifted suddenly. Along with general trauma to the hand, the nail on the third finger of Kono’s left hand was painfully split down the middle. This injury precluded his gripping the bar normally for more than a week.
Inventive as always, Tommy fashioned one of the first pulling straps ever used and trained for the meet using his new device. He ended up not only winning the competition in the 181 ¾ lb. category with a 970 lb. total, but, amazingly, he snatched an official best of 295 lb., despite his hand injury! Training with straps had saved the day.
Tommy reduced to the 165 1/4 lb. category for the World Championship in Teheran to face Fedor Bodganovsky for the title. In this very close competition, Kono employed the “Pitman tactic” to assure his victory. Tommy had missed is opening clean, and then his jerk, with 162.5 kg (358 lb).
The dilemma he now faced was that while he felt his first two attempts were missed due to mistakes on his part, and that he was capable of 363 to 374, jumping after two misses would put even the silver medal in jeopardy. So he decided to take 358 for his last attempt. But in so doing, he would concede to the threat that Bogdanovsky would now only need 363 to win, a weight he was very capable of.
So Tommy waited until he was called twice by the announcer for his 3rd attempt, nearly using up his 3 minutes to mount the platform. He walked up the steps to the platform as if he were a man facing an executioner – very slowly. Once on the stage, where time to take the attempt was no longer limited, Tommy chalked his hands slowly, applied resin to his feet (which he did not normally do), then started pacing back and forth on the platform. He even inspected the bar is if to see if it was working well.
After many tense minutes, during which the audience was on the edge of their seats (thinking that Kono was taking so much time because he was worried and was summoning a superhuman effort as a consequence), he took his attempt. The lift was a success and the audience roared its approval for this dramatic comeback. In the meantime, Fedor was drained by the wait (as Kono had been while waiting for Pitman to go years before) and the USSR athlete missed his last attempt at 165 kg. Kono was the World Champion once again.
Two days later, he added icing to the cake, by winning his 2nd Mr. Universe title.
At the beginning of 1958, Tommy received an invitation from the USSR to compete in Moscow in March. He was part of a four man US team that was invited to what was to become the annual “Prize of Moscow” competition.
Kono agreed to attend and began the arduous journey from Hawaii to New York, where he was to meet the US team and disembark for Europe. When Kono arrived in NYC, he learned that Bob Hoffman had declined the trip due to a lack of willingness on the part of the Soviets to fund the trip for the entire US team.
When this news reached the Soviets, they responded that they would pay – but only for Kono, whereupon Hoffman said that he and the rest of the US team would not attend. Had Tommy known that he was being expected to travel alone, he never would have made the trip to NY. But once there, he decided that he should proceed with the trip to the USSR.
When he arrived is Moscow after a series of flights, the American was subjected to a number of tiring interviews by the Soviet press. In the meantime, the Russians had scoured their own county and Europe to assemble perhaps the greatest line-up of middleweight lifters the world had yet seen.
Among them, Kono counted several former world recordholders and his most prominent adversary at the time, Fedor Bodganovsky. It was clear the Russians were bent on finding someone who could beat Kono.
While his hosts did furnish their American guest with a translator, his helper knew nothing about weightlifting and could not offer any help during the competition. Kono was alone against every coach and athlete the USSR could assemble. When was he to warm up? How would he know what his competitors were up to?
In the typical Kono fashion, he soon reasoned his way out of the crisis. He posited that since he didn’t know what kind of shape the others were in, and Bodganovsky had been his strongest competition of late, he would simply watch Fedor’s warmups, and do what the Russian did.
Tommy recognized that while he would receive no overt help from the Soviets, it was unlikely they would warm up their own athlete improperly. This method worked very well as Kono was always ready to lift at about the right time. And despite the best efforts of the USSR coaches and athletes, Kono was able to defeat his competitors handily.
To their credit, the Soviets recognized Kono’s great athletic ability and fighting heart and his legend across the seas grew even larger as a result of his performance in the USSR. If he is ever forgotten in the US, he will not be in the USSR. He had showed his competitors that he had the heart of a lion and they acknowledge that to this day.
Later that year, Bob Hoffman arranged a series of competitions in the US with the World Team champions from the USSR. This was a major event with the press, as Soviet athletes rarely ventured to the US during this tense period in the Cold War. The USSR team captured the interest of the US public as thousands attended each of the 3 events. Tommy was matched against Bogdanovsky in this series.
Fedor came out on top at the first event on May 12, in Chicago. He prevailed again on May 15th, in Detroit. In the meantime, the US Team and the Soviets had split the team competitions, each team winning one event. The team would need Tommy more than ever in NY, if they were to have any hope of defeating the Soviet team.
In NY, the competition venue was the famous Madison Square Garden. The lifting took place in front of a crowd estimated at more than 10,000, undoubtedly the largest crowd ever to attend a weightlifting event in the US. Tommy came through and defeated his opponent with a World Record exceeding total (the rules required that 3 countries had to be competing for a total record to actually be established, so the record did not count).
However, later that year, after winning the Nationals in June, Tommy won the World Championship once again, this time with an official World Record snatch of 133.5 kg. 294 and total of 430 kg.
In 1959, Tommy won the Nationals and the Pan Am Games once again, in the 165 ¾ lb. category. Unfortunately, an unexpected challenge arose when Tommy injured his knee in a freak accident before the 1959 World Championships.
He was in York training with the US World Team and was asked by Boy Hoffman to give an exhibition at a Boy Scout Jamboree nearby, along with his teammates Issac Berger and Bill March. Tommy was explaining competitive lifts to the audience and wanted to demonstrate the split style to the boys.
Consequently, he did a quick split snatch with 135 lb. Although the weight was very light for Tommy, and he had been a split snatcher at the very beginning of his career, he sustained an injury doing the demonstration. His knee only bothered him a little at the time, but the problem did not go away. While he recuperated enough to win the World Championships, he re-injured his knee attempting a 170 kg. World Record C&J at the Worlds, after having secured his 8th straight world championship victory in Warsaw.
At this point, it is useful to take stock of Tommy’s career thus far. With his 8th straight world title, he joined John Davis of the US in having the longest winning streak in world weightlifting history in international competition. He had set more than 20 World Records, easily the largest number of world records in the history of weightlifting up to that time. In addition, he had set those records in 4 different bodyweight categories, the only man in history, to this day, to make records in so many categories (if you ignore records made in different categories by more modern lifters who enjoyed the benefit of having their weight categories change 2 times over a period of 4 years). To date, 46 years later, only one man, Vasily Alexseev of the USSR, has equaled the winning streaks of Kono and Davis (using a similar counting system, Suleymanoglu, of Bulgaria, and later Turkey, won a total of 10 world titles – including 3 Olympics – but they were not consecutive, as Suleymanoglu lost eligibility for a time, when he defected to Turkey from Bulgaria).
In 1960, Kono geared up once again for the Olympic Games, this one to be held in Rome. If Kono were able to win again, he would become the first man ever to win the Olympics in weightlifting 3 times. In addition, if he won at 165 ¼ lbs., he would win the Games in three different bodyweight categories (with no changes in the those categories in between) – an even more amazing feat.
His biggest challenge was the knee injury that he had sustained the year before. It flared up again before the Nationals. He managed to win the meet, but with lifts that were low for him and with jerk technique that spared his ailing knee (e.g., he was forced power jerk).
His injury hampered his preparations for the Games, but he was able to get into good condition. In fact, in Rome, he was tied with the eventual winner, Alexander Kurynov, after the press and snatch. He then actually cleaned the 374 he needed to win the Games. Unfortunately, he was not able to jerk it when he twisted his injured knee once again in the split (Kono was normally a very reliable jerker). He ended up with the silver medal, his undefeated streak finally broken.
Determined to avenge his defeat in Rome, Kono began to train under the guidance of the legendary physician and sports trainer, Dr. You. You helped Kono to work through the arthritic condition that had developed in his knee following his original injury and with other injury problems thereafter.
In March of 1961, Kono traveled to Moscow for the Prize of Moscow competition, where he made lifts of 152.5 kg. in the press, 137.5 kg. in the snatch and 170 kg. in the C&J. The press and total were World Records in the 181 ¾ lb. class, and Kono nearly snatched a WR 314 as well.
Following this competition, he broke the World Record in the press it the198 ¼ lb. class with 350.5 lb. lift in May of 1961. Then he broke the world press record at 181 ¾ lb, with 153.5 kg., in a competition in Tokyo in June of 1961.
Various injuries hampered his training for the 1961 Worlds and Tommy was able to total only 430 kg., which left him in 3rd place. He went on to win the FIHC Mr. Universe for the 3rd time a few days later.
In 1962, Kono won the Nationals once again at 181 ¾ lb. He placed second it the World Championship in Budapest, with a total of 455 kg. He then went on to win his 3rd Pan American Games in 1963, as well as that year’s National Championship.
At the request of team coach Bob Hoffman, Tommy agreed to move down to the 75 kg. category for the 1963 World Championships. Unfortunately, he crushed his finger loading the bar in training before the competition and was unable to grip the bar properly in the snatch. This resulted in him missing all of his snatches with 125 kg.
In 1964, Kono decided to pass on the US Nationals in an all-out effort to make his 4th Olympic Team at the subsequent Olympic Trials, held at the World’s Fair in NYC. Ravaged by injuries, he managed lifts of 132.5 kg press, a 117.5 kg. snatch, but he missed all of his C&J’s with 160 kg. For the first time since 1952, Tommy Kono would not be part of the US Olympic Team.
Tommy made an attempt at a comeback in 1965 at the US Nationals. Lifting in the 181 ¾ lb. category, he pressed 330 lb., snatched 275 lb. and C&J’d 360 lb, missing twice with the 380 lb. he needed to win. He then brought tears to fans who had watched him for so many years, by announcing his retirement to the audience. His first competition had been in San Jose in 1948 and his last was this Nationals in Los Angeles in 1965. A long and distinguished career had finally come to an end.
A Retrospective On His Competitive Career
While Kono’s series of World Records stands as one of the greatest in the history of the sport (both because of the sheer number of records and the number of weight categories over which those records were spread), there is another feature of those records that makes them even more amazing. Kono never set a World Record while lifting in the Continental US (though he tried such records many times, and did set a number records in Hawaii).
Instead, the most of Kono’s records were established in major international competitions (the rules in those years permitted records to be established anywhere as long as there were 3 international referees present, the proper equipment and a certified scale).
During those years, making records under ideal conditions on ones “home field” was a wonderful accomplishment, but to consistently make such records on the international stage was truly extraordinary.
Kono explains this unique pattern of setting records in international competitions very simply. Only in the crucible of extreme competition could the fires of Kono’s competitive spirit be truly ignited. He competed for the US and would do anything to bring glory to his beloved country. What better stage to accomplish this than in front of the entire weightlifting world?
Still another facet of Kono’s career has been highlighted a number of times by Tommy’s former team mate, Pete George, an Olympic champion of world record holder in his own right. Pete has said of Tommy “He is, in my opinion, the greatest weightlifter of all-time. He would always go where the competition was the toughest. Some of us went where we thought we’d get a medal”.
Tommy was always looking for a challenge to inspire him to ever greater heights. He sought competition rather than avoiding it because he knew that such competition brought out the best in him.
His Mental Approach Was Perhaps The Greatest Key To His Success
When one examines the factors behind the achievements of great people, there are typically very complex and varied forces at work. But almost invariably, the outstanding achiever is possessed of a burning desire to succeed, a positive mental attitude, a complete focus on his or her field of endeavor and years of unremitting toil. Anyone who met Tommy soon learned of his burning desire to succeed and saw his willingness to work hard. But to understand Tommy’s incredible level of focus, one had to observe a little more carefully.
There were few more astute observers of weightlifting than the legendary official, Rudy Sablo. Those who knew Rudy also knew that he was not easily impressed. However. he was very much impressed with Tommy Kono, well beyond the respect that Rudy would have afforded even to other great champions. A number of years ago, Rudy told me why he held the Hawaiian is such great esteem.
Sablo had helped to organize the 1964 Olympic Trials that were held at the World’s Fair in NYC in 1964. As was noted earlier, Tommy was attempting to make his 4th Olympic Team that year, competing in what was to be his last Olympic Trials. During the competition, as Tommy approached the bar for his last attempt in the C&J, he went into the trancelike state that had become his hallmark. As he got set to lift, an ear-piercing alarm was triggered by someone opening one of the exit doors to the venue. This event sparked a flurry of activity among the organizers, who were desperate to discover the cause for the alarm and to shut it off. In the meantime, with the alarm blaring, Tommy made his attempt.
By the time Kono’s attempt was over, the alarm had been dealt with, and Rudy hurried in Tommy’s direction to apologize deeply for the incident. He also wanted to congratulate Tommy on his courageous effort and his apparent ability to block out the disturbance enough to continue to compete.
When Rudy reached Kono, he said “Tommy, I’m so sorry for that alarm going off. I’m amazed that you could continue to compete with such a distraction.” Rudy then reported that Tommy looked at him with an expression of surprise but total sincerity and said, “What alarm?” As Rudy later said, “That was when I finally understood why Tommy Kono was as great as he was”.
In addition to concentration, this great lifter employed an unremitting positive attitude. He told me that early on he learned the importance of such an attitude and that he not only used it to motivate himself but those around him. He admitted there were times when he approached a workout feeling fatigued, or lacking high motivation. Under such conditions, he’d resolve to enter the gym with a positive attitude and exude enthusiasm. He’d tell his training mates how he felt great and how much we was looking forward to a terrific workout (which by that time he actually was). They’d inevitably respond with more energy and positivity of their own, leading to a better training session for all – with better lifts and more fun had by all.
To just provide a glimpse into to kind of positive attitude Tommy always had, I can provide the following summary of one of our many conversations. The number 27 somehow came up in our conversation and he mentioned that 27 was his “lucky number”. I was puzzled at first, because I assumed that if he had such as number it would be 26 – the number of world records he’d set, and I mentioned that to him. Then I guessed that he chose the 27th because he had been born on the 27th of June. He acknowledged that as a factor in his number selection, but by far the most important reason he considered 27 his lucky number was that it had been his barracks number at his interment camp in Tule Lake so many years before!
I was floored by such an attitude toward a number that for most people would have brought back memories of suffering and injustice. But before I could even raise such a point, Tommy explained that his experience at Tule Lake had changed the course of his life in an incredibly positive way, helping him restore his health and learn the basics of the training that was to change the course of his life forever. Talk about seeing the positive!
On to More Great Achievements
Following his retirement from weightlifting in 1965, Tommy was sought after in many circles for his coaching ability (sadly, the US had no paid coaching positions to offer Kono at that time). But many other countries felt that if Kono could work magic on someone as unlikely as himself, he might be able to do it with someone else.
The first coaching opportunity that Tommy selected was to become head weightlifting coach for Mexico, the country that would host the next (1968) Olympic Games. Mexico had hardly been known as a weightlifting power, but it didn’t take Tommy long to discover and develop some talent.
His new responsibilities in Mexico prevented Tommy from traveling very much, but he sent a heretofore unknown 123 ¼ lb. lifter, named Manuel Mateos, to the US Teenage Nationals in July of 1966 (Kono’s assistant coach, Rene DeLaCerda accompanied Mateos).
Foreign athletes with no US citizenship, or even residency, were permitted to compete for US National titles in those years, so the Mexican athlete’s presence was not questioned.
At first blush, a lifter from Mexico certainly did not worry the athletes who were present, although some of the more discerning among them wondered why Tommy Kono would send an unknown athlete to such a high level of competition. They were soon to find out.
While no one knew who Manuel was before the competition began, his name became known worldwide by the time it was over. Mateos broke a Jr. World record in the press in his first international outing and won the competition easily.
This young star went on to take 7th at the Olympic Games in 1968, one of the best performances of any Mexican at that Games. Moreover, under Kono’s guidance, three Mexican lifters had qualified for the Games, whereas none had ever competed for Mexico, in weightlifting, at any prior Olympics.
On the basis of his reputation and accomplishments in Mexico, West Germany offered Tommy a coaching job after the 1968 Games. He proceeded to Germany and almost immediately helped the German lifters to prepare for the 1972 Games. A number of the German lifters improved markedly under Tommy’s tutelage.
By the time the Munich Olympic Games were over, however, Tommy was ready to return to his beloved Hawaii. He’d been away for almost seven years and longed to spend the rest of his days on the island he had grown to cherish so deeply.
He soon found a job as a Recreation Specialist in the field of Physical Fitness for the Department Parks & Recreation in Honolulu. While there are always challenges in such a role, Tommy Kono would never be satisfied with doing a good job. He had to make a difference, and he soon did.
He infused many new ideas into the recreation system of Hawaii, most notably as one of the men behind the creation of the Honolulu Marathon. Today, this is one of the largest and most successful races of its type in the world, typically attracting more than 30,000 competitors from around the globe each year.
While working in the recreation area in Hawaii, Tommy still found the time and energy to be heavily involved in weightlifting worldwide. He served as Olympic Weightlifting Coach for the US Team in 1976 and Head Coach of several Women’s World Weightlifting teams in the late 1980’s. He also emerged as one of the world’s leading officials, often serving and major international competitions.
Tommy officially retired from the Department of Parks & Recreation in 1997, but for many years thereafter he assisted them with running the marathon that he helped to create. However, he found a new challenge in his retirement, as he began to work on something he had thought about for many years, a book on weightlifting.
I was after Tommy for many years to write a book that would relate his enormous knowledge of the sport to others in a permanent way. When I published my own book, The Weightlifting Encyclopedia, in 1998, Tommy, who had reviewed the drafts, was kind enough to write a Foreword to the book.
Having now succeeded in publishing a book I had been talking to him about for years, I continued to encourage Tommy to put publish his own book. He went me one better and published two.
His first book, was “Weightlifting, Olympic Style”, was published in 2001. Part autobiography, part training manual and part motivational reader, Tommy’s very special book has been a joy for weightlifters looking for his “secrets”. I considered it one of the great honors in my life that Tommy asked me to write the Foreword to his first book.
That book enjoyed considerable success, and deserves to do so for many years to come. Those who are wise enough to learn even some of the valuable lessons that Tommy’s book has to offer will benefit immensely from that effort.
His second book, “Championship Weightlifting”) was published several years later. As was the case for his first book, Tommy not only wrote the book, but he also illustrated and provided most of the photos for it (he had taken some of the most prized photos in weightlifting from the 1950s through the 1970s). Although the first book has much important information about the mental side of excelling in weightlifting, this second book focuses even more on training the mind, but there is also important information on training, technique and other weightlifting subjects.
In addition to his books, and well before they were published, Kono had one of the longest running series of articles in the history of Strength & Health Magazine, the leading weightlifting (and general fitness) magazine in the US for nearly half a century (his article on “Quality Training” was one of several that were to become classics).
Weightlifting legend, bodybuilding champion, legendary coach, revered official, admired photographer, Tommy was also an inventor. He literally invented the neoprene rubber knee bands that so many athletes wear today.
When he developed his knee troubles, he searched for a way to address the problem. He noticed that when he wore a wet suit while skin diving, it kept his body warm (its intended purpose) but he noticed that one result of this was his knees feeling better. So he cut up an old diving suit so that the are that had covered his knees could be used during his training. He cut another piece to cover his torso, to keep his back warm as well.
When he showed up at the York Barbell Company gym, wearing his knee bands and waist band, legendary Olympic weightlifting coach and company owner, Bob Hoffman, talked with Tommy about their purpose.
Seeing Kono’s enthusiasm for these knee bands, and never one to miss an opportunity to help weightlifters and add to his product line, Bob soon introduced them to his readers as the BH knee and waist bands, even though TK (for Tommy Kono) had been the original hope for Tommy. I, along with many of Strength and Health’s readers, eagerly purchased Tommy’s invention.
Observing loaders in weightlifting competitions struggling with changing the largest barbell plates in a competition, Tommy came up a wedge with a sort of divot in the middle. This permitted loaders to roll the plates up an incline of the wedge, then stop the bar safely in the wedge’s indentation, then roll the bar back down, with the needed weight having been prepared with less strain. Tommy’s design became very popular in both Weightlifting and Powerlifting.
He also came up with an idea for a “height gauge” to measure the height of high pulls, an idea he shared freely with many lifters. Prior to this invention, and its successors, lifters had no way to know for sure whether the ‘pulls” they were doing reached the desired height.
Theres are just some of the many contributions Tommy’s fertile mind devised and then gave way freely.
In addition, during his “retirement” years, Tommy gave an endless number of seminars around the country and the world. An example can be found on YouTube if you look for his seminar at the Arnold Classic one year.
Tommy was a fixture at the Honolulu YMCA for decades, where he was willing to coach, gratis, anyone fortunate enough to enter the Y’s weight room (a number of athletes I coached, who travelled to Hawaii for a variety of reasons, availed themselves of the opportunity for an unforgettable session with the master).
As just one example of his generosity, I can recall asking him to help one of the lifters I was coaching to find a training facility while he was honeymooning in Hawaii (with his very understanding wife).
Tommy not only arranged for this athlete to train at the Honolulu YMCA, but he gave this athlete his undivided coaching attention for more than two hours. The athlete was stunned that Tommy would spend so much time with him, and even more stunned by the wisdom of what he heard. It was the experience of a lifetime for this young athlete, one he will never forget. And it’s an experience that a very small number of champions in any field would take the time to create for a young athlete.
I have often made the statement that when someone has a hero, he or she is sometimes disappointed if they get to know that hero. This is partly because it is in human nature to build a “perfect” idol from afar, and such perfection is almost impossible for any human to achieve (especially when the ideal is built to ones own standards and not those of the person who is being idolized).
But in Tommy Kono’s case, one of my boyhood idols far exceeded my highest hopes for my hero. His enthusiasm, generosity, warmth and positive attitude were a joy to experience. His knowledge was an endless treasure trove, with invaluable jewels available for the asking, wherever one looked. He was a great person to have as a friend as well as an idol.
Few people have ever achieved anything close to what Tommy Kono has on the weightlifting platform. His accomplishments against all odds have given the weightlifting world so many gifts, in the form of dramatic competitive moments and in the embodiment of a heroic ideal, that he can never be honored enough for what he has achieved.
And he was always willing to deliver the gifts of the wisdom he earned so many years ago, from a family that maintained their dignity while unjustly imprisoned, and from his rich experiences in the international weightlifting scene. For Tommy, a glass filled to half of its capacity was always at least half full, never half empty. He believed that anything that is humanly possible is possible to the man or woman who has a dream, a burning desire to make that dream a reality, and willingness to work intelligently to achieving that dream. He believed that one should be grateful for such gifts as one has received.
And among the many gifts the weightlifting world has ever received in its long and bountiful history, it should be singularly grateful for that very special gift named Tommy Kono.