Ontario Armwrestling Hall of Fame
The Ontario Armwrestling Hall of Fame was created in 2010 to honour the men and women of the province who have had trememndous athletic success in the sport of armwrestling, as well as those who have shown incredible dedication to building the sport. Qualified individuals can be inducted into the Hall of Fame in one of two categories: Competitor or Builder. To be considered for the Competitor category, the candidate must have had outstanding, sustained, competitive achievement in the sport of armwrestling. To be considered for the Builder category, the candidate must have made outstanding contributions to help grow the sport of armwrestling. Nominations for the Hall of Fame can be made by anyone by emailing the President of the Ontario Armwrestling Association, but induction decisions are made by the members of the current OAA Executive. An annual induction ceremony will occur each year at the Provincial Championships. The number of new inductees will vary from year to year.
Hall of Fame Members
Gene Tatti
Category: Builder
Residence: Freelton
Year of Birth: 1948
Year of Induction: 2011
Gene can be credited with being the first person to bring standardization to the sport in Ontario. He met John Miazdzyk at the Carling O'Keefe Worlds in Timmins in the late '70s where he mentioned being interested in coming on board to run Canadian ArmWrestling Association sanctioned events in Ontario. Together, along with other provincial directors, they made strides in standardizing the sport across the country -- rules, weight classes, etc.
Between the late '70s and 1987, he organized or emcee'd almost every major event in Ontario, including Provincial Championships, Canadian Championships, and the OV World Championships. He even organized the Canadian Over the Top qualifer, which sent top finishers to Las Vegas to compete in the Over the Top finals, the tournament that served as the backdrop for the movie Over the Top.
A master promoter, Gene was able to get some type of television coverage and sponsorship for all of his events. CTV's Wide World of Sports aired a number of his events.
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Rick Baarbe
Category: Competitor
Residence: London
Year of Birth: 1957
Year of Induction: 2011
Rick has been competing for nearly 35 years.
He was the dominant heavyweight armwrestler in Ontario during the early '80s.
Obtaining a win over Rick was considered a tremendous achievement, and this was a significant milestone in the careers of several of Canada's top heavyweight armwrestlers.
He is a two time WAF World gold medalist as well as a many time national champion.
He is a master level referee and he played a major role in establishing Team London as one of the world’s dominant armwrestling teams.
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Mike Gould
Category: Competitor
Residence: Brampton
Year of Birth: 1964
Year of Induction: 2011
Mike has been in the sport over 20 years. He was a member of the prestigious Port Perry armwrestling club – one of the top clubs of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
In his time in the sport, he has amassed nearly 20 national titles, as well as 2 WAF World gold medals.
In 1999, he beat Eric Woelfel to win the open left hand super-heavyweight world title in Japan. At the time, many considered Eric to be the best left handed armwrestler on the planet.
Aside from his competitive achievements, he is also the organizer of what has become Canada's biggest and most prestigious pro/am event, the pro classes of which feature some of the toughest competition in the world.
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Earl Wilson
Category: Competitor
Residence: Nottowa
Year of Birth: 1959
Year of Induction: 2011
Earl has been competing for nearly 20 years. Despite being close to 35 years of age when he started competing, he went on to win 18 WAF World medals, including 11 gold. As of 2010, he has actually won twice as many WAF world medals as the next closest Ontarian.
He has won an incredible 26 National titles.
He was the first person to win 3 gold medals at a single worlds in Finland in 2000, a feat he repeated in Italy in 2009.
At over 50 years of age, he is one of the very few who has a legitimate shot at earning up to 6 national titles per year, pulling the open, masters, and grand masters divisions with both arms.
He's one of everyone's favourite pullers to watch compete, because he brings an amazing level of intensity to the table. He's been known to slap tables so hard that they break.
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Gary Goodridge
Category: Competitor
Residence: Orillia
Year of Birth: 1966
Year of Induction: 2010
Gary "Big Daddy" Goodridge competed in his first armwrestling tournament as a young teenager, encouraged by his friends who knew he was very strong. The first place prize at that local event was $50. Gary won the tournament and spent the money on KFC to celebrate with his friends.
By the time he reached his early ‘20s, Gary was dominating the sport in Canada. He won several national titles between the mid-80s and mid-90s, as well as 5 WAF world titles.
He won the super-heavyweight class at the Yukon Jack World Championships in 1995 and 1996, which at the time was the biggest professional armwrestling event of the era. In those years, Gary was recognized by most as the best armwrestler on the planet.
Perhaps his most impressive achievement occurred in 1995, when be pulled and beat 1,000 Japanese strength athletes in a row in just under 2 hours, earning $28,000 for his efforts.
Gary left the sport on top in 1997 to focus on mixed martial arts career and went on to become one of the top competitors in that growing sport.
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Barb Schlegel (Zalepa)
Category: Competitor
Residence: London
Year of Birth: 1970
Year of Induction: 2010
Barb "Wonder Woman" Schlegel entered her first event in 1992 and surprised everyone by beating the reigning Ontario women’s champion in her weight class.
In 1993, just one year into the sport, she won her first national title, once again surprising everyone in attendance.
Over the next several years, she won a dozen national titles, as well as 5 world titles in 3 different weight classes.
In the ‘90s, with the exception of the 6’3” 240 pound American Dot Jones, Barb beat all of the top female armwrestlers in North America at one time or another, and was considered the best pound for pound female puller in the world.
In a Huntsville, Ontario tournament in January 1998, Barb was coaxed into entering the men’s 135 right hand class. The class contained the reigning Ontario champ in that class as well as a two time Canadian champ. She proceeded to beat them all, cementing her reputation as being one of the best armwrestlers of all time.
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Rick Blanchard
Category: Builder
Residence: Carlsbad Springs
Year of Birth: 1957
Year of Induction: 2010
"Smiling" Rick Blanchard entered his first event in 1982 in a mall tournament in Alberta while working out west. He became hooked immediately.
He moved back home to Ottawa in the mid-‘80s and formed Regional Arm Wrestling, which became the biggest armwrestling club in Ontario in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s.
During this time period, Rick organized many tournaments throughout eastern Ontario, hitting the majority of local fairs and winter carnivals. In one year, legend has it that he put on 50 tournaments, including 3 in a single weekend.
Rick won national titles in 1988, 1990, 1991, and 1994, and a world title in 2001.
He has run the Gloucester Fair amrwrestling tournament for over 20 years – it was the premier pro-am event in Canada throughout the ‘90s.
He spearheaded the development of the first referee seminar in 1991.
He held the Canadian Championships in 1990, 1991, and 1992, and was one of the organizers of the 2003 World Championships in Ottawa.
He is a master level referee.
He was part of the original committee that formed the Ontario Armwrestling Association in 1992. He became President of the association in 1993 and kept his post through to 2005. He was also Vice President of CAWF during the majority of these years.
Rick continues to organize local armwrestling events to this day.
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Mike Haigh
Category: Builder
Residence: Port Perry
Year of Birth: 1962
Year of Induction: 2010
Mike "The Claw" Haigh entered in first armwrestling tournament in 1985 and immediately fell in love with the sport.
In 1987 he formed Port Perry Arm Wrestling, a club which spawned several pullers who went on to be among Canada's best, including Mike Gould, Pat Mastrangelo, John Roberts, Garth Carlson, Rick Erwin, and Terry Barton.
He ran the Port Perry Festival Days Armwrestling Tournament between 1986 and 1992 - one of the top Ontario tournaments every year.
He was elected as the Ontario Director to the Canadian Arm Wrestling Federation in 1991.
Because of the reputation he had developed within the province, he was elected as the OAA's first president when it was formed in 1992.
He moved overseas to England in 1993, where he got involved with the sport in that country. During his tenure as Chairman of the British Armwrestling Federation, the membership level rose by an incredible 60%.
He returned to Ontario in 2005 and soon got back to hosting practices and coaching. More recently, he co-founded the Durham Arm Machine, yet another elite armwrestling club.
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George Iszakouits
Category: Competitor
Residence: London
Year of Birth: 1950
Year of Induction: 2010
"Crazy" George Iszakouits entered his first local armwrestling event in 1968, before armwrestling was formally organized in Ontario.
He competed regularly over the years, but can be considered a “late bloomer”. He started attending the Canadian Championships on a regular basis in the mid-‘90s when already in his mid-‘40s. No other competitor has had his level of success at the national level over a 15 year span, during which he has won close to 30 national titles (including open, master, and grand master divisions) – a particularly impressive total considering he only competes with his right arm.
The 2000s were his best decade (at least yet) during which he would routinely beat the top competitors across North America time and time again, including winning the 176 pound class at the Arnold Classic an incredible 9 times in a row. He has maintained his spot atop the In the Hook North American rankings since they were originally established.
Everyone knows that if you have a match with George, and the match stops, it’s over – George is going to beat you. He will never give up.
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