Of all the events held in Petaluma every year, none has brought more national and international publicity to the city than wristwrestling.
The second Saturday in October every year, strong-armed men and women from around the world make a pilgrimage to Petaluma for the chance to be crowned world champion.
They're not drawn by prize money - the total purse is $5,000 and winners in each weight class are awarded only $2,000. Other arm strength tournaments offer more monetary rewards, but contestants are attracted to Petaluma because of its mystique as the birthplace of wristwrestling.
"There's a certain charisma about Petaluma among wristwrestlers," said Bill Soberanes, event founder and promoter. "They feel if you win here you're really the champ. Even in Moscow they call Petaluma the armwrestling and wristwrestling capital of the world."
"We're the granddaddy of the sport," said Dave Devoto, Soberanes' partner in promoting the annual tournament.
"Raw strength and courage" is the motto of the World's Wristwrestling Championship, now in its 38th year. The event will be held Saturday, Oct. 9 at the Mystic Theater in downtown Petaluma.
The field of contestants is expected to be the largest in recent years, with a 60-member contingent from India boosting the total to about 300.
"We have competitors coming from Russia, the Republic of Georgia, the Ukraine, Bulgaria and Canada," Soberanes said.
The event, now in its fourth year at the Mystic Theater, has enjoyed a resurgence of interest since it moved to the downtown venue after a long run at the Veterans Memorial Building on the south end of town.
The growth of the Internet and the introduction of a web page (www.armwrestling.com) two years ago are also credited with bringing in more contestants in recent years, according to Devoto. "The e-mail we get from around the world is just unbelievable," he said.
This year's tournament is expected to have the largest number of foreign competitors ever. "It's truly a world tournament now," said Soberanes.
Roots of wristwrestling
Wristwrestling - or armwrestling - as a competition of sheer strength has been around for centuries. But wristwrestling as an organized tournament sport had its roots in downtown Petaluma. The first tournament was held in 1952 in the long-defunct Gilardi's Tavern, where the Bank of America parking lot is today. Promoters didn't start billing it as the world championship until 10 years later, when the event moved to the Veterans Building.
During its heyday in the 1960s and 1970s, the offbeat sport was bolstered by television coverage by ABC's "Wide World of Sports" and a series of "Peanuts" cartoons by cartoonist Charles Schulz, bringing worldwide publicity to Petaluma.
Soberanes boasts that more than 300 million television viewers watched wristwrestling in Petaluma during its 15-year run on ABC and that the event was the third-highest-rated show in the history of the program.
Devoto once appeared on Johnny Carson's "Tonight" show to explain wristwrestling and referee an exhibition match. Soberanes has been a tireless ambassador for the sport -- traveling to New York for a celebrity wristwrestling tournament sponsored by Esquire magazine, to Moscow where he was the guest of honor for a Soviet tournament and to the Oval Office of the White House for a meeting with then-president Gerald Ford.
In recent years, wristwrestling has been featured on "NBC World News Today," the Learning Channel, the BBC and the U.S. government-produced "Voice of America" radio program.
Despite a slump in attendance during the 1980s and offers from promoters in other cities to buy the rights to the tournament, Soberanes has stayed loyal to his hometown and kept the tournament where it started.
Greatest champion
There are a total of 35 divisions, including men's and women's, right-handed and left-handed, master's and novice categories.
Most, if not all, of last year's champs are expected to return to defend their titles, including John Brzenk. Brzenk (pronounced bre-ZINK), a quiet and bespectacled 33-year-old airline mechanic from Sandy, Utah, defeated two dozen opponents to win an unprecedented five titles in different categories last year, including the right-handed men's heavyweight title.
The 6-foot, 198-pound Brzenk took 12 seconds to pin the arm of his opponent in the heavyweight finals, 270-pound Eric Woelfel of Petaluma.
Devoto called Brzenk "the greatest wristwrestler in the history of the organized sport." That's high praise in a sport that has seen such multiple champions as Jim Dolcini, Cleve Dean and Duane "Tiny" Benedix.
Also expected back to compete for their third straight titles are Cynthia Yerby of Wolf, Okla. (women's right-handed heavyweight), Monique Wozniak of Virginia (women's left-handed 144-plus pounds) and Judy Dodd of Patterson, Calif. (women's right-handed 0-121 pounds).
Quickness and technique
Bigger isn't necessarily better in wristwrestling, where smaller competitors often use their quickness and technique to defeat opponents who outweigh them by 50 or 60 pounds in the heavyweight division.
"A lot of the strongest guys in the world get beaten," said Soberanes. "Back in the old days we had a lot of lumberjacks and cowboys. Now these guys really work out and build up their back and arm muscles."
"The bodybuilder doesn't do particularly well here," agreed Petaluman Bill Rhodes, a former lightweight champion, referee and active competitor in the grand masters (over 55) division. "This isn't a sport dominated by bulky muscles. Quite frankly, if you don't have the technique, you're not going to do well. Just the placement of one or two fingers can significantly control the leverage and your ability to control your opponent's hand.
"When I first got into the sport, I would just walk up to the table, 'pull' and go," Rhodes said. "Over the years, competitors have come up with ways to fight against a winning style. They pull against their opponent's weaknesses and try and disable their strengths. Now there are terms like 'inside press,' 'top roll' and 'side pressure.'"
Devoto is editing a new book that explains and illustrates 17 different wristwrestling techniques. "Back when we started, there was basically one technique. Now it's become very technical. People train year round, they form local clubs and they 'pull' on official tables to get the feeling of competition.
"As John Brzenk put it, 'What makes a weightlifter think he's going to be a better wristwrestler just because he has muscles? Is he going to be a better basketball player or golfer just because he has muscles? In wristwrestling, like any sport, you have to train specific muscles that come into play and work on your technique,'" Devoto said.
Brzenk, Devoto said, is unlike most other competitors who work themselves into a controlled frenzy. "He walks up calmly and casually and puts his arm down. Other competitors will fight to get an advantage on the grip. John just gives it to them. It's not a problem for him."
Added Rhodes, "Brzenk's strategy appears not to pay a whole lot of attention to the grip, but when it gets down to the final seconds before the match, he is positioning himself to get the best advantage. He's very sophisticated. He knows his competitors and their style and has already figured out how to beat them.
Mystique, passion and legend
Some of the mystique and passion surrounding wristwrestling was captured in a couple of movies made several years ago. "P.K. and the Kid" (1982) featured Molly Ringwald as a runaway teen-ager who is befriended by Paul Lemat, who is en route to Petaluma to compete in the world wristwrestling tournament. The tournament scenes were filmed at the Kenilworth Recreation Center and featured more than 100 local extras. "Over the Top" (1987) starred Sylvester Stallone as a truck-driving armwrestler who goes to Las Vegas to compete in a big tournament.
Soberanes has plenty of real-life stories to tell over nearly half a century of wristwrestling tournaments in Petaluma.
"When [Petaluman] Jim Dolcini beat Maurice Baker [in 1970 to win the first of his four heavyweight titles], Keith Jackson of ABC said he had never seen such a great comeback and such excitement at any sporting event," Soberanes said. "Baker brought Jim's arm down to within an inch of victory. Then, as if prodded by some unknown force, Jim brought the audience to its feet as he turned Baker's arm to an upright position, then proceeded to crush it to the table."
In 1962, Tom Flores and Tom Louderback of the Oakland Raiders brought a friend named Joe Valencia who they were confident would win the heavyweight title. "He had beaten all of the Raiders players," Soberanes said, "and they bet $5,000 he would win the title. He was really a mean guy, psyching everybody out and hurting people when he beat them."
When it came time for Valencia to take on Duane "Tiny" Benedix, a 6-foot-4, 270-pounder from Livermore, Valencia said, "OK, boy, I'm taking care of you." Benedix replied, "I'm not a boy. I'm a man," and proceeded to pin Valencia.
"We never heard from Valencia again," Soberanes said. Although Benedix lost to Earl Hagerman in the finals that year, he came back to win three heavyweight titles in the 1960s.
Then and now
Arm sports have come a long way since the early tournaments, with more sophisticated training methods, the development of more techniques, the growth of tournaments all of the world and the communication of information over the Internet.
But the essence of wristwrestling is still two competitors, locking their hands in a grip at a table and matching their muscles and determination for a few seconds of straining intensity.
"No matter how sophisticated it gets, the old motto 'Raw Strength and Courage' is still the key ingredient," said Rhodes.
Most competitors will arrive Friday, when weigh-ins will be held from 6:30 to 10 p.m. at Jok-erz Wild Casino, 5151 Montero Way, next to the Quality Inn. Weigh-ins will also be held Saturday from 8 to noon at the Mystic Theater. Preliminary matches start at 1 p.m. and the finals get under way at 7 p.m. Entry fee is $30 for professional and masters classes, $20 for the novice class. Admission for spectators is $10. For more information, call 778-1430 or visit the United States Arm Sports web site: www.armwrestling.com.
(Published Oct. 6, 1999)
Home
What's New
Writing
Music
Travel Diaries
Photos
Resume
Biography
Edy Samson
Other Services
Links