Jon Cole (weightlifter)

Jon was invited to compete in the inaugural World's Strongest Man competition in 1977, finishing 6th while being past his prime. Olympic weightlifter Bruce Wilhelm won that year's as well as 1978's competition. These early WSM competitions were still a contest primarily consisting of American athletes.

Cole began to compete in powerlifting during his college time and in 1968, he decided to participate in his first AAU National Power Lifting Championships. Jon, who was an unknown in the national weight lifting scene, shocked the lifting community by winning the heavyweight division instantly; and was named the meets "Outstanding Performer". He continued to show outstanding performances breaking 62 official National, American, and World Records as a Heavyweight and Super Heavyweight. Cole was not only officially the first man in history to total 2200 pounds, he was also the first man to squat more than 900 pounds and the first man to total 2300 pounds and he did it raw with only knee wraps. He deadlifted more than 800 and occasionally got close to 900 pounds – all on a frame of about 280 pounds. Lifters in the early days of the sport went largely without supportive gear, which makes Cole's lifting stats even more impressive. His greatest powerlifting total of 2364 pounds was done on October 28, 1972, when Cole weighed 283.0 pounds. Today it still stands as the greatest raw Total ever in the 308 pounds weight class. In addition to that, he also holds the all-time world record raw totals in today's 242 pound division. Cole performed most of his record-breaking lifts in rather small local meets in his hometown in Arizona. There was some rumor that he used "suspect" technique with his 885-pound deadlift. He lifted the bar to his knees, then leaned back and dragged it up his thighs, which he had rubbed with oil. Fellow competing powerlifter Jim Williams called Cole's lifting "Circus tricks" and challenged him to face him at the inaugural AAU World Powerlifting Championships 1971. The oncoming duel between these two powerlifting titans was labeled the "feud of the century". Although Cole had vowed to take the challenge, he injured himself shortly before the championships to the point, where he was physically unable to lift, and would therefore not attend. "Big" Jim Williams did not win the world championships either – it was Hugh "Huge" Cassidy, who became the first world powerlifting champion since the formation of the AAU.

In his later years, Cole used his knowledge as a strength prodigy to help others improve as well. He worked as a strength coach at ASU, helping the Sun Devil football program to prominence in the 1970s. Jon Cole became a successful businessman with his own health club called "Jon Cole Systems", based in Scottsdale. He has been strength consultant to the Phoenix Suns, Phoenix RoadRunners and many other professional athletes residing in the Phoenix area.

After finishing College in 1969, Cole went on to compete in Track and Field, powerlifting and Olympic lifting at the same time. Besides setting numerous records in discus and shot put, his probably biggest achievement as a track athlete is his first place in the discus throw at the National AAU Track and Field Championships in 1969, where he threw the discus 208 ft 10 in (63.65 m) for a National AAU Discus record and was named the outstanding Athlete of the championships. He even defeated the great discus thrower and Olympic silver medalist Jay Silvester on that day. Some of his track records and achievements are:

Jon Cole is also the only person in the world to win two National AAU titles in two sports -Powerlifting, Track and Field- and be named the "Outstanding Performer" in both 1969 and 1970. Cole held more than 200 marks in U.S. and European meets in discus and the shot put, according to Sports Illustrated, which ranked him No. 18 on its list of the top 50 Arizona athletes of the 20th century.

Cole graduated with academic and athletic honors, and accepted a four-year full scholarship from Arizona State University. While at ASU he set the School, State, and Conference Records in the Discus and Shot Put, and was named an NCAA and AAU All American in 1965 and 1966.

Cole entered Glendale High School in 1959, where he was All- State in Track and Field two years and High School State Champion in the Discus throw as a junior and senior. He set the National High School Record as a junior and was named to the National High-School All-American Track and Field Team 1961 and 1962.

Jon Frederic Cole (April 1, 1943 – January 10, 2013) was a powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter and strongman from the United States. He competed in powerlifting just prior to the formation of the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF). Having set world records in the squat, deadlift and Total during his career, he was multiple times AAU US National Powerlifting Champion as well as an outstanding Olympic weightlifter, discus thrower and shot-putter. Being the "premier strongman" of the early 1970s for his overall excellence in powerlifting, Olympic lifting and strength-based track and field, Cole was at one time known as the "strongest man in the world" for holding the greatest combined powerlifting/weightlifting super total of all time. Jon Cole was not only officially the first man in history to total 2200 lbs, he also became the first man to squat over 900 lbs (raw with knee wraps) as well as the first to total 2300 lbs in competition on October 28, 1972 (shortly followed two weeks later by John Kuc with 905 and 2350 lbs on November 11). Today, he is enjoying legendary status in the powerlifting scene and is widely considered to be one of the all-time greatest powerlifters in the history of the sport. His lifts, which are considered as raw by today's standards, are still mostly unequaled in his weight class: He still holds the all-time greatest raw (unequipped) powerlifting totals in the 242 and the 308-pound division. While past his prime as a lifter, he competed in the first annual World's Strongest Man competition in 1977, where he finished in 6th place.