Terry Todd
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Terence 'Terry' Todd (January 1, 1938 – July 7, 2018) was an American
powerlifter Powerlifting is a competitive strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight singl ...
, Olympic weightlifter, author, researcher, historian, and a
strength Strength may refer to: Personal trait *Physical strength, as in people or animals *Character strengths like those listed in the Values in Action Inventory *The exercise of willpower Physics * Mechanical strength, the ability to withstand ...
and
physical culture Physical culture, also known as body culture, is a health and strength training movement that originated during the 19th century in Germany, the UK and the US. Origins The physical culture movement in the United States during the 19th century ...
promoter. Todd was co-founder of the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports, co-editor of Iron Game History: The Journal of Physical Culture, event director of the
World's Strongest Man The World's Strongest Man is an international strongman competition held every year. Organized by American event management company IMG, a subsidiary of Endeavor, it is broadcast in the US during summers and in the UK around the end of Decemb ...
, and creator of the
Arnold Strongman Classic The Arnold Strongman Classic is an annual competition featuring strength athletes from all over the world, determining who is the Strongest Man in the World. Created by Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Lorimer and Terry Todd, it is an offshoot of t ...
. Todd also held a career as a journalist on the staff of
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
magazine, as well as doing commentary for
CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...
,
NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...
,
ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...
and National Public Radio.


Early life and education

Todd was born in Beaumont, Texas, and moved to Austin, Texas while in elementary school. Todd was on the tennis team at Travis High School and began weight training after graduating to make his left arm as strong as his dominant tennis arm. He played on the varsity tennis team at the University of Texas at Austin in his freshman and sophomore years and then quit the team to pursue weightlifting. He majored in English as an undergraduate and completed his
doctoral degree A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...
in the history and philosophy of education in 1966.


Athletic history

Todd began as a weightlifter in 1956, and won the Junior Nationals in Olympic weightlifting in 1963. He then turned to powerlifting, and won the first two national championships in 1964 and in 1965 (the first official Senior Nationals) as a superheavyweight. At 1964 AAU Powerlifting Tournament Of America, Todd became the first man to Deadlift 700 lb (317.5 kg) in a documented and official setting with irrefutable evidence, hence initiating the inaugural official world record deadlift at 710 lb (322 kg). At 1965 AAU Senior Nationals Todd raised the world record to 740 lb (336 kg). At 1966 AAU Senior Nationals Todd became the first man to Squat 700 lb (317.5 kg) in wraps. His best bench press was . Todd retired from competition in 1967.


Powerlifting Federation services

Todd was directly involved in the development of the sport of women's powerlifting. He helped his wife
Jan Todd Janice Todd (''née'' Suffolk; born May 22, 1952) is an American former powerlifter, historian, researcher and a Strength athletics, strength and physical culture promoter. She is a professor and department chair in the Department of Kinesiology ...
organize the first national women's meet in 1977, and coached the women's
Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...
team, with Jan, from 1976 to 1979. In 1979, Todd was elected to the Executive Committee of the United States Powerlifting Federation. Todd lobbied for, and ultimately achieved
autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy is the capacity to make an informed, uncoerced decision. Autonomous organizations or institutions are independent or self-governing. Autonomy can also be ...
for the women's committee, but finally abandoned the USPF when he could not convince the organization to institute a steroid testing program for men and women lifters. In the following few years, he also did color commentary for national and international powerlifting events for NBC, CBS, ESPN, and the
BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
, some of which involved women's powerlifting. In 1977, Todd published the first major book about powerlifting, called ''Inside Powerlifting''. Todd covered the major national and international powerlifting events during the 1970s and 1980s for such magazines as ''
Muscular Development ''Muscular Development'' was an American fitness and bodybuilding magazine first published in 1964. It was founded by Bob Hoffman. It ceased publication in November 2023. History John Grimek was the editor from 1964, until its sale in 1986 to T ...
'' and ''
Iron Man Iron Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Co-created by writer and editor Stan Lee, developed by scripter Larry Lieber, and designed by artists Don Heck and Jack Kirby, the character first appearan ...
''. He also helped to introduce powerlifting to a larger audience through his articles in ''
Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...
'', covering such lifters as Lamar Gant,
Bill Kazmaier William Kazmaier (born December 30, 1953) is an American former world champion powerlifter, world champion strongman and professional wrestler. During his illustrious career, he set over 40 powe ...
, Larry Pacifico, and Jan Todd.


Later years

Once he stopped competing, he became a college professor in 1967 at
Auburn University Auburn University (AU or Auburn) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 26,800 undergraduate students, over 6,100 post-graduate students, and a tota ...
. Todd taught at several universities in both the United States and Canada before finally returning to his alma mater, the University of Texas, in 1983. In 1990, Todd and his wife, Jan, founded the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports, which is housed in the
Darrell K Royal–Texas Memorial Stadium Darrell K Royal Memorial Stadium (formerly War Memorial Stadium, Memorial Stadium, and Texas Memorial Stadium), located in Austin, Texas, on the campus of the University of Texas, has been home to the Texas Longhorns football, Longhorns football ...
at The
University of Texas in Austin The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 202 ...
. It contains more than 150,000 books, photos, films, magazines, letters, training courses, videotapes, posters, paintings and artifacts across its . The collection covers the history of competitive lifting, professional strongmen and strongwomen,
sports nutrition Sports nutrition is the study and practice of nutrition and diet for maintaining and improving athletic performance. Nutrition is part of many sports training regimens, being used in strength sports (such as weightlifting and bodybuilding) and e ...
,
bodybuilding Bodybuilding is the practice of Resistance training, progressive resistance exercise to build, control, and develop one's skeletal muscle, muscles via muscle hypertrophy, hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to a ...
,
naturopathy Naturopathy, or naturopathic medicine, is a form of alternative medicine. A wide array of practices branded as "natural", "non-invasive", or promoting "self-healing" are employed by its practitioners, who are known as naturopaths. Difficult ...
, conditioning for athletes, drug use in sports and
alternative medicine Alternative medicine refers to practices that aim to achieve the healing effects of conventional medicine, but that typically lack biological plausibility, testability, repeatability, or supporting evidence of effectiveness. Such practices are ...
. Todd retired from the classroom in the 1990s and served as the Director of the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports until at least 2009. In 2001, Todd was asked by
Arnold Schwarzenegger Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger (born July30, 1947) is an Austrian and American actor, businessman, former politician, and former professional bodybuilder, known for his roles in high-profile action films. Governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger, ...
to create a Strongman contest for the annual Arnold Sports Festival, which is held in Columbus,
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
. In 2018, four months before his death, he and Jan were inducted into the
International Sports Hall of Fame The International Sports Hall of Fame (ISHOF) is a section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization established in 2012 by Dr. Robert M. Goldman to honor exceptional athletes and sporting figures for their accomplishments and dedication to furthering ...
.


Personal life

Todd lived with his wife Jan on a cattle ranch on the
San Marcos River The San Marcos River rises from the San Marcos Springs, the location of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment (formerly Aquarena Springs), in San Marcos, Texas. The springs are home to several threatened or endangered species, inclu ...
with a large collection of animals including 5
peacock Peafowl is a common name for two bird species of the genus '' Pavo'' and one species of the closely related genus '' Afropavo'' within the tribe Pavonini of the family Phasianidae (the pheasants and their allies). Male peafowl are referred t ...
s, a Percheron
draft horse A draft horse (US) or draught horse (UK), also known as dray horse, carthorse, work horse or heavy horse, is a large horse bred to be a working animal hauling freight and doing heavy agricultural tasks such as plowing. There are a number o ...
, 50 cattle, two Sicilian
donkeys The donkey or ass is a domesticated equine. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a separate species, ''Equus asinus''. It was domes ...
, an
English Mastiff The English Mastiff, or simply the Mastiff, is a British list of dog breeds, breed of very large dog of mastiff type. It is likely descended from the ancient Alaunt and Pugnaces Britanniae, with a significant input from the Alpine Mastiff in th ...
dog, an
emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...
, and three Maine Coon cats. Todd died on July 7, 2018, in
Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...
, at the age of 80.Terry Todd, weightlifting champion and UT center’s founder, dies at 80
/ref> Former
Governor of California The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The Governor (United States), governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard. Established in the Constit ...
Schwarzenegger released a statement on
Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...
: " oddwas such a monster - a true force, but also a kind heart and a great storyteller".


Personal records

* Squat – 720 lb (326.5 kg) *
Bench press The bench press or chest press is a weight training exercise where a person presses a weight upwards while lying horizontally on a weight training bench. The bench press is a Compound movements, compound movement, with the primary muscles involved ...
– 515 lb (233.5 kg) *
Deadlift The deadlift is a strength training exercise in which a weight-loaded barbell is lifted off the ground to the level of the hips, with the torso perpendicular to the floor, before being placed back on the ground. It is one of the three powerlifting ...
– 742 lb (336.5 kg)


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Terry 1937 births 2018 deaths Sportspeople from Austin, Texas American powerlifters American male weightlifters American strength athletes People associated with physical culture Sports historians University of Texas at Austin alumni Auburn University faculty 20th-century American sportsmen