Inducted into the Weightlifting Hall of Fame: November 26, 2021
Alvin Chustz was born in New Roads, Louisiana. As a young child he developed a preoccupation with physical strength. He was always trying to lift heavy objects and read any magazine article that dealt with strength.
The first time he saw a set of weights was when he was in the seventh grade. Although he was much smaller than the other boys his age, he quickly found that he could still lift more than most of them. He realized that, although he was small, he was strong for his age and weight. It didn’t take him long to figure out that if he could increase his size, his strength would also increase. This is when he decided that weightlifting was going to be his major sport. Although he played football and ran track in high school, his primary objective was to become the best possible weightlifter he could be.
He began competing in the 11th grade. In his very first contest he competed in the 123-pound class, winning his division and capturing the Outstanding Lifter Award. By the same time of his senior year in high school, he had grown to 165 pounds and won the Louisiana State Junior Championship, again being named Outstanding Lifter and breaking the state record in the clean and jerk.
There was never a doubt in his mind as to where he would attend college. U.S.L. had a great weightlifting team and many of its members were friends of his. He entered U.S.L. in 1962 and thus began four of the most exciting and fun-filled years of his life. (continued below photos)
Alvin Chustz of USL impressed everyone with a superb press of 305 pounds at the 1966 NCAA National Collegiate Championship at the University of Maryland. Photo courtesy of Strength and Health magazine, August, 1966.
(continued from above) One of the best lifters from 1963 to 1966, Alvin was from New Roads, Louisiana, which was a real hotbed of lifters. During his career he dominated the 181-pound class. As a freshman in 1963 he lifted in the 165-pound class at the nationals and placed second by a quarter of a pound to teammate Rollie Andre, also from New Roads. He went on to win another second place and two third places at the nationals in the 181-pound class. Chustz also won four state titles and numerous regional titles, never placing lower than first in any of these competitions. More often than not he was also named Best Lifter in these weightlifting meets. His lifts often exceeded those of lifters in heavier weight classes.
In an interview with the Daily Advertiser 1989, when he was inducted into the UL Athletics Hall of Fame, Chustz said this to a journalist: “We trained ourselves. Everyone had extraordinary self-discipline and a great desire to succeed. We read everything we could on the sport. Bob Hoffman had published an issue of Strength and Health magazine that showed sequential photographs of the three lifts, and we would study that to improve our form. Our workouts were like constant tryouts. The 1966 team was by far the best we ever had, and we left behind in Lafayette some lifters who could probably had finished second if we had been able to enter two teams. We always had great depth.” There were many other competitions, all of which he placed first in his respective weight division and many of which he was named outstanding lifter. His best lifts included a 305-pound press, 250-pound snatch, and 335-pound clean and jerk.