Inducted into the Weightlifting Hall of Fame: November 26, 2021
Aloysius “Rollie” Andre was born in New Roads, Louisiana. Andre attended Catholic High of Point Coupee in New Roads, Louisiana until 1954. While in high school, he was in the Army National Guard.
After graduation from high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was honorably discharged in 1958. He received a B.A. degree in secondary education from the University of Southwestern Louisiana in 1964. While at USL he was a member of the Varsity “S” Club, served as captain of the USL Weightlifting Team (1962-1963) and won first place eight times as a middleweight contender in local, regional, and national championships.
There were two highlights in his outstanding career: In 1961, when the Junior Nationals was held in Lafayette, he was victorious in the 165-pound class with a 245-pound press, a 225-pound snatch and a 290-pound clean and jerk for a 755-pound total. The judges selected him to receive the meet’s Best Lifter Award. In 1963, in a meet held on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, André won the NCAA National Collegiate Weightlifting Championships title in the middleweight class. (continued below photos)
After Rollie Andre made this 300-pound clean and jerk lift (left photo above), he was tied in total with Alvin Chustz, who had one remaining lift. Because Andre weighed 1/4 of a pound less, Alvin Chustz had to complete this same 300-pound clean and jerk lift in order to defeat Andre, his hometown mentor, for the national collegiate middleweight title. Chustz did not like to use collars to secure weights on the Olympic bar, so he requested that they be removed. He then successfully racked the 300-pound lift in a squat, but the weights slid off of the bar so that when Chustz stood up only the 45-pound bar remained. Thereafter, Chustz started using collars on his bar.
(continued from above) Rollie joined the Dictaphone Corporation as the central Florida Branch Manager, serving Orlando, Daytona Beach, and Cape Canaveral. After Dictaphone, he joined the Xerox Corporation, eventually becoming their Houston city manager. His final career move was to commercial real estate for Henry S. Miller Commercial, Grubb and Ellis, and Cresa. He was recognized several times by the Houston Business Journal as Who’s Who in commercial real estate and as a Houston Power Broker.
Rollie’s real estate career spanned 36 years and his largest transaction was representing the buyer for the Enron building with a purchase price was $55 million. He received the following professional affiliations and awards: Who’s Who Houston Commercial Real Estate; Henry S. Miller Commercial Chairmen’s Council; Henry S. Miller/Grubb & Ellis Tope Ten Award (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1992 and 1994).
Rollie has been married to his wife Susan for 55 years and they have one daughter and five grandchildren. He is now retired and enjoys fishing, hunting, and carving decorative duck decoys.