The University Of Louisiana's National Championship Weightlifting Teams

The University Of Louisiana's National Championship Weightlifting Teams

A Companion Book to the Documentary The Ragin' 13

image: weightlifter

The University Of Louisiana's National Championship Weightlifting Teams

The University Of Louisiana's National Championship Weightlifting Teams

A Companion Book to the Documentary The Ragin' 13

University of Louisiana’s National Championship Weightlifting Teams

by Warren A. Perrin, Attorney at Law


Part Three: The Culture of Winning

Chapter 2 – The Late 1960s

Since we were mostly on our own, we were always looking out for financial support from any and all sources. Even if it came out of our lunch money we always seem to come up with just enough money to go to any meet that would invite us. Jay Trahan remembers a fine example of our Cajun ingenuity:

I remember one YMCA meet in Houston. We agreed to send a team and as you well know the financial support was often a challenge. In an effort to keep expenses down, someone offered to supply the gasoline at no charge to the team. I believe he worked for an oil company in the Crowley area. So, we loaded several five-gallon gas cans full of gasoline and put them in the trunk of the car and off we went to the Houston YMCA. At the time it seemed like the right thing to do. I hate to think what would have happened if we had been rear-ended. This turned out to be another easy victory for the team with minimum expense. Thanks for your efforts.

Jay

Joseph Murry Jr. made a name for himself in weightlifting at both USL and after his graduation, serving as a member of four national championship weightlifting teams during his collegiate career. He was the National Collegiate Heavyweight Champion in 1968 as a senior and set four national records in the newly-created 242-pound class during the national meet that year. He was coached by Imahara and Sarge Pendly. George Weatherford worked out with Murry in 1968 and was amazed by his strength: “I saw Joe press 460 pounds off of the racks.” After graduating from USL, Murry tried to qualify for the Munich Olympics but finished third in the 1972 U. S. Olympic Trials. Murry captured the heavyweight title at the 1973 YMCA National Championships and was also named Southern AAU Weightlifter of the Year. After leaving USL, he broke every Southern AAU record in the heavyweight and super heavyweight divisions. In track and field, Murry was a four-year letterman in the shotput and was a three-time All-Gulf State Conference selection. For six years, he served on the staff of the NFL Buffalo Bills football team as their strength and flexibility coach.

In the early 1970s, the superstar of the Buffalo Bills football team was the now infamous O.J. Simpson. Most people know of Simpson from the 1994 nationally televised epic murder trial. He was found not guilty of the bloody murders of Nicole Brown Simpson, his former wife, and her casual friend Ronald Goldman. The former University of Southern California All-American running back was the first player in the NFL to rush more than 2,000 yards in a single season. Simpson’s 1973 record of 2,003 yards rushed in a single season with the Buffalo Bills has been beaten by six other NFL players, according to Pro Football Reference. But there is a big distinction: Simpson’s record was established when NFL teams played only 14-game seasons, according to Fox Sports. After O. J. set the record, the NFL seasons were expanded to 16 games. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Simpson led the league in rushing in 1972, 1973, 1975 and 1976, and received NFL Player of the Year honors three times. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1985.32 While with the Bills, Simpson received weight training and conditioning instructions from Murry, whose title with the NFL team was Strength Coach and Physical Coordinator—a relatively new position for the sport of football. In appreciation for what Murry did for him, Simpson gave Murry a gold Rolex watch with an inscription thanking him for helping to make his career so successful—and breaking the season rushing record.

Paul Muffoletto was one of the lifters during the late 1960s who contributed greatly to the success of the USL program, including winning a national championship in 1968. He and E. Gerald “T-Boy” Hebert got their start being mentored by my older brother Terry, who opened a health club in the late 1960s in New Iberia at the corner of North Lewis and Main Street called the Health and Strength Club. The very successful bodybuilder Casey Viator also got his start in the gym. Paul sent an email to me where he recalled his intense desire and effort to win a competition and what he had to do to accomplish that goal:

In 1968, we were in New Orleans for a meet at the YMCA. I was in the 148-pound class and this is a vivid memory about my intense battle with a competitor in the clean and jerk which determined the winner of the lightweight class. My competitor went first and made his attempt at 250 pounds. Likewise, I made my first attempt at 250 pounds. My competitor then went up to 255 pounds and he made it, so I attempted the same weight of 255 pounds, but I failed. This meant that to win I needed to go above that weight in order to win and so I added 2 1/2 pounds on each side of the bar which brought it to 260 pounds. I had never lifted that much weight before but convinced myself that I could do it for a team victory—our team desperately needed these points to continue our win streak. Aggressively, I went for the final record attempt with a hard pull off of the platform and I got the steel bar onto my shoulders. Feeling confident, I then thrusted it above my head and simultaneously dropped down into a deep leg split, but at the peak the weight started coming down on me as it swayed first to the left then to the right. After a desperate struggle to regain control of the weight I finally managed to secure my last attempt and held it with my arms locked out for the required three seconds. Thankfully, the judges gave me three green lights and I won the match!

Paul

This appeared in the USL yearbook:

The 1968 USL weightlifting squad breezed to another national championship, its fifth in the last six years. Behind the leadership of four strong seniors the weight men have continually proven themselves by winning meets in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. On April 20, 1968, the USL team won its fourth straight national championship by soundly defeating its nearest competitor by 19 points. The team members scored as follows: Bill LeBlanc, first, 123-pound class; Randy Peloquin, second, 132-pound class; Jimmy Reinhardt, first and Jay Trahan, third in 148-pound class; Elwood “T-Boy” Hebert, second, 165-pound class; George Weatherford, second, 181-pound class; and Bob Woodson, 181-pound class. With a strong seven-man team, the weightlifters have already set their goal: a fifth consecutive national championship.

The 1968 USL weightlifting squad breezed to another national championship, its fifth in the last six years. Behind the leadership of four strong seniors the weight men have continually proven themselves by winning meets in Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. On April 20, 1968, the USL team won its fourth straight national championship by soundly defeating its nearest competitor by 19 points. The team members scored as follows: Bill LeBlanc, first, 123-pound class; Randy Peloquin, second, 132-pound class; Jimmy Reinhardt, first and Jay Trahan, third in 148-pound class; Elwood “T-Boy” Hebert, second, 165-pound class; George Weatherford, second, 181-pound class; and Bob Woodson, 181-pound class. With a strong seven-man team, the weightlifters have already set their goal: a fifth consecutive national championship.

On October 29, 1966, Weldon Granger, helping USL remain undefeated over an incredible span of five years, finished second to Walter Imahara in the Louisiana State Weightlifting Championships held in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Many of the friendships made by being on the team have been become lifelong. One notable example is the close friendship between Weldon Granger, a native of Erath and now a resident of Houston, and John Arceneaux, of Lafayette. They were roommates at USL in the 1960s. One day while in college, Arceneaux informed Weldon he was joining the Special Forces. Weldon remembers telling him he was crazy. The two remained good friends over the next 50 years, and once when Arceneaux went to visit Weldon looking for the name of a good artist who does great work in bronze. Arceneaux wanted to create a memorial and knew that Weldon had a lot of experience with sculptures. This resulted in the Granger family helping to erect a monument in Veterans Park in Breaux Bridge dedicated to the Special Force soldiers who served in Vietnam. The following is an excerpt from an article which appeared in the Abbeville Meridional newspaper cited below:

With the help of a generous donation by an Erath native and his wife, a Cajun Warrior bronze sculpture was unveiled in Breaux Bridge in 2013. Weldon and Fran Granger love sculpture. The Grangers, who live in Houston, were in Breaux Bridge at Veterans Park, along with more than 300 veterans, many from the Special Forces units, as well as their families, friends and supporters. They all participated in the unveiling of a $60,000 bronze sculpture commemorating members of the Special Forces, particularly those who hailed from Breaux Bridge. The artwork’s name, Cajun Warrior comes from the moniker given to the Breaux Bridge detachment of the U.S. Army National Guard’s 20th Special Forces Group (SFG) founded in 1959. Its first commander was Lt. Col. Fred Patin from Breaux Bridge, a Silver- and Bronze-Star World War II hero. The man who approached Weldon was John Arceneaux of Breaux Bridge. Arceneaux told him Breaux Bridge’s local Special Forces Chapter 81, wanted to create the Cajun Warrior monument. Weldon gave him the name of the artist Bill McGlaun of Cleveland, Texas, who is known worldwide for his commemorative work and has pieces in such prestigious places as the Vatican and Ground Zero where his American Eagle sculpture sits atop what formerly was the ruins of the World Trade Center. Weldon also told Arceneaux the Granger family would pay for the sculpture. “I thought it looked great,” said Weldon about the finished product.33

photo: Jay Trahan weightlifting
Jay Trahan is shown completing a lift in the 1967 National Collegiate Weightlifting Championships in Lafayette.

32 ‘1973,’ Google, accessed 15 February 2020, https://www.google.com/search?q=oj+simpson+record+year&ie=UTF8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-us&client=safari.

33 ‘Erath Native Helps Make Cajun Warrior Bronze Sculpture Possible,’ VermilionToday.com, 11 November 2013, accessed 25 February 2021, https://archive.vermiliontoday.com/news/erath-native-helps-make-cajun-warriorbronze-sculpture-possible.