• Source: Cleve Dean

Luther Cleve Dean (December 15, 1953 - May 10, 2011) was an American farmer, professional arm wrestler and strongman from Pavo, Georgia.




Early life


Dean grew up on a family farm, raising hogs and harvesting cotton and tobacco, which moulded a strong work ethic and formidable physical strength. As a teenager, he carried 100 lb (45 kg) bags of feeds to the hog pens and was already weighing 325 lb (147 kg) at the age of 21. He was also reported to have lifted the rear end of their seven-ton John Deere tractor for fun.
At the age of 22, while working on the farm he suffered a severe back injury, which crushed and fused his 4th and 5th Lumbar vertebrae. It reduced his mobility and lead to a rapid weight gain to 400 lb (181 kg).




Armwrestling career


Dean was proficient both right and left handed. He started his career in the mid 70s in local armwrestling contests and was weighing 450 lb (204 kg), dwarfing his opponents. He entered his first touranament in 1977 where he emerged overall runner-up. In 1978 he won world wrist wrestling championship without losing a single match.
On a supermatch which was held on 15 November 1978 at Silver Slipper casino in Las Vegas, Dean who weighed 480 lb (218 kg) defeated the 6 ft 5 in, 245 lb (111 kg) undefeated world champion Virgil Arciero, 2-0 to become the undisputed king of the table.
Throughout his career he won around 90 championships, including supermatches against Virgil Arciero, Dan Mason, Rick Zumwalt and many others, and many championship titles including AAA sit-down national title, WAF world title, Yukon Jack world title among others multiple times. It was said that during a promotional event in 1983, Dean took on about 500 men off the street who came one after the other and nobody lasted a full second against him.
Dean enjoyed eight straight years as the undefeated armwrestling world champion and was defeated only a very few times during his entire career, including that by John Brzenk and Scott Norton.
He played a famous cameo appearance in Sylvester Stallone's Over the Top (1987).




Strongman career


Following an impressing armwrestling dominance, Dean was invited to compete at the 1979 World's Strongest Man and 1980 World's Strongest Man competitions where he finished 6th and 9th respectively irrespective of the disadvantage he had in moving events due to his reduced mobility resulted from his back injury.




Physical stats


Height – 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m)
Weight – 415–590 lb (188–268 kg)
→ Dean's heaviest weight was according to Lori Cole, the Over the Top promoter and female world armwresting champion who witnessed him being weighed using a Toledo scale during Over the Top finals on 26 July 1986
Upper Arm – 23 in (58.4 cm)
Forearm – 18 in (45.7 cm)
Wrist – 10.25 in (26.0 cm)
Hand length (from wrist to the tip of the middle finger) – 9.25 in (23.5 cm) (right hand) and 8.5 in (21.6 cm) (left hand)
Hand width – 6 in (15.2 cm) (right hand)
Thumb thickness – 1.625 in (4.13 cm) (right hand)
→ Dean's hand measurements were according to Neil Robinson




Personal life


Dean was a devoted family man. He was married to his wife Ruth and together had three children: Shannon, Terri and Leann.
He loved working on his farm and ran a business selling mobile homes.




Death


Dean passed away on 10 May 2011, after suffering a heart attack.




References

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