Topic: Joe Mills & the CFWLC

[michael murphy]

Attached is a photo of Mike Mungioli that was taken in June of 1936.

[michael murphy]

The 1941 Senior Nationals were held in conjunction with the Mr. America Contest on May 24th at the Arena on 45th & Market Streets, Philadelphia. Joe finished third with a total of 625. John Terry won the class with a 665 pound total and finishing second was Mike Mungioli with a 645 pound total.

Film footage of this contest is provided on the four tape set "History of Weightlifting on Film".  These tapes were compiled by Art Dreschler. Joe Mills, Mike Mungioli and John Terry can be seen on Tape 3. I believe that the tapes list this as a National Championship CIRCA 1940. The clip is roughly seven minutes long that includes lifting and John Grimek posing.

[michael murphy]

I think a few brief words on Mike Mungioli might be pertinent to this post on Joe Mills. Mike told me in a telephone conversation that the biggest influence on him early in his career was Mark Berry. The following facts are my handwritten notes from that conversation.

He met Mr. Charles Ramsey at the 1934 Junior Nationals and joined his group of lifters a year later. Charles Ramsey was thirty years older than Mike Mungioli. Ramsey born in 1878 and Mike was born 10/31/08. Mike had a twin brother. There is a very good article on Charles Ramsey written in Iron Man during the early 1950's. I think it's in a volume 12 or 13 issue. The article was written by Benton Pride.

Joining Ramsey's group of lifters meant he became a teammate of John Terry. Mike told me that John Terry was 1 inch taller-measuring 5'-3".

Mike mentioned that in training he squatted 370 for a single rep at 125 pounds. He witnessed John Terry squat 370 for 3 reps at 130 bodyweight and strict curl 135 pounds with heels together. Also saw John Davis squat 400 lbs for 3 sets of 20 reps @ 200 pound bodyweight.

[michael murphy]

I am providing scans of two letters that were written to Joe during his lifting days. The first letter is from Maurice Kaufman. His photo appears on this site with Joe Mills & Vincent Fee before they left for the 1937 Junior Nationals. This photo can be seen in a prior posting under this topic.

A little background information might be useful to understand the letter. There is no date but I am certain it was written in the late 1930's-probably the spring of 1938.

I believe the Connecticut rival lifter Maurice is referring to in the first paragraph is John Sobiria who was killed while riding his bicylce.  John's death was reported in the July 1938 issue of S&H.

In the second paragraph Maurice refers to Ray. This is Ray Bonin of the Notre Dame Athletic Club. Ray finished third in the 148 pound class at the 1938 Seniors. The McKenna is John McKenna of Rockland, MA. John was the first New Englander to clean & jerk 300 pounds. John was a member of the Notre Dame Club. He finished third at the 1938 Seniors in the 181 pound class.

In the last paragraph Maurice is referring to Ron Walker and Walker's teammate is the featherweight Norm Holroyd.

[michael murphy]

The second letter is written from Guy Crowell on February 3rd, 1941.

[michael murphy]

The second page of Crowell's letter

[michael murphy]

A photograph of Walt Zacofsky of the Boston Young Man's Christian Union (BYMCU). Joe Mills can be seen on the left in the background seated on the bench with folded arms. This appears to be 295 overhead-I think this was at a meet in Connecticut. The photograph was given to me by Mrs. Roger Dery.

[michael murphy]

A photograph of Val Akasten mentioned in the Guy Crowell letter above. Signed on the verso "to a real champ"-Val Akasten FALCONS. Val was a member of the Polish American Falcons. This photograph was given to Joe Mills by Val.