Topic: John Davis was self coached?

[Ryan Lapadat]

Wikipedia (not the most reliable of sources) says he was self coached.

Is this true?

Or may be he was up until a certain point in his career. I would find it hard to believe he was self coached yet on the US olympic team.

Also, was it true he was undefeated in 15 years of competition during his prime?

[Matt Foreman]

Most of those guys back in the old days were self-coached.  There weren't many weightlifting coaches in this country.  Guys learned the lifts from looking at Strength & Health, going to meets and picking up pointers, and sometimes getting taught by somebody with some experience. 

This is what I've been told by the old guys who lived it.  There were obviously some places you could go to learn the lifts, such as York.  Most YMCAs had a few lifters training who would show you the ropes when you started.  But in terms of what we think of today as "coaching," I don't think there was much of it back then.

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

It was actually me that pasted in that information to Wikipedia from our Hall of Fame. I don't recall the original source though I would suspect it was things I read on ironhistory.com, usually a very good source.

[Tom Sherwood]

Lift up has good info on John Davis training.

http://www.chidlovski.net/liftup/a_john_davis.asp

[Ryan Lapadat]

Thanks Tom!

[Ronald Mann]

Wikipedia (not the most reliable of sources) says he was self coached.
Is this true?
Or may be he was up until a certain point in his career. I would find it hard to believe he was self coached yet on the US olympic team.
Also, was it true he was undefeated in 15 years of competition during his prime?

Hi Ryan
No,John Davis was NOT undefeated for fifteen years of competition,as he placed second to Steve Stanko in the heavyweight class at the Middle Atlantic Championships in Philadelphia on 6th April,1940 (940 total to Stanko's 950),then remained unbeaten until his loss to heavyweight Doug Hepburn at the World Championships in Stockholm,Sweden on 30th August,1953. So in effect,his unbeaten streak was actually thirteen years,four months and twenty-four days.

Regards and best wishes
Ron Mann
 

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

Ron,

Thanks for the correction. I made the change in the old Hall of Fame. I'm remodeling the C's now, so it won't be long til I re-do Davis' tribute. So, this was timely.

Cheers