Published: July 19, 2008 11:52 pm         

‘Armed’ and ready

Steve Simons promotes arm wrestling. He’s also a historian.

Arm wrestling originated in ancient Greece “as an alternative to a guy killing another guy over a woman,” Simons told Elkhart County Fair-goers. “They arm-wrestled with a burning pit on each side. Better to scald the guy’s arm than kill him, all right?”

All right! We’ve learned something.

The fair was home to the Arm Wrestling USA Midwest Championships Saturday. There were no burning pits.

The event was one of several being put on by fairs across the country, said Simons, the organizer. Arm Wrestling USA is a division of Simons Entertainment Group.

The idea, Simons says, is to get local people to compete.

“It’s like going to a prize fight and watching a knockout every 30 seconds,” he noted in a recent interview.

Saturday’s competition included five weight classes for men and two for women. A series of matches took place throughout the afternoon. The names of match winners will be logged into a national ranking system.

Saturday marked a day of competition at the fair for Goshen’s Mike Huddleston.

“I competed in the Strongman competition and I heard an announcement for this and I figured I might as well do it,” he said.

Mark Sheldon of Bristol was participating in his first official contest, though he’s arm-wrestled his brothers in the past.

“My brother-in-law, he used to (arm wrestle) a lot,” he said. “I just figured it was something fun to do.”

How did Sheldon prepare for Saturday?

“Work,” said Sheldon, an iron worker. “I do a lot of moving steel around.”

Jessica Kelich was getting ready to arm-wrestle in the second set of matches.

“I’ve gotten a couple of tips from my cousin,” she said. “He just won his first match, so hopefully I will be prepared. So we’ll see once I go against my sister.”

Her sister and soon-to-be opponent, Nellie, minced no words.

Nellie: “Oh, she’s going down.”

Jessica: “Oh, really?

Nellie: “She has no chance.”

Nellie’s prediction would not hold true in the end, however, as Jessica eventually took the final round to become Women’s Open Division Champion.

Also securing championship titles Saturday were Chester Gibson, Goshen, with the Heavyweight title; Jim Moore, Jimtown, with the Light-Heavyweight title, and Tiffany Kercher, Goshen, with the Women’s Lightweight title.

Of all the winning competitors Saturday, Gibson, 50, was the obvious favorite, crushing opponent after opponent is less time than it took to say “game over.”

To add insult to injury, Gibson’s defeated foes were often 10, 20, even 30 years his junior.

“It’s been 20 years since I’ve been in an arm wrestling match,” Gibson said, noting that he had not even planned on entering the competition until some friends convinced him to give it a shot . “I just came to watch. They talked me into it.”

Too bad for the other competitors.

“I figured these young guns would beat me no problem,” Gibson said. “I own a tire company, so I do a little physical work, but I don’t really work out.”

What he did have, however, was experience. Gibson said he used to compete in arm wrestling as a youth, often making it to regional levels in areas like Fort Wayne, or Ohio.

“I just used what I learned from my previous arm wrestling experience,” he said. “But this is a surprise.”