Ricky Bruch Inducted to HoF

Posted on by

The 70’s Big Hall of Fame is a way to pay tribute to legendary lifters and athletes. Currently there is no criteria for nominating or selecting candidates, much less criteria for when these processes should occur. I open this topic for discussion; together we will set criteria for growing the ranks of the 70’s Big Hall of Fame.

[spoiler show=”Show Hall of Fame rule proposals”]- Lifters must be five years removed from retirement or active lifting. This is a requirement in most professional sport halls of fame. While Klokov’s name has come up quite a bit in nominations (and he has been my favorite lifter for several years), his career is yet to be over.
– Nominees are judged on their performance, their masculinity, their desire or intensity to be successful, and their inspiration. Most halls of fame include a collection of qualities that can’t necessarily be quantified (i.e. everything other than performance). 70’s Big evokes a particular attitude and intensity with respect to striving for success. Our candidates should also have these same qualities.
– Nominees are not judged by their inclusion of “being from the ’70s” or “being big”. Pyrros Dimas, at most an 85kg lifter, is one of my nominees for his tenacity, heart, and results. 70’s Big isn’t “being big for the sake of being big”, and that criteria isn’t relevant to nominees.
– Electors will include the entire readership of 70’s Big as opposed to a select group (like the NFL and MLB).
– Nominees will be inducted four times a year, every three months. March, June, September, and December would be inductee months. This is one item that should be most debated. Perhaps three inductees a year is more appropriate?
– In the two months preceding the induction month, there will be secondary and primary vote-offs (polls that run throughout the month). These polls will eliminate the total nominees to narrow the choices down.
– The number of nominees is debatable. Should 20 nominees be selected for secondary voting? Then 10 for primary? Then 5 for induction?
– There will be a final vote during induction month (with set dates, perhaps the 1st to the 14th days of the month).
– If still alive, 70’s Big will attempt to contact the athlete for an interview or to send a letter of thanks with a token of our gratitude.
[/spoiler]

Today it is my honor and pleasure to induct Swedish discus thrower Ricky Bruch posthumously into the 70’s Big Hall of Fame. Ricky Bruch had man battles throughout his life, yet he passed away on May 30, 2011 after his toughest battle, pancreatic cancer. He was 64.



Björn Rickard “Ricky” Bruch was an exceptional athlete, but failed to achieve the highest gold medal honors in international competition. Bruch placed 8th in the 1968 Olympic games in Mexico City with a discus throw of 59.28m. He won a bronze medal in the 1972 Olympic games in Munich with a discus throw of 63.40m but also equalled the world record in June 1972 with a throw of 68.40 meters. Bruch was also an outstanding shot putter with a lifetime best of 20.28 m and a bronze award from the European Championships in 1971.

Bruch made it to the next Olympic games in Montreal (1976), but did not make it past the qualifying rounds, an event that would spark his legacy. This failure set Bruch off, inspiring him to train harder than ever. He trained with tenacity and maniacal intensity for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. However, he was snubbed by the Swedish Olympic committee from competing. Bent on revenge, Bruch continued training and entered smaller competitions. Eventually in November of 1984 he set a new World and Swedish record with a 71.26m discus throw at 38 years old. This throw allowed Bruch to prove to himself, Sweden, and the world that he was the greatest thrower since the throw would have won the 1984 Olympic gold medal by nearly five meters. That throw places him 9th in the all-time list and still stands as the Swedish record today.

CONTINUE READING

Some say that Bruch toed the line of insanity. That may be true, but his insanity was funneled into a supreme focus: to be as great as he could possibly be. This focused intensity inspired many, including this website, to devote to a mindset of success that brushes the realm of recklessness. Bruch was note solely a work-a-holic, he enjoyed himself along the way. Bruch has written a biography Gladiatorns kamp (The Gladiator’s Battle, released in 1990) and was the star of a documentary Själen är större än världen (The Soul Is Greater Than the World). After a life of battle, rest in peace, and welcome to the 70’s Big Hall of Fame.

In order of awesomeness and artistic beauty, here is a comprehensive collection of Ricky Bruch videos (excluding the documentary itself):













Additional links to Ricky Bruch material:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ricky_Bruch
Throwholics
Talk To Me Johnny

56 thoughts on “Ricky Bruch Inducted to HoF”

  6. 1) Where do we submit? If here, I think Aleksander Karelin has to be next in. From training methods, dominance, otherworldly strength, and general awesomeness (the fridgerator story) he should be in.

    2) Are the 70sbig co-captains eligible? Or do they occupy separate spots which will never be mixed in.

  7. I didn’t even know who ricky bruch was until i started reading this website, but i’ve become a big fan since.. i watch these videos several times a week, especially before my workouts for some inspiration.

  9. +1 for Karelin. Absolute beast.
    Also, Hawk and Animal of the Road Warriors, for 3 reasons. A) They were huge, strong guys. B) They were regarded as innovators. And C) The Doomsday Device.

  11. My two cents:

    *I like the basic criteria

    *Limit the frequency of inductions to twice a year. That lessens the chance of someone being nominated as a reaction to a recent event or post.

    *There should be a standard way of presenting each candidate such as a 500-word limit, 2 videos and 2 photos, etc. The written section could be in the form of short answers to why a particular guy fits the criteria you set forth. (ex. Doug Young was masculine because he was a railroad engineer, ate steak for breakfast and never shaved his chest)

    *You’ll have to decide how many people total should be in the Hall. That will determine how many can make it through the run off. If you want to induct 5 into the Hall each election, then 15 is a good size field to choose from. The initial primary should be unlimited.

    *I nominate Magnus Samuelsson.

    To clarify, there would only be one inductee with each final voting. So that means there would be one guy voted in every three months. The reason I chose four per year is that we would have voting constantly year round for something (secondary, primary, finalist). I wouldn’t have a problem with every four months though (and only 3 a year). Two would leave the attention of any readers.

    –Justin

  16. With all the names being thrown out, I see no reason why 3 or 4 a year is too much. That would still only be 30-40 inductions over the next 10 years. It looks like most people have enough man crushes around here to come up with 30-40 right now let alone over an extended period of time. If it is something that is fun, inspirational, and sheds some light on some of the badass dudes of yesteryear I see no reason not to do it every three to four months.

  17. I know you’re a Browns fan Justin, but Jack Lambert deserves mentioning I feel. Weighing a svelte 225 in his career, I’m not sure anyone played 3 times their size more than him. The tenacity and rage he put into the game was something else.

    It’s only through highlights and my Fathers stories that I know how great he was, but man. What a player.

  18. These are the names that I collected from the PR Friday post (“Q&A – 1”) where I asked you guys to give names for potential candidates. Based on the tentative criteria in this post (which has not been ratified), some of these guys wouldn’t qualify:

    Koklyaev
    Doyle Kenady
    Bill Kazmier
    Peyton Hillis
    Ricky Brusch
    Dimitry Klokov
    Don Reinhoudt
    Reg Park
    Arnold
    Benny Podda
    Zydrunas Savickas
    Doug Hepburn
    Magnus Samuelsson
    Brian Shawn
    Konstantin Konstantinovs
    Nicu Vlad
    John Kuc
    John Cole
    Franco Columbo
    Jón Páll Sigmarsson
    Ted Arcidi
    Kirk Karwoski
    Arthur Saxon
    George Hackensmitt
    Pyrros Dimas

    Ricky was and is one of my favorite athletes, so it was a no brainer to choose him (especially because he had the highest frequency of suggestions). I dare say he embodies the attitude of 70’s Big more so than the co-captains (we don’t have pictures of the other guys flexing jovially and doing funny things, though I’m sure they trained hard and with fervor).

  19. Strongman is my favorite strength sport so I probably won’t nominate too many people outside out of it mainly due to ignorance of who is great from other disciplines. These two guys are my top two nominees; one of them dominated for a few years before passing away too soon while the other passed before his time. The intangible thing that really I admire, and it isn’t particularly relevant to HOF status, is that they are both remembered for being great people.

    Jon Pall Sigmarsson
    Jesse Marunde

    Being a good person could be a part of the nomination process. We’d just have to word it correctly. Obviously if there was a guy who was an asshole, he shouldn’t go in. But strength athletes typically aren’t assholes.

    –Justin

  21. I didn’t intend to mean other strength athletes are pricks, just that those pretty much anyone who talks about meeting or knowing either of them have nothing but great things to say. They are also regarded as having been awesome fathers too, which as a new dad I respect a ton.

  24. Justin – the list from the first Q&A looks solid. I’d also throw out:

    Ed Coan
    Leonid Taranenko
    Bill Starr

    I like the “joyous, burly man” criteria, but it might limit the choices a fair bit.

  29. no marius pudzi-whatever? most ripped strongman ever. I still remember watching this train pull thing with him when he started grabbing the rungs, threw up everywhere and didnt miss a single beat. And comon guys anyone for that little man with a back so wide you could play checkers on it? naim

  31. I would like to add The Ultimate Warrior aka James Brian Hellwig. I think there should be a Coaches Hall of Fame with Sherman Leford and Ivan Abadjiev.

  35. I think to myself “Oh wow. Justin finally got around to putting Ricky up. What’s next? Updating the old food section?”

    Lo and behold it is being updated.

    Might be time for you to reshuffle your “friends” list on the left hand column, if for no other reason than Greyskull stopped posting stuff.

  36. psh whatever if pudz doenst get it, then neither should shaw or zavickas, neither of whom will ever be as beast as mr. “polish power”

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.