Ward Coffman - SMWW - Armwrestling History

The History of Armwrestling

Armwrestling is very common throughout the world. A painting of what appears to be an armwrestling contest is found in an Egyptian tomb dating to about 2,000 B. C. The modern sport is based on a Native American game. In fact, it was usually called "Indian wrestling" when practiced by frontiersman during the 19th century and by children in the 20th century.

In addition to what has become known as armwrestling, there are several other forms of "Indian wrestling." In one, the opponents stand facing one another, with the outer sides of their right feet set together and their right hands interlocked. The object is to throw the opponent off balance. In another, the opponents lie down with their near arms and near legs locked and each tries to force the other's leg down.

In armwrestling, which has now become a genuinely international sport, the opponents are seated at a table, facing one another. They lock their hands (usually the right hands, but there is now also left-handed competition), with their elbows firmly planted on the flat surface, and each attempts to force the other's arm down to the table. ArmSports, armwrestling and wristwrestling are generally considered the same sport using the same type of table with pegs. However, there is one slight technical difference between armwrestling and wristwrestling. In armwrestling, opponents grip a peg with the free hand. In wrist wrestling, they grip their free hands across the table.

In addition to being a semi-popular sport among high school and college students, arm wrestling was a tavern sport and the first organized competition was staged by Bill Soberanes in 1952 at Gilardi's Saloon in Petaluma, California. Soberanes, a young journalist, is the founder of the organized sport. He was the inspiration for the annual Petaluma, then Northern California, and then the California armwrestling championship. In 1962 Bill and Dave Devoto got together to form the World's Wristwrestling Championship, Inc. and take it to one of Petaluma's largest auditoriums. The event was tremendously successful and exciting things began to happen.

The sport got a major boost from "Peanuts" when cartoonist Charles Schulz did 11 comic strips where snoopy was coming to Petaluma to win the World's Wristwrestling Championship. Unfortunately In the final strip he was eliminated because the official armwrestling rules stated you must lock your thumbs with the opposing competitor. Snoopy had no thumb. Drats. These comic strips were done in dozens of different languages and distributed throughout the world.

In 1969 Dave Devoto contracted with the American Broadcasting Corporation and the World's Wristwrestling Championship began a wonderful l6 year relationship with ABC's Wide World of Sports. Armwrestling came of age.

A story in Playboy magazine substantiated the fact that our televised event was the highest rated show in the young history of Wide World of Sports. Most of the competitors in the sport today first became aware of Armwrestling through ABC's productions of the Wide World of Sports World's Wristwrestling Championship. The televised championships ran from 1969 through 1984. We love Wide World of Sports.

In October 1995 the event was filmed by the Learning Channel and shown four times throughout the World. The World's Wristwrestling - Armwrestling Championship has always been held the second Saturday in October in Petaluma, California. On October 12, 1996 the event was filmed by NBC's World News Today and shown throughout the World on October 13, 1996. On October 14, 2000 the event was filmed by CBS and shown on the 16th on the Bryant Gumbel show. Part of the event was also shown on the Evening Magazine weeks later.

The American Armwrestling Association, now the American Armsports Association (AAA), was organized by Bob O'Leary during the 1960s. The WAF held its first world championships in 1992 in Switzerland and has been held annually since then. It now has 56 member associations across the country. O'Leary was also largely responsible for the founding of the World Armsport Federation (WAF), with the United States, Canada, Brazil, and India as the first four members. There are now more than 70 member countries.

We have been consultants on movies and television videos regarding ArmSports, Armwrestling and Wristwrestling and are making our facilities available to all Armsports competitors and organizers. Our goal is to provide information and organization to all who have interest in our sport.

Source and permission to post this from our friend at: ARMWRESTLING.COM

WEBMASTER- Gary Roberts

Ward Coffman of Sports Management Worldwide

A Total Sports Management Relationship