In his prime, Doug Hepburn was the master of the weightlifting universe.
Without the help of modern training techniques, not to mention performance-enhancing drugs, Hepburn was lifting weights over 60 years ago that seemed impossible at the time.
“A lot of people consider him the grandfather of modern powerlifting,” Jason Beck, curator of the BC Sports Hall of Fame, said. “He’s still the first and only Canadian to win the world weightlifting championship in the heavyweight division. He set countless world records.”
In 1953, Hepburn won the world weightlifting championship in Stockholm with a combined press, clean-and-jerk, and snatch total of 1,030.25 pounds.
That year he received the Lou Marsh Award, which is presented to Canada’s most outstanding athlete.
Hepburn then won gold at the 1954 British Empire Games (now known as the Commonwealth Games) in his hometown of Vancouver after completing a world record press of over 370 pounds. That year he was named “BC Man of the Year.”
The weightlifter also became the first man to bench press 500 pounds. He was also the first man to military press 400 pounds and push press 500 pounds.
Hepburn’s accomplishments were all the more impressive given the health problems he struggled with as a child. He was born in Vancouver in 1926 with a club foot and also had a vision impairment for which he had to undergo several corrective surgeries.
Hepburn proved to be a man of many talents.
Following his weightlifting career, he became a professional wrestler. He also had a singing career, releasing a Christmas song titled “The Hepburn Carol.”
Over the years, he battled alcoholism and depression.
One thing that never left Hepburn, however, was his strength.
Sculptor Norm Williams, who met Hepburn several times when he was young, recalls that the strongman could perform a one-armed military press – lifting a 160-pound overhead with one arm – at the age of 72.
“He would entertain us by ripping decks of cards in half, licence plates,” Williams recalled. “Some of the things he did were ridiculous.”
Williams notes that all kinds of stories about Hepburn’s feats of strength would circulate.
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Williams notes that Hepburn earned international acclaim during his career and was well-known in Russia, which has a long history of powerlifting. Hepburn remained relatively unknown in his hometown, however.
Williams hopes to change that by building a statue in honour of Hepburn who passed away in 2000 at the age of 74.
Williams knows a thing or two about building statues for local sports legends, having sculpted the statue of former Vancouver Canucks head coach Roger Neilson that sits outside Rogers Arena.
Williams wants to build “something very similar to that but wider” to honour the hulking man who once loomed large over the world of weightlifting.
“This guy was literally our Paul Bunyan,” he said. “He was that strong.”
– With files from Jay Janower
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