| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Birth name | John Gamble | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |  Richmond, Virginia, USA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Strongman, Powerlifter, Strength and conditioning coach | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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John Gamble is a former world champion powerlifter and strongman competitor from Richmond, Virginia. [1]
Gamble played linebacker at Hampton University and was a first-team Black College All-America selection. He also earned All-Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association honors in football and in track and field.
World-renowned in the fields of powerlifting and strongman competition, Gamble was the top ranked powerlifter in the world in the 275-pound class from 1981 to 1983. His personal records for total pounds in three lifts while competing in the United States Powerlifting Federation was 2,270 pounds, and he has personal bests of full squat, 892 lb; bench press, 573 lb; and dead lift, 826.5 lb in those three lifts. Gamble was inducted into the U.S. Weightlifting Hall of Fame in York, Pennsylvania, in June 1999.
He competed twice in the final of the World's Strongest Man competition. In the 1982 World's Strongest Man he finished 3rd behind compatriot Bill Kazmaier at Magic Mountain, California and at the 1983 World's Strongest Man he placed 5th in a competition won by Geoff Capes in Christchurch, New Zealand. [2]
Gamble served ten years (1984–1993) as the head strength coach at the University of Virginia. He also served two seasons as assistant strength coach (1982–83)] and one year on a part-time basis (1981) at Virginia. He was named 1985 Strength Coach of the Year by the National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Gamble became strength and conditioning coach for the Miami Dolphins in 1994 under head coach Don Shula, and remained at the post for 12 years through 2005. In 1998, he was named by the Professional Strength Coaches Society as its Coach of the Year.
In 2006, under then head coach Nick Saban, Gamble was given the title of director of player development/special assistant to the head coach. His job title was changed simply to director of player development under head coach Cam Cameron in 2007.
Gamble served as the co-strength and conditioning coordinator for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League from February 9, 2010 until he was dismissed on December 31, 2012. [3] [4] [5]
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Donald C. Reinhoudt was an American powerlifter and strongman. He won the IPF World Powerlifting Superheavyweight Championship four consecutive times (1973–1976), and won the World's Strongest Man in 1979.
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Oders Dell Wilson Jr. was an American world champion powerlifter and world champion strongman competitor.
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Jon Frederic Cole was a discus thrower,powerlifter, Olympic weightlifter and strongman from the United States. He competed in powerlifting just prior to the formation of the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF). Having set world records in the squat, deadlift and Total during his career, he was multiple times AAU US National Powerlifting Champion as well as an outstanding Olympic weightlifter, discus thrower and shot-putter. Being the "premier strongman" of the early 1970s for his overall excellence in powerlifting, Olympic lifting and strength-based track and field, Cole was at one time known as the "strongest man in the world" for holding the greatest combined powerlifting/weightlifting super total of all time. Jon Cole was not only officially the first man in history to total 2200 lbs, he also became the first man to squat over 900 lbs as well as the first to total 2300 lbs in competition on October 28, 1972. Today, he is enjoying legendary status in the powerlifting scene and is widely considered to be one of the all-time greatest powerlifters in the history of the sport. His lifts, which are considered as raw by today's standards, are still mostly unequaled in his weight class: He still holds the all-time greatest raw (unequipped) powerlifting totals in the 242 and the 308-pound division. While past his prime as a lifter, he competed in the first annual World's Strongest Man competition in 1977, where he finished in 6th place.
