Central Resident Lifts 2,800 lbs.:

World Champion Power Lifter Garry Grank Is a Gentle Giant

The strongest man in the world lives in Central! At 6-foot-3 and 380 pounds he is just about the biggest, nicest, quietest guy you’ll ever meet, but he moves iron like Popeye.

His name is Garry Frank and his home for the past six years has been in Geo-Je’s subdivision just off Frenchtown Road. And for the past seven years he has been the athletic director at Angola State Prison.

“I actually went up there to speak at a banquet,” he said. “They made me an offer I could not pass up, and I have been working there ever since.”

Frank and his wife Terasa have two children. Alex is an eighth grade football player at Central Middle School and Kristen is a ninth grader who is in the Central High School marching band.

Essential Security Tool
Frank explained that athletics is an essential security tool for Angola. “There are 1,000 employees up there who want to go home at night,” he said. “What we do makes life much easier for them.”

Frank began lifting weights when he was 15 years old. He was a High School All-American because he threw the shot further than any high school athlete in the country. He has been a major force on the power lifting scene ever since he set a national high school record in power lifting with a 710-pound dead lift and a 700-pound squat while at Omro High in his hometown of Omro, Wisconsin.

In 2001 he put up numbers that may not be challenged for a long time. His power lifting totals of 2,601 and 2,606 pounds were far ahead of the rest of the field. Since then he has become the first man to lift 2,700 pounds and 2,800 pounds and he is still competing at 43 years of age.

A Gathering of Power Lifters
Just behind the Frank’s home is a fully equipped work out gym where Frank trains and where he invites young athletes from throughout the area to train with him at no charge. “At first the neighbors didn’t understand. They saw my friends and me gathering here and they thought we were just a bunch of thugs,” he said. “The fact is, though, most power lifters are college educated people.”

Frank’s neighbors also objected to the building because they though he was running a business behind his home. “I have never charged anybody a dime to come here and work out with me and I never will,” he said. “When I started lifting as a kid I received a lot of help from older guys, and it is my obligation to give back what was given to me.”

Near the end of his senior year in high school Frank was 300 pounds and he ran the 40-yard dash in 4.7 seconds. He dreamed of becoming a two-sport athlete at the Division 1A level. Mississippi State was the only school to offer him a scholarship that filled the bill, but it was not the football coach who wanted him. They brought him in as a track prospect.

NCAA Shot Put Champion
While at Mississippi State, Frank won the Sec Championship in the shot put in 1986 and 87. He won the NCAA shot put championship in 1987 with a throw of 65-3 ¼ feet. He finished his track career at MSU as the school’s record holder in both the shot and discus. Many of the records he set in college remain standing after 20 years.

Following a solid football career with the MSU Bulldogs (on both sides of the ball) Frank chose the NFL over Olympic glory. The Denver Broncos drafted him in the middle round in 1988. The next year he moved to the Atlanta Falcons, but that did not work out either. Next stop was the Kansas City Chiefs and then the Sacramento Gold Miners of the Canadian Football League, the Frankford Galaxy of the World League (now called NFL Europe) and the Tampa Bay Storm of the Arena Football League. He was selected to the All-World League All-Star Team in 1991 and he was rated No. 4 overall by the Galaxy in 1991.

Two major knee injuries kept Frank from continuing his career in professional football. “I would not trade a day,” Frank said of his football career. “Because every day I was out there was fun.”

Bishop Sullivan High School
Prior to his move to the post of athletic director at Angola, Frank worked his way up the ladder through assistant coaching positions at Broadmoor High School and False River Academy to become head coach at Bishop Sullivan High School (now St. Michael’s). He is proud of the fact that the Bishop Sullivan football team made it to the playoffs for the first time during his tenure.

“It really was hard to leave Bishop Sullivan the next year to begin driving an hour and fifteen minutes every day to and from Angola, but I feel as though I am making a real difference up there,” said Frank. “Football teaches you to be humble and to keep your feet on the ground. Having kids teaches you that too, and that is exactly what is needed in my work at Angola.”

Although he is very proud of the fact that in his years at Mississippi State the Bulldogs beat LSU twice, these days he pulls for the Tigers. Right now his big goal is to finish a large addition to the work out facility behind his home. “We’re adding 20 feet across the rear of the building so we can accommodate more kids,” he said. “I have the form completed and we will pour the foundation very soon.”

Frank trains the young men and women who hang out around his work out facility in more than just weight lifting. “I always tell the youngsters to forget the partying and the steroids,” he said. “Success is all about visualization and proper training.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ll take his word for it. I mean, who wants to argue with a man who power lifts 2,800 pounds?