Olympic Weightlifter Joe Dube’ Sr.
I recently had the privilege of meeting Joe Dube’ Sr. who won a Bronze Medal as a Heavyweight Weightlifter in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. Dube’ grew up and trained in Jacksonville setting records as a Junior Weightlifter before setting his sights on the Olympics. I showed him this particular photo that Loyd Sandgren had taken of him and he told me the story behind it.
“That was taken in my old garage when we lived over on the Southside over there close to St. Nicholas on Camden Road. My brother and I were buying an old house from our aunt and we lived there together and we had a garage in the back and we trained in that garage. That was about the time that I set my Junior World Records in the Heavyweight class and I was the first teenager to ever press 400lbs. and that was about the time that I was breaking those Junior World Records and also went to trial for the Olympic team in 64’. That right there was 800 and something pounds that I was lifting on my shoulders. I was 19 years old there, in 1964. But that was the old garage, boy we did some good lifting in that garage. Training, a lot of heavy training. We had a good time living there, my brother and I.”
“They did an article on me in Strength and Health Magazine called Lifter’s Corner and they had several pictures, and that was one of the pictures that was taken.”
“In 64’ I went to my first Olympic trials but a few months before, about three months before, I got hit by a car. If I hadn’t gotten injured I would have been a shoo-in to make the Olympic team that year. But I got hit by a car there at that old Milligan’s (hamburger restaurant at the Southgate shopping center on Beach Blvd.) in the drive through. I was goofing around and these two girls were driving up through the drive through and I got down to challenged them a little bit, just to scare them a little bit, like I was on a football line and I kind of charged a little bit towards the car and they panicked and I tried to get out of the way. I jumped to try get out of the way because the girl, instead of hitting the break hit the gas, and boy, the car just shot off and I jumped out of the way and the car hit my leg and knocked me into a big plate glass window and glass flew all over me. One piece went into my ankle, went about that deep into my ankle and they had to rush me to the hospital. But it busted that whole window out, and that was a big window too. But goofing around messed me up and you can’t do that when you got something coming up that is so important you know, Olympic Trials. So I learned a good lesson right there not to goof around and mess myself up or get injured before a big championship. But I still went on and lifted.”
Joe’s injuries did not allow him to train as he needed to and he did not qualify during the trials held at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. He took a break from weightlifting, refocused and then qualified for the 1968 Olympic Game in Mexico City.
This photo just hurts to look at it. Amazing strength. There will be more from my visit with Joe Dube’ to come…
Tags: Bronze Medal, heavyweight, historic photograph, Joe Dube, men, muscle, Olympic Medal, Olympics, St. Nicholas, strength, strong, vintage photography, weightlifter, weightlifting, weights
