Weightlifters throughout the world, and Chicago Bears fans, have been devastated by the news of the passing of a true legend – Clyde Emrich, who died last week at the age of 90.

Clyde began lifting weights on his own when he was 15. Training with weights enabled him to excel at football, wrestling and track and field, and Clyde never forgot the contribution weight training made to his performance in those sports. He loved weightlifting the most of all the sports he tried, so he decided to devote the rest of his young life to the pursuit of excellence in our sport. He was rewarded with an outstanding career, which included becoming an Olympian in 1952, winning two world championship medals, a Pan American Games gold medal and four national championships. He not only earned many medals, but he “raised the bar,” literally and figuratively, by setting two world records in the clean and jerk. In making his first world record, he became the first non-superheavyweight in the world to clean and jerk 400 lbs. in the 90kg category (then the last category below heavyweight). Clyde’s second world record, of 409 lbs., was so outstanding that it remained the American record for more than a decade.

While he was still competing in weightlifting, several players from the Chicago Bears approached Emrich for advice on weight training (Clyde lived in Chicago most of his life). He took them under this wing and, after seeing the positive effects weight training had on their football performances, they became advocates of the use of weights for football. Then when NFL teams like the Bears became interested in teaching their players how to train with weights, it was natural for them to turn to Clyde, who became one of the NFL’s first strength coaches. He joined the Bears in 1971 and held his strength coach position for 20 years. After trying another conditioning approach in the early 1990s, they asked Clyde return as a strength coach for the team, and he remained with the team in various capacities until his passing. So grateful were the Bears for Clyde’s contributions to the team over so many years that they built and named the Bears’ training center after Clyde in 2008.

In recognition for his many contributions to sport, Emrich was inducted into the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame, the USA Strength and Conditioning Coaches Hall of Fame and the Chicagoland Sports Hall of Fame, among many other honors.

Artie Drechsler's Tribute To The Late, Great Clyde Emrich

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