Kaz stories ... seriously ...

[Tony Christopher]

I know we have the other Kaz joke thread ... but I'm curious, does anyone know Kaz personally and know something about what kind of lifting he does these days?

Judging by the picture on Ironmind he's still huge ... looks significantly bigger than the recently retired Svend or Jokke Ahola.

I know a few years ago he did a mini-comeback and tried to break the 100ld DB press record (which was 30 some, I think). He was going for 40 but ended up tearing something after "only" 18 or 19. He also did some exhibitions where he'd tear license plates and the like.

He was also recently involved in the NERB powerlifting meet.

[Eric Jett]

Those, my friend, are not jokes. They are cold, hard facts.

[Elliot_Storey]

These days have Kaz busy grabbing bulls by their horns literally. And then calling them names. :T:

There has already been a Kaz thread on here that recounted and described Kaz's many great feats of strength. He truly is a strength legend and I admire him greatly.

[Mark Lozer]

Heard these from Dougie Edmunds. This might have happened at one of the WSM, cant remember which one, possibly Morroco? Kaz and Jamie were out and needed a cab to get back to the hotel. So they jump in and tell the driver where to go but he's not listening so they yell at him to to take them to their hotel. Once there they realized that they didnt jump into a cab but just some guy driving around haha he must have shit himself.
Another one is Kaz goes into a grocery store, buys a steak at the fresh meat department, eats it RAW then goes to the counter and just hands the casheir the empty wrapping. Possibly true, definitly disgusting.

[Andrew Joakim]

Here you go

[Jesse Snadden]

I've heard from a lot of people that he can be a bit of a jerk in real life but other times eh can be a nice guy.

Tom Magee and Kaz used to be good friends. When long ago in the 80's, there was an annual international strongman contest in Quebec here called the Defi Mark Ten or Mark Ten Challenge (Sponsored by the Mark Ten cigarrettes of course).

Kaz, Jon Pall, Magee and more competed in them.

They got into an argument at one of them and Magee slapped Kaz. Kaz told him something along the lines of "I'm gonna kick your ass at this contest, then I'll kick your ass outside". Kaz got injured and no ass kicking took place.

Apparently the animosity stretched back far from frustrations, I recall one of them being when Kaz came to Quebec and attempted to break some of Louis Cyr's world records. Apparently Kaz didn't break them according to the official rules, but Kaz sort of bullied them into giving it.

If you read sons of samson volume 2, there is a good story along the lines of someone bugging Kaz to lift him, Kaz get's fed up and threatens to lift him and stick his genitals in the ceiling fan.

[Jesse Snadden]

By the way, don't take my post as crapping on your legend or anything along those lines. I have nothing but respect for Kaz and he's by far my favorite of all time. His killer like attitude is just great, I like a real bad ass.

[Matt Schumann]

I Wish I Still Had Espn Classic, They Took It Off Of My Cable Here In Mass... I Use To Watch The Strongman Classic's With Kaz Doing The Old School Keg Carry.....

Everyone Doing The Carry Was Struggling With It, And Then Kaz Came Up And He Was Picking Up The Kegs Running Down And Throwing Them, It Was Crazy, I Saw It A Long Time Ago So I Dont Remember The Specifics But It Was Great...

I Actually Think They Did A Recreation Of That Keg Loading Event In This Years Wsm

[Andrew Joakim]

I Wish I Still Had Espn Classic, They Took It Off Of My Cable Here In Mass... I Use To Watch The Strongman Classic's With Kaz Doing The Old School Keg Carry.....

Everyone Doing The Carry Was Struggling With It, And Then Kaz Came Up And He Was Picking Up The Kegs Running Down And Throwing Them, It Was Crazy, I Saw It A Long Time Ago So I Dont Remember The Specifics But It Was Great...

I Actually Think They Did A Recreation Of That Keg Loading Event In This Years Wsm
Kaz did that great peformance in the barrel load in 1981. Before the event started you could see him eyeing the back of the truck to see how far away it was. He started tossing them in instead of running them over. The next year they made the distance further so you could not toss them. The keg loading event in this years wsm was in water, like the one in wsm qualifiers 94 and 96.

[Paul F.X. Armstrong]

--my wife and I worked all day- with kaz- at a contest-----despite a lot of things going wrong at the contest Kaz was----in general---and to most people---pretty good natured---friendly towards my wife and I--business like about handling the scores and paper work--

it was a very long two day contest--the floor was concrete and kaz was wearing some big heeled--leather soled cowboy boots--i commented that "your dogs must be barking in those boots"--he smiled and said "yeah---wearing the boots wasn't worth the extra inch in height it gave me"----a human response at a contest where there were some very tall and large athletes--

---he was a pretty strict judge---others were making some questionable calls--

[dave barron]

Andrew, where'd you get that article? It sounds like a Dave Webster piece.

[NickBrugal]

I meet Kaz when I was 19 in Iowa. He was doing a show for the local YMCA. He was one of my heros so I waited ouside the YMCA for about 1.5 hours befor it started. Sure enough he strolled up about 45 minutes early. He spoted me sitting outside and came right up and started talking to me. We talked for about 10 minutes then he told me he had to go inside and get ready. When he started the show he asked me if I wanted to do it with him. I told him I wasn't strong enough to go up on stage with him, but he laughed and said to come on up. I did, and it was very cool. We did several conventional lifts. He rolled up a frying pan, broke some bords, and pulled some trucks. After the show I waited talk to him to see if he wanted to work out and as I did several people asked me to sign the pictures of him he was handing out. I declined, but he came over and toled me I should just sign my name over his face. When I asked him later if he wanted to workout he told me that he had to go eat with the promoter and talked to me about competing in strongman(at the time I was wrestling for a college and wanted to bodybuild).
About 6 months later I was selling cloths at a booth for a gym I worked for in Daytona Beach at a BodyBuilding show. Kaz was a guest lifter. He saw me came right up and said "Hey Nick what how are you doing?" I couldn't believe that he remebered my name. I hear alot of people say he's a dick but he's been 100% stand up guy to me.

This is a pic of me and Kaz outside of the YMCA when I was 19. I have some more I'll try to find.

[Kevin Klavetter]

I've heard from a lot of people that he can be a bit of a jerk in real life but other times eh can be a nice guy.

Tom Magee and Kaz used to be good friends. When long ago in the 80's, there was an annual international strongman contest in Quebec here called the Defi Mark Ten or Mark Ten Challenge (Sponsored by the Mark Ten cigarrettes of course).

Kaz, Jon Pall, Magee and more competed in them.

They got into an argument at one of them and Magee slapped Kaz. Kaz told him something along the lines of "I'm gonna kick your ass at this contest, then I'll kick your ass outside". Kaz got injured and no ass kicking took place.

Apparently the animosity stretched back far from frustrations, I recall one of them being when Kaz came to Quebec and attempted to break some of Louis Cyr's world records. Apparently Kaz didn't break them according to the official rules, but Kaz sort of bullied them into giving it.

If you read sons of samson volume 2, there is a good story along the lines of someone bugging Kaz to lift him, Kaz get's fed up and threatens to lift him and stick his genitals in the ceiling fan.


But isn't that first sentence true of all of us. I know its true of me and I have never (and will never) had to tolerate the hassles of being famous as I am sure Kaz has.

[FredHarrington]

I meet Kaz when I was 19 in Iowa. He was doing a show for the local YMCA. He was one of my heros so I waited ouside the YMCA for about 1.5 hours befor it started. Sure enough he strolled up about 45 minutes early. He spoted me sitting outside and came right up and started talking to me. We talked for about 10 minutes then he told me he had to go inside and get ready. When he started the show he asked me if I wanted to do it with him. I told him I wasn't strong enough to go up on stage with him, but he laughed and said to come on up. I did, and it was very cool. We did several conventional lifts. He rolled up a frying pan, broke some bords, and pulled some trucks. After the show I waited talk to him to see if he wanted to work out and as I did several people asked me to sign the pictures of him he was handing out. I declined, but he came over and toled me I should just sign my name over his face. When I asked him later if he wanted to workout he told me that he had to go eat with the promoter and talked to me about competing in strongman(at the time I was wrestling for a college and wanted to bodybuild).
About 6 months later I was selling cloths at a booth for a gym I worked for in Daytona Beach at a BodyBuilding show. Kaz was a guest lifter. He saw me came right up and said "Hey Nick what how are you doing?" I couldn't believe that he remebered my name. I hear alot of people say he's a dick but he's been 100% stand up guy to me.

This is a pic of me and Kaz outside of the YMCA when I was 19. I have some more I'll try to find.


omg i hate you :mad: LOL thats brilliant

[Jamie McEwan]

Awesome story, Nick.

[Elliot_Storey]

you were a ginormous 19 year-old!

[NickBrugal]

These are two more that I found.

[Jeff Jones]

Hey Nick what gym was it you worked at in Daytona? I live in Port Orange. Man its a small world.

[NickBrugal]

I worked at the Phoenix Gym. Man I wish I knew you when I lived there. I could have started training strongman sooner. I also used to bounce at Razzle's for a long time.

[Jeff Jones]

No way dude! I bounced at Razzles too. I used to work out at Phoenix too. The only gym with a decent rack of dumbells.

[Jeff King]

I met Kaz at the Arnold Expo at the METRX booth and got his autograph. He is still huge even well past WSM days! I asked him a quick question about deadlifting . I thought he'd give a quick answer as there were many people inline. But he came out and got right down showing me some assistance lifts to use and posed for the pic here.....

The next year when they had the crucifix hold with the protein buckets (20 lbs. each) I didn't win it but had beaten the top time so far by quite a lot and seeing that he went nuts emcee'ing for the crowd getting them to cheer. :)
I had to hold on more after that and with him there cheering me on.

What was cool though was afterward he came up to me and said how impressed he was and intro'ed me to his wife as we sat and watched the Axle Clean & Press and the Tire Deadlift in the Arnold Strongest Man. This was the highlight of the expo for me. Watching strongman with Kaz and hearing his thoughts on the events and competitors firsthand! :marv:

[Tony Christopher]

Nick ... I can't get over the size of you at the age of 19 ... Kaz certainly isn't drawfing you.

[SBaier]

I met Kaz last summer in Waterloo IA at a contest. I talked to him a little bit before the contest, then interacted a little with him during the show, and lucky for me, we ended up eating at the same steakhouse afterwards and sat next to him. We talked for a couple hours about everything from his training and comps, OD Wilson, current strongmen, pro wrestling (my friend that was with me is a pro-wrestler, and he and Kaz knew a lot of the same guys), to life in general. It was great - very down to earth guy and it was like talking to one of your buddies. He is a great story teller. Some of his competition stories were amazing!

[Mac Smith]

I met Kaz twice, and both times he was great. The first time I met him was a couple of years ago at the last time there was a strongman comp in Vegas. He posed for several pics with my kids. He was great, really nice and personable.The next time was at the MetrX booth at the Olympia and he signed a poster for me and grilled me about why I haven't fully committed to strongman! LOL!!! We talked about OD Wilson, STeve Goggins, Jeff Maddy, and several other powerlifters I used to train under growing up. We talked for about 20-30 minutes while others waited in line. But I did see his 'other' side when some fans got a litte unruley and demanded things from him. I can't blame him though, fans can be very demanding and at times very annoying!

[Andrew Joakim]

Andrew, where'd you get that article? It sounds like a Dave Webster piece.
It's from an late 1970's british bodybuilding magazine, I can't remember the name of it or who the author was. But I have read some other Webster articles, and it probably is one.

[Mike Pelosi]

I was privelleged enough to meet Kaz when I guest lifted at the New England Record Breakers in May of 06 in Amherst, MA. When I first saw him and Ed Coan walk in, I said "Holy shit...two of my idol's standing ten feet away from me". I walked up to him and said "Kaz, let me introduce myself (which I did briefly) and Im a huge fan and you've provided me with tons of inspiration." His mammoth of a hand shook mine, he smiled, and said "Yea, today ought to be a really fun day." He walked away, but I understand because he was pressed for time (Coan and him arrived late), and Kaz was the MC. During the contest, he said very generous things about me as I made my lifts. After the contest was over, their was a huge crowd waiting to talk to him. As soon as he saw me, he shook my hand and said "Great job...your the hometown hero...you got a lot of pressure now their kid...your the future." And someone else came in and started speaking to him. Really great experience, just wish it could of been more in depth.

[Hamish Moir]

A previous boss of mine had a good story about Kaz and Jon Paul. In the mid-80s my ex-boss was a promoter - he'd book various celebrities to go guest appearances at night clubs in Scotland. He did a series of night-club appearances with Kaz and Jon Paul as a duo. He said after one such appearance they went to a fish and chip shop. When asked what they wanted they said 'everything' and bought all the fish, pies, sausages, puddings etc that were on sale. Totally cleaned the place out and ate it all apparently...

[Matt Schumann]

ThAnKyOu FoR GiVIng Me tHe SeCreTIve CoMmeNt AbOUt This PoSt..........

To WhOeVer You aRe, The rEasOn Why I SoMeTime's USe Cap"S Half thE tIme Is BecaUse I am At WORK aNd I cAN OnlyUse CAP"S WitH OuR SysTEm......

So SoRrY For BEinG SO F*ckInG aNNoyIng....... NeXt TiMe I ShoUld ConSIder The FeeLing's Of the SecretiVe InTerNet TufF Guys. . . . . .

Grow up man, usually i use cap's by accident, Because i am at work and usually going between work and the forum. If you dont like it. Simply do not read my post. It wont bother me at all. Seriously if something like using cap's sometime's bothers you that much, i think you have more serious issues to deal with.....

I apologize to everyone else on the forum that is not involved. To explain, i recieved a secretive reputation on my profile about using cap's to much and how F'ing annoying it is...