Jesse Marunde
02-16-2005, 07:21 AM
by Jon Nadzam
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=150 border=0><TBODY><TR><TH></TH></TR><TR><TD class=formfield>Steve Kirit competes in the medley at the 2004 MHP U.S. Pro Strongman Championships in Atlanta.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Kirit competes in the medley at the 2004 MHP U.S. Pro Strongman Championships in Atlanta.
In late 2000, then 27-year-old Steve Kirit was working as an office supply salesman in Western Pennsylvania. Slumped over his desk, day after day he would look forward to his evenings in the gym where he could very often be seen slinging very heavy weights with great intensity.
"I have just always lifted weights" exclaims Kirit, a man who wears his strength loosely and carries himself with a gentle smile. "It was an escape for me since I was a teenager I guess...other kids would party, drink, that sort of thing. I never really was too comfortable with that. If I had a bad day, if things were tough at home, I would be in the basement, with the weights.”
Things were often tough at home for the Pennsylvania native. His father, Steve Kirit Sr., a Ukrainian immigrant grew up in Pittsburgh's tough and rugged Uptown, a culturally diverse and often brutal city neighborhood. To get out, he joined the Marines and toured Vietnam before marrying and putting himself through college while raising a family.
Kirit, the first of what would be a four-boy Kirit clan, was sickly and underweight as a child.
"I just really remember lots of trips to the doctors," he said.
Growing up in his strict household was tough on the frail boy as well. "Discipline was harsh, grades and proper behavior were enforced with very strict style.
"All through my childhood, I can remember my parents taking me to watch my younger brothers sporting events. What a role reversal that was. Young Kirit immersed himself in science fiction and comic books. Among his favorites...”The Incredible Hulk.”
Kirit did something in High school that few glasses-wearing thin bookworm sci-fi geeks do. He went out for the wrestling team. After a year of getting thrown around like a fish on the mat, he started winning. "I learned in the off-seasons I could change my body and the strength I was given by lifting weights," Kirit said. "The iron was an equalizer. I would will myself to be the strength of my opponents."
After a successful High school career in wrestling, Kirit attended college where genetics played a role in his near undoing rather than success. A mysterious illness that plagued Kirit's family for generations set In. Kirit found himself depressed, and tired, eventually growing into extreme fatigue to the point of hospitalization. "It got so bad I could not get out of bed,” Kirit said. "Simply getting up to go to the bathroom would wipe me out for the day. What made it worse is no one knew what it was."
After many tests Kirit was diagnosed, with CFS (Chronic fatigue syndrome) a hard-to-diagnose illness of the central nervous system that strikes mostly women. Kirit was bedridden for four months and would get up 20 minutes a day to move around and eat. For some, CFS proves fatal as activity decreases to nothing.
At one point, Kirit decided to pull himself out of bed and get a grip on his life. He got a set of dumbells, and remembering how he willed himself strong in High school, he decided again he would will himself strong. "I did curls with 10-pound dumbells and my arm would fatigue and shake after like ten reps," Kirit recalled. "It had the same effect on my body as doing a set of twenty rock bottom squats. I was out of breath and shaking, it was really nuts. I still remember those living room workouts; they grew each day from five minutes, to 10, to 30. I watched a lot of TV in those months."
He got hooked on the back-to-back reruns of a quirky ESPN program depicting large men with freakish strength called the “World’s StrongestMan.” "I laughed weakly in amusement" Kirit said smiling.
Kirit eventually got out of the living room. He made it through college and got back to the gym. He turned nearly obsessive in his zeal for working out. "I worked out alone, my bench really grew quick," Kirit recalled.
At 23 Steve entered his first Bench meet and pressed 555 pounds. He would improve to 650 until the age of 27, when he saw an ad on the internet for a "Central USA Amateur Strongman Championship" in Indiana. "I thought...how cool, I had done little local stuff like that, but this was really organized and mimicked the stuff on ESPN. I had to go.”
Kirit did go, and won every single event in the contest. Professional strongmen Chad Coy and Willie Wessels immediately noticed his talent and tried to get Kirit into 2000 Nationals, but Jim Davis, the then USA strongman president would not allow an unknown come in with a spot saved for a seasoned pro.
"I did not see any action again till I got to go against the pros at the American Hercules in Kokomo in 2001," he recalled. Kirit took eighth. Asking Davis who was present at the show for a spot in his famed St. Louis Show, Jim said, 'No, but I have some amateur events you might want to do.' "After that, I started training events,” Kirit said. “In 2002 I was starting to finish in the top three or four in the pro shows, and Nationals was announced to be in St. Louis, a grand show thrown by Davis. "I trained for that show like it was my own personal Vision Quest," Kirit said. "It was a journey I was moving towards my whole life."
Kirit did compete, and won. Not just won, but finished with the greatest margin of victory ever seen in the pro nationals. “Jim (Davis) came up and congratulated me, I know I was not what he envisioned as a highly marketable champ like Big Johnny (the late, Perry) at the time or (Brian) Schoonveld or his golden-boy (Phil) Pfister, but he seemed genuinely happy for me."
The next year, Kirit dominated the U.S. Strongman circuit including such stars as the 6-foot-6, 330-pound Pfister. Kirit, at 6'1 290 pounds, this made for a storybook type rivalry as the two clashed all year long until, in 2003, Kirit won his second consecutive National Championship, Pfister, second place.
In 2004 Kirit continued to dominate American competition. He also finished seventh in the World Championships in Riga, Latvia, where the top 38 strongmen in the World competed.
He was eventually offered a third “World Strongest Man” invitation. In the new format, he was the only American to go.
Shortly, Kirit learned that the U.S. Pro National Championship was to be held right after the Worlds. The RobertMorrisCollege graduate had to make a decision.
"I made my choice, and it was Worlds." Kirit said.
On the third event Kirit suffered a herniated disc in his back, forcing him out of the competition. In almost 30 strongman shows, that was the first Steve had to pull out of. "I was devastated" Kirit said in a low voice.
The Nationals started 12 days later so Kirit…after rest and therapy decided to compete. Kirit injuries showed as placed fifth. "They did not beat me, my title was gone before that show started," Kirit recalled. "The victory for me was finishing."
The actual victory went to 330-pound Van Hatfield, who was considered one of a few new pro competitors with a chance to make an impact. "He was so hungry like I was in 2002," Kirit said. "He's bigger than me and stronger, but so are many of the men I have beaten. Hopefully we will both be healthy for the 2005 Nationals and have ourselves a battle, but who knows, there will probably be even newer, better guys by then."
2005 appears to be a year that strongman will be bigger than ever, much money has been poured into the sport and stars have been chosen. Steve must prove himself once again.
"Everyone knows I am the most winning American strongman of all time, whether I compete again or never win another show, someone will have to work hard to take that from me," Kirit exclaimed. Kirit is and has always considered himself the people's champ, a representation of what a person can do with hard work and determination. "Right now, Van and Phil have been picked to be the best of the best. I am looking forward to seeing what happens,” Kirit said. “I will always love this sport. For me, just being on the starting line at a strongman show is a victory."
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=5 width=150 border=0><TBODY><TR><TH></TH></TR><TR><TD class=formfield>Steve Kirit competes in the medley at the 2004 MHP U.S. Pro Strongman Championships in Atlanta.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Kirit competes in the medley at the 2004 MHP U.S. Pro Strongman Championships in Atlanta.
In late 2000, then 27-year-old Steve Kirit was working as an office supply salesman in Western Pennsylvania. Slumped over his desk, day after day he would look forward to his evenings in the gym where he could very often be seen slinging very heavy weights with great intensity.
"I have just always lifted weights" exclaims Kirit, a man who wears his strength loosely and carries himself with a gentle smile. "It was an escape for me since I was a teenager I guess...other kids would party, drink, that sort of thing. I never really was too comfortable with that. If I had a bad day, if things were tough at home, I would be in the basement, with the weights.”
Things were often tough at home for the Pennsylvania native. His father, Steve Kirit Sr., a Ukrainian immigrant grew up in Pittsburgh's tough and rugged Uptown, a culturally diverse and often brutal city neighborhood. To get out, he joined the Marines and toured Vietnam before marrying and putting himself through college while raising a family.
Kirit, the first of what would be a four-boy Kirit clan, was sickly and underweight as a child.
"I just really remember lots of trips to the doctors," he said.
Growing up in his strict household was tough on the frail boy as well. "Discipline was harsh, grades and proper behavior were enforced with very strict style.
"All through my childhood, I can remember my parents taking me to watch my younger brothers sporting events. What a role reversal that was. Young Kirit immersed himself in science fiction and comic books. Among his favorites...”The Incredible Hulk.”
Kirit did something in High school that few glasses-wearing thin bookworm sci-fi geeks do. He went out for the wrestling team. After a year of getting thrown around like a fish on the mat, he started winning. "I learned in the off-seasons I could change my body and the strength I was given by lifting weights," Kirit said. "The iron was an equalizer. I would will myself to be the strength of my opponents."
After a successful High school career in wrestling, Kirit attended college where genetics played a role in his near undoing rather than success. A mysterious illness that plagued Kirit's family for generations set In. Kirit found himself depressed, and tired, eventually growing into extreme fatigue to the point of hospitalization. "It got so bad I could not get out of bed,” Kirit said. "Simply getting up to go to the bathroom would wipe me out for the day. What made it worse is no one knew what it was."
After many tests Kirit was diagnosed, with CFS (Chronic fatigue syndrome) a hard-to-diagnose illness of the central nervous system that strikes mostly women. Kirit was bedridden for four months and would get up 20 minutes a day to move around and eat. For some, CFS proves fatal as activity decreases to nothing.
At one point, Kirit decided to pull himself out of bed and get a grip on his life. He got a set of dumbells, and remembering how he willed himself strong in High school, he decided again he would will himself strong. "I did curls with 10-pound dumbells and my arm would fatigue and shake after like ten reps," Kirit recalled. "It had the same effect on my body as doing a set of twenty rock bottom squats. I was out of breath and shaking, it was really nuts. I still remember those living room workouts; they grew each day from five minutes, to 10, to 30. I watched a lot of TV in those months."
He got hooked on the back-to-back reruns of a quirky ESPN program depicting large men with freakish strength called the “World’s StrongestMan.” "I laughed weakly in amusement" Kirit said smiling.
Kirit eventually got out of the living room. He made it through college and got back to the gym. He turned nearly obsessive in his zeal for working out. "I worked out alone, my bench really grew quick," Kirit recalled.
At 23 Steve entered his first Bench meet and pressed 555 pounds. He would improve to 650 until the age of 27, when he saw an ad on the internet for a "Central USA Amateur Strongman Championship" in Indiana. "I thought...how cool, I had done little local stuff like that, but this was really organized and mimicked the stuff on ESPN. I had to go.”
Kirit did go, and won every single event in the contest. Professional strongmen Chad Coy and Willie Wessels immediately noticed his talent and tried to get Kirit into 2000 Nationals, but Jim Davis, the then USA strongman president would not allow an unknown come in with a spot saved for a seasoned pro.
"I did not see any action again till I got to go against the pros at the American Hercules in Kokomo in 2001," he recalled. Kirit took eighth. Asking Davis who was present at the show for a spot in his famed St. Louis Show, Jim said, 'No, but I have some amateur events you might want to do.' "After that, I started training events,” Kirit said. “In 2002 I was starting to finish in the top three or four in the pro shows, and Nationals was announced to be in St. Louis, a grand show thrown by Davis. "I trained for that show like it was my own personal Vision Quest," Kirit said. "It was a journey I was moving towards my whole life."
Kirit did compete, and won. Not just won, but finished with the greatest margin of victory ever seen in the pro nationals. “Jim (Davis) came up and congratulated me, I know I was not what he envisioned as a highly marketable champ like Big Johnny (the late, Perry) at the time or (Brian) Schoonveld or his golden-boy (Phil) Pfister, but he seemed genuinely happy for me."
The next year, Kirit dominated the U.S. Strongman circuit including such stars as the 6-foot-6, 330-pound Pfister. Kirit, at 6'1 290 pounds, this made for a storybook type rivalry as the two clashed all year long until, in 2003, Kirit won his second consecutive National Championship, Pfister, second place.
In 2004 Kirit continued to dominate American competition. He also finished seventh in the World Championships in Riga, Latvia, where the top 38 strongmen in the World competed.
He was eventually offered a third “World Strongest Man” invitation. In the new format, he was the only American to go.
Shortly, Kirit learned that the U.S. Pro National Championship was to be held right after the Worlds. The RobertMorrisCollege graduate had to make a decision.
"I made my choice, and it was Worlds." Kirit said.
On the third event Kirit suffered a herniated disc in his back, forcing him out of the competition. In almost 30 strongman shows, that was the first Steve had to pull out of. "I was devastated" Kirit said in a low voice.
The Nationals started 12 days later so Kirit…after rest and therapy decided to compete. Kirit injuries showed as placed fifth. "They did not beat me, my title was gone before that show started," Kirit recalled. "The victory for me was finishing."
The actual victory went to 330-pound Van Hatfield, who was considered one of a few new pro competitors with a chance to make an impact. "He was so hungry like I was in 2002," Kirit said. "He's bigger than me and stronger, but so are many of the men I have beaten. Hopefully we will both be healthy for the 2005 Nationals and have ourselves a battle, but who knows, there will probably be even newer, better guys by then."
2005 appears to be a year that strongman will be bigger than ever, much money has been poured into the sport and stars have been chosen. Steve must prove himself once again.
"Everyone knows I am the most winning American strongman of all time, whether I compete again or never win another show, someone will have to work hard to take that from me," Kirit exclaimed. Kirit is and has always considered himself the people's champ, a representation of what a person can do with hard work and determination. "Right now, Van and Phil have been picked to be the best of the best. I am looking forward to seeing what happens,” Kirit said. “I will always love this sport. For me, just being on the starting line at a strongman show is a victory."