I guess it’s a given that Bill Kazmaier and Ted Arcidi were crazy strong, given their respective backgrounds.
Some other guys who possessed rather impressive strength were Ivan Putski, Dino Bravo, and Crush Adams, who allegedly crushed several state power lifting records in the day.
As I mentioned in aother thread, one of my old gym buddies saw Warlord bench pressing once.
I can't remember the poundage, but my friend was astonished at the weight and ease with which Warlord handled it.
Even more impressive to me was that my buddy was a 270lb. juicer and no slouch himself on the bench.
Another guy who was supposedly very strong was Nikolai Volkoff.
Occasionally, someone from that time will mention their experiences training with/around the other boys: Iron Sheik was said to be a real slacker in the gym, but Volkoff was performed some strong lifts.
Also, my cousins in Baltimore live close to Nikolai and subsequently run into him on occasion at the grocery store, etc.
They said he is an EXTREMELY NICE man.