DAN LURIE ... SEALTEST DAN, THE MUSCLE MAN
Dan Lurie was one of of six siblings. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1922. His father operated a moving business and weight-trained with professional strength athletes, Siegmund Breitbart and Warren Lincoln Travis. Still, the family was so poor, neighbors assisted with burial expenses when his younger sister, Pearl, was burned to death, due to her cousin prankishly placing a lighted match in her coat pocket.
Through the 1940's and 1950's, Dan carved a niche in weightlifting, as pound for pound, one of the world's strongest and most muscular men.
Lurie's first taste of stardom, however, was the result of lifting objects no heavier than a plastic disk, as he won the "New York State Checker Championships." He attended Tilden High School in Brooklyn, where he trained as a boxer, planning to enter the 1939 New York Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament, only to be disqualified because of a serious heart murmur.
At age 17, Dan joined the Adonis Athletic Club of Brooklyn. Two years later, he finished last place at the annual Mr. New York City physique contest. He recalled, "This made me work out with even more determination."
In 1942, 1943, and 1944, at a bodyweight of 168 pounds, Lurie was runner-up at the AAU Mr. America contest and captured the Most Muscular award all three years.
Not allowed to compete in the 1945 AAU Mr. America event because he appeared in advertisements for Joe Weider's "Your Physique" magazine, Lurie commented, "Bob Hoffman, owner of York Barbell Company and Strength & Health magazine, controlled the AAU. He hand-picked the winners. John Grimek won the 1940 and 1941 Mr. America contest and he appeared in York Barbell ads. Yet, he was recognized as an amateur. Why him and not me?"
Lurie partnered with Joe Weider in 1942, to estabish the Dan Lurie Barbell Company. The following year, he established the first of his nine health clubs in the New York area. One facility, an old 50,000 square-foot YMCA building, was equippped with a swimming pool, steam room, and sauna.
Dan insisted that he, rather than the Weider's originated the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) in opposition to the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU). He said, "The Weider's stole the name from me after the AAU denied me a sanction for the 1946 Mr. East Coast contest.
Throughout the middle 1950's, Lurie appeared on CBS TV's "The Big Top Circus Show" as "Sealtest Dan, the Muscle Man." His strength feats included 1,655 pushups in 90 minutes; 1,225 parallel dips in 90 minutes and he often performed barbell bent-presses with 200 pounds, at a bodyweight of 165 pounds. Not surprising, his slogan for life remained, "Health is your greatest wealth."
In 1965, Lurie formed the World Bodybuilding Guild (WBBG) to promote local and international physique competitions. For 20 years, his meets drew major physique contestants: Harold Poole, Rick Wayne, Chris Dickerson, Ralph Kroger, Scott Wilson, Don Ross, Boyer Coe, Serge Nubret, Tony Pearson, Lou Ferrigno, Sergio Oliva and others.
That same year, Lurie published the first issue of Muscle Training Illustrated with Reg Park on the cover. In 1971, he was one of the first to feature a cover story on anabolic steroid abuse. Over the following years, he published a series of informative articles written by Dr. Bob Goldman on the dangers and misuse of sport-enhancing drugs.
In 1984, Dan Lurie and President Ronald Reagan, squared off for a supposedly legitimate arm-wrestling match held in the oval office. Lurie explained, " I sent a letter to the White House requesting permission to present President Reagan with a plaque honoring him as the Most Fit President of all Time. The next thing I knew, I was ushered into the oval office."
"Making the presentation, I jokingly challenged President Reagan to an arm-wrestling contest. His reply was, 'Sure.' We positioned ourselves at his desk and...plunk, he flattens me in about 30 seconds. I screamed for a rematch, only to be put down a second time in about 40 seconds."
A photograph of the historic event appeared on the front page of the New York Times with the caption reading: "Dan Lurie going one-on-one with President Reagan."
In 2010, Lurie was still taking "power walks" for an hour each morning, before his conventional weight-training workout. He remarked, "Now I use light weights and I rest longer between sets. I figure I no longer have a great deal to prove. With little or no regrets, my biggest pride and love in life are my five children, 15 grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.
"Sealtest Dan, the Muscle Man," died in 2013, at age 90.
