The Legend of Frank Stranahan.
The Legend of Frank Stranahan.
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Golf Blog by the Mel Sole Golf School.
Powerlifting.
Frank Richard Stranahan was an American sportsman. He had significant success in both amateur and professional golf. Ranked number one in his weight class in powerlifting, from 1945 to 1954. He became known on the golf course and off, as the "Toledo strongman." Long before the modern game combined golf and fitness. After he retired from tournament golf in the early 1960s, he became a prolific long-distance runner, competing in 102 marathons.
Gary Player.
Frank Stranahan was one of the first to emphasize the importance of strength and fitness to golf. He mentored many Tour Players on the benefits of exercise, including the great Gary Player, who to this day, works out diligently to keep in shape!
Stranahan's greatest personal feat, a footnote in anglo history, is that he helped save a British tradition unequal in world sporting competition, The Open Championship. After World War II when most American golfers avoided competing "across the pond", Stranahan played in eight consecutive Open Championships and was runner-up in 1947 and 1953.
Arnold Palmer.
His personal support, along with the 1961 and 1962 wins of Arnold Palmer, revived, sustained, and returned the greatness of the Open Championship by encouraging other top Americans to compete, despite the low prize funds of that era.
Stranahan suffered significant family misfortune. His wife Ann, whom he married in 1954, was herself a top-class amateur golfer; she finished runner-up in the 1960 Canadian Women's Amateur. Ann died at age 45 from cancer. His eldest son Frank Jr. died from cancer at age 11. His second son Jimmy died of a drug overdose in Houston, Texas at age 19. Stranahan's father also died from cancer.
The end of a Legend.
Frank Stranahan passed away on June 23, 2013, aged 90, at his home in Miami Beach, Florida, where he had lived for many years.
Read more about this amazing man - click here and to see more pictures of him, click here
Source: Wikipedia
Pictures: Toledo Blade 100 Percent Authentic The Hillman Blog
Thanks for reading - The Legend of Frank Stranahan. Very interesting man! He was Gary Players' idol!
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