Now Motz, at the behest of some of his arm-wrestling cohorts, is back. For the first time in four years, so are the championships. Ohio will once again crown an arm wrestling champion, beginning Saturday at 1 p.m. at O’Grady’s Pub and Grille in Clayton.
Motz, who has participated in the sport for more than 40 years and been a referee at both the National and World Championships, returned to get the event back on its feet. He’s doing it with a contest that will feature 75 competitors from 11 states.
Some of the prominent names include Brian Collinsworth, a national superweight champion from Virginia, and C.J. McDavid, a former linebacker with the Washington Redskins.
The event will feature several classes. There are five amateur divisions, three left-handed divisions, two women’s divisions and a professional contest.
Winners from the different divisions will face off for the overall title, which has a payout of $1,500.
Saturday’s championships are another chapter in the long history Motz has with the sport. It began when he read an article for an arm wrestling contest in 1968 — it was for an event in New York. He traveled and competed, but lost on the card-playing table that was used back then. Motz and others traveled to another event in Virginia, and began staying in contact with each other.
Soon the events blossomed, began creeping westward, and during the 1970s the sport grew to where it was featured prominently on ABC Sports and garnered major sponsors like STP and Skoal.
Motz said bringing back the Ohio event will help the growing sport, which now features 23 different countries at its annual world championships.
“It’s a great sport,” Motz said. “If you mess up, it’s your fault. It goes back and forth. It’s a great time and one day I think it will be in the Olympics.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2250 or bjbethel@ DaytonDailyNews.com.
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