Denny Dase’s Drinking Place:
The Original Armwrestling Capital of the Midwest
In the early days of organized tournament armwrestling, an unlikely venue emerged to become known as the Arm Wrestling Capital of the Midwest. The spot? Denny Dase’s Drinking Place, located in Cincinnati, Ohio. Dennis “Denny” Dase, who owned and operated the establishment, was reminiscent of Henry Holtgrewe, the famed Cincinnati Strongman from the turn of the 20th century. Both were charismatic, seemingly larger-than-life tavern-keepers who reputedly never turned down a strength challenge, and both were incredibly popular figures in their communities. This is the story of how Denny took the little known sport of arm wrestling and helped it flourish during its heydays of the 1970s.
Henry Holtgrewe
Growing up in Cincinnati, Denny was involved in a variety of sports. He excelled in the shot put, but in his teen years football became his main focus. He was an All American player, and was recognized as one of the top high school prospects in the nation. In 1959, he was recruited by the University of Arizona and offered a full scholarship. Unfortunately, his sporting career was halted during his freshman year when doctors examined him for a groin injury that was not properly recovering and they discovered he had a brain tumour. Luckily, because the tumour was found in its early stages, they were able to operate and successfully remove it. But that operation, as well as a subsequent one to deal with an infection, left Denny with a steel plate on his skull and partial paralysis on his left side, made visible by a slight limp and slightly less than normal strength in his left arm.
Denny Dase in his University of Arizona football days
Though he was able to return to Arizona to resume his studies, it became clear that a pro football career was no longer an option, so Denny looked elsewhere for a way to indulge his competitive nature. One of the things he always enjoyed doing was armwrestling. You can imagine his excitement after years of pulling for fun when he saw an ad in a muscle magazine for the IFAW World Arm Wrestling Championship. Armwrestling was a right-arm-only sport at the time, which was perfect for him. The tournament was to be held in conjunction with the Mr. Olympia bodybuilding contest in New York City in September 1968. He travelled to the tournament – his first official competition – and was one of the biggest men to enter, measuring 6’1” and weighing close to 300 lbs. He was not the only first-time competitor, though. Connecticut’s Maurice “Moe” Baker and Virginia’s Ken Meade were also competing in an organized tournament for the first time (though, like many of the registered participants, they had considerable practice from years of pulling in unofficial settings).
The World Arm Wrestling Championship featured a single open right-hand class and it was a single elimination affair. The matches were conducted sitting down, and a wristwrestling set-up was used with competitors clasping their non-competing hands clasped beneath their competing arms (despite being labeled “arm wrestling”). Denny did okay, but was eventually knocked out by Bill Strickland, the only sub-200-lb competitor to make it to the semi-finals. (Moe Baker went on to easily win the tournament.)
Denny Dase and Bill Strickland setting up at the 1968 IFAW World Arm Wrestling Championship
Following his trip to the World Arm Wrestling Championship, Denny began seeking out tournaments in his region, of which there were relatively few at the time. Luckily, the Central Parkway YMCA in Cincinnati started hosting the Midwest Arm Wrestling Championship in 1969 as an added event to the annual Midwest Open Power Lift Championships. The armwrestling contest was held annually over the next few years. It is as these events where he managed to connect with a few other talented pullers, including Bob Craft of Fairborn, Ohio, who won the heavyweight title at the 1968 USA Arm Wrestling Championships in Durham, North Carolina, and Lanny Julian, a middleweight puller who lived in nearby Erlanger, Kentucky, and who had quickly established himself as the region’s guy to beat in his weight class.
Bob Craft
|
Lanny Julian
|
Denny Dase and Bob Craft pulling at the 1969 Midwest Arm Wrestling Championship
Denny returned to New York for the 1969 IFAW World Championship. The loss to the much smaller Bill Strickland the previous year must have affected him, because he looked to have packed on considerable muscle from just a year earlier. He once again made it to the semi-finals, but that’s as far as he got, this time losing to Boston’s Frank Martorana.
Denny Dase and Frank Martorana in the semi-finals of the 1969 IFAW World Arm Wrestling Championship
Around 1970, Denny purchased a bar in the Clifton area of Cincinnati, right by the University of Cincinnati. The place didn’t have the greatest reputation – in fact it was originally called “The Black Garter”. Denny renamed the bar “Denny Dase’s Drinking Place” and proceeded to try to change its image. He started sponsoring teams of all types, including softball, bowling, basketball, volleyball, and golf. He also hosted challenges of different kinds, like speed-eating and chug-a-lug contests. (At one point Denny himself was training to beat a few speed-eating records, including the ones for lemons, grapes, and ice cream.) A competitive person by nature, Denny didn’t understand why so many people were sports fans, but so few were interested in competing. For this reason, he liked to be able to provide opportunities for people to be able to compete and have fun, whatever the discipline.
By 1972, Denny decided that an armwrestling tournament would be a great addition to his establishment’s stable of events. He already had a couple of tables in the bar and his many trophies were on display. He also had two referees: Bill “Sweets” Etter and Ron Garrett. But Denny knew he would need more help, and he thought Lanny Julian would be the perfect man for the job. He was aware that Lanny travelled all over to compete, so he was well connected within the armwrestling community. After visiting Denny’s bar and hearing about his plans, Lanny agreed to be involved: not only did he supply a list of pullers’ names and addresses, but he also took care of securing trophies and contributed towards table designs. (In July 1972, Lanny travelled to Scranton, Pennsylvania, to compete in the World Arm Wrestling Championship. It was his first time competing on a table with hand pegs, and he really liked it. He talked to Denny about it, and he agreed the table should have hand pegs.)
Lanny and Denny called their first tournament the Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships and it was held on October 21, 1972. The Scranton rules and weight classes were used. Turnout was good: many of the top pullers made the trip including a decent number from out of region. Lanny won his class, as did Bob Craft who defeated his 17-year-old son Bob Jr. in the finals of the 242-lb class.
Encouraged by the success of the first tournament, Denny immediately wanted to make plans to host another event. He set his sights on the Midwest Championship, which had been held at the local YMCA for the past four years. He and Lanny approached the YMCA and consent was given for Denny to host the 1973 Midwest at his bar in early March. With his first tournament out of the way and the Midwest Championship having developed the reputation of being a good event over the years, Denny was poised to have another great turnout.
The 1973 Midwest Championship attracted approximately 50 competitors from as far away as New York and Virginia. Six right-hand weight classes were contested. A fair number were first-time competitors. But by the later rounds, only experienced pullers remained. The class champions were among the best pullers of the era, including Kentucky’s Tommy Craddock, New York’s Joe Leonardis, and Virginia’s Steve Stanaway. Lanny and Denny each also won their respective class. And in the 242s, it was a rematch between the Craft father and son. This time, Bob Jr. came out on top.
Action pic from the 1973 Midwest Championship
The Midwest Championship was a great success and Denny and Lanny wondered where they should go from there. Their idea? Why not host a North American Championship? At the time, no other tournaments in the nation used this moniker. So that’s what they did. Just three and a half months after the Midwest, the inaugural North American Arm Wrestling Championships were held at Denny Dase’s Drinking Place. The hope was that the even title itself would help attract the best pullers from near and far. It likely did, although full results have not been located. What is known is that Lanny won his class. He was on a roll: just three weeks earlier he won the 185-lb world title in Scranton.
After the first North American Championship, Denny felt he had found the perfect number of annual events: the Ohio State Championship in late October, the Midwest Championship in March, and the North American Championship in July. Winning all three titles in the same calendar year eventually became referred to as winning Ohio’s Triple Crown of Arm Wrestling.
The 1974 North American Championship was a classic. Held in late July, it was a sweltering day. The Drinking Place was jam-packed and the odour of sweat and cigarette smoke permeated the bar. The bar did not have air conditioning, and when a patron asked about it, Denny bluntly responded that his was “a poor man’s bar”. (The deals were great, though: 25 cent beers!)
Several current and former Scranton world champions were in attendance, including Virginia’s Al Linton and Ken Meade who won their world titles just two months prior. There were great battles in all classes. Denny put his 10+” wrist, 18+” forearm, and 335-lb frame to good use, taking first in the super heavyweight class. But the match-up that garnered the most excitement was in the finals of the 242-lb class between Ken Meade and Pennsylvania’s Dann Carr (who had a 53” chest and a 34” waist).
The table used in the 1974 North American Championship
Denny Dase about to pull Leroy Rutledge. Sweets Etter officiates.
In their first pull, Ken and Dann struggled for close to a minute with Dann appearing in control before being called on an elbow foul. Their second pull lasted even longer, but just as Dann was about to pin Ken’s arm to the pad he was called on another elbow foul and Ken was awarded the win. This enraged Dann, but he was quickly reminded that this was only his first loss of the tournament and that they would have to pull again (Ken dropped a match earlier in the day). Nonetheless, Dann was angry and he bolted out the back door of the Drinking Place. Everyone wondered if he had left for good, but he was just catching his breath – a serious work injury a few years earlier left him with just one lung.
To the crowd’s relief, Dann returned a few moments later to take part in the match for all the marbles. Off the go, Ken hit hard and brought Dann over a bit to his side of the table, but before long Dann brought the match back to his winning side. Ken’s arm kept going down, but hit a sticking point less than an inch from the pad. Dann started to cry out for the ref to call a pin, but he didn’t have Ken’s arm down far enough just yet. Finally, on a last ditch effort, Dann gave a quick hit and made the back of Ken’s forearm touch the pad for just a moment – just long enough for the Sweets to see and call the pin and give Dann the win!
The first few events Denny hosted were sit-down contests. Sit-down competition was the standard on the east coast in the early 1970s, but around the middle of the decade, stand-up tournaments started to gain in popularity, likely spurred on by the annual national television coverage of the World’s Wristwrestling Championship, as well as by the World Professional Armwrestling Association, which ran all of its contests using a stand-up table with hand pegs. Lanny and Denny both preferred stand-up pulling so they built a stand-up table with pegs which also featured a bell that would ring whenever a pin occurred, allowing referees to focus their attention on competitors hands and elbows. From around 1975 onwards, this became the table that was used in the majority of tournaments Denny ran.
Stand-up table with bell
By the middle of the 1970s, Denny Dase’s Drinking Place was being referred to as the Arm Wrestling Capital of the Midwest. Denny’s reputation as Cincinnati’s best puller spread and he was occasionally visited by athletes from different sports who wanted to test out their arm strength or simply learn more about armwrestling. One such person was legendary Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench. Johnny, who was known for his strength did not armwrestle very often for fear of injuring his throwing arm, but in 1975 he mentioned to the local newspaper that Denny was the only man to every beat him in a match. Another person who paid Denny a visit on several occasions was Cincinnati Bengals guard Pat Matson when he learned that he was selected to compete in the 1975 NFLPA Arm Wrestling Championship. He didn’t know anything about pulling, so he went to Denny to learn how to armwrestle and to find out what he should work on to build his armwrestling strength.
Dennis Dase practising with Pat Matson
|
Pat Matson using an armwrestling training contraption under the watchful eye of Denny Dase
|
The steady flow of events at the Drinking Place throughout the decade provided a great opportunity for new pullers in the region to gain valuable tournament experience. Brian McSherry, who became the first AAA state director for Ohio in 1979, cut his teeth in Denny’s events: he even managed to win the Triple Crown in 1977.
Brian McSherry in 1985
Denny Dase overseeing some matches at the University of Cincinnati in the late 1970s
Denny didn’t just host tournaments, he also trained anyone wanting to improve in the sport. Two of his biggest success stories were Harley Maynard and Alene Motz.
Harley started competing in 1977 and under Denny’s guidance he trained consistently over the next couple of years. He won the triple crown in 1978 and in 1980 he won the 165-lb class at the big-money 1980 AAA Stand-Up Nationals. He continued to have considerable success through 1983 before retiring from the sport, winning AAA Sit-Down and IWC national titles in 1982, and WAWF and WPAA world titles (in 1982 and 1983, respectively). He credited his success in the sport to the tutelage and encouragement he received from Denny over the years. Harley is recognized as one of the top 25 pullers of the 1980s.
Harley Maynard
Alene Motz got into the sport in the mid-‘70s after accompanying her husband Dave to a few tournaments before finally deciding to give it a try herself. She experienced success immediately, and became a regular on the armwrestling circuit through to the early ‘80s. In the late 1970s she was practising several times a week at the Drinking Place. Practice paid off as she placed in several national and world championships, and won a WAWF world title in India in 1980.
Alene Motz
The three-event-a-year formula Denny used starting in 1973 came to a halt in 1980 when he suffered a stroke. He recovered, but health issues continued to plague him over the following years. He shut the bar down in the early ‘80s, but luckily the timing coincided with a period where the sport was growing rapidly in the state with tournaments being organized in many different cities, so pullers could continue to be active in the region.
On April 10, 1988, Denny passed away following an emergency surgery to remove a blood clot. He was just 47 years old. During his lifetime, his passion for armwrestling helped bring hundreds of people into the sport. His events attracted pullers from as far away as California, Oklahoma, and Georgia. A key figure from the golden age of armwrestling, Denny will always be remembered fondly by the pullers who had the chance to meet him.
Dennis A. Dase
Researched and Written by Eric Roussin
Special thanks to Lanny Julian, “The Kentucky Gentleman”, without whose contributions this article would not have been possible.
Partial Results for the Tournaments Held at Denny Dase's Drinking Place
1972 Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships
October 21, 1972 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 0-145 lbs
1. Tommy Craddock
2. Robert Wood
Men’s Right 146-165 lbs
1. Terry O’Brien
2. Larry Fugett
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Terry Grimes
Men’s Right 201-242 lbs
1. Bob Craft
2. Bob Craft Jr.
Men’s Right 243+ lbs
1. ?
2. Dennis Dase
1973 Midwest Arm Wrestling Championships
March 3, 1973 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 0-145 lbs
1. Tommy Craddock
Men’s Right 146-165 lbs
1. Joe Leonardis
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Terry Grimes
Men’s Right 186-200 lbs
1. Steve Stanaway
2. Lanny Julian
Men’s Right 201-242 lbs
1. Bob Craft Jr.
2. Bob Craft
Men’s Right 243+ lbs
1. Dennis Dase
2. Dave Snyder
1973 North American Arm Wrestling Championships
June 16, 1973 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Rudy Szabo
1973 Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships
October 20, 1973 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 0-145 lbs
1. Tommy Craddock
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Terry Grimes
Men’s Right 186-200 lbs
1. Steve Stanaway
Men’s Right 243+ lbs
1. Dennis Dase
1974 Midwest Arm Wrestling Championships
March 1974 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Rudy Szabo
1974 North American Arm Wrestling Championships
July 27, 1974 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 0-145 lbs
1. John Falcione
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Hamilton Rutledge
Men’s Right 186-200 lbs
1. Al Linton
2. Lanny Julian
Men’s Right 201-242 lbs
1. Dann Carr
2. Ken Meade
Men’s Right 243+ lbs
1. Dennis Dase
2. Leroy Rutledge?
3. Larry Brown
1974 Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships
October 1974 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Jack Reimer
1975 Midwest Arm Wrestling Championships
March 1975 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Paul Gregory
1975 North American Arm Wrestling Championships
July 26, 1975 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Al Linton
2. Lanny Julian
Men’s Right 201-242 lbs
1. Ken Meade
2. ?
3. Lanny Julian
1975 Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships
October 1975 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Jack Reimer
1976 Midwest Arm Wrestling Championships
March 1976 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Paul Jamison
1976 North American Arm Wrestling Championships
July 1976 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 0-145 lbs
1. Ray Kaelin
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Tom Bennett
Men’s Right 186-200 lbs
1. John Smith
2. ?
3. Lanny Julian
Men’s Right 243+ lbs
1. Chuck Rader
1976 Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships
October 1976 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Dennis O’Brien
1977 Midwest Arm Wrestling Championships
March 1977 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 166-185 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Roger Shoumacher
1977 North American Arm Wrestling Championships
July 1977 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 176-200 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Roger Schneider
1977 Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships
October 29, 1977 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 176-200 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Mark Schaefer
Men’s Right 201-225 lbs
1. John Smith
2. ?
3. Lanny Julian
1978 Midwest Arm Wrestling Championships
March 1978 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 151-175 lbs
1. Harley Maynard
Men’s Right 176-200 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Steve Ingram
1978 North American Arm Wrestling Championships
July 1978 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 151-175 lbs
1. Harley Maynard
1978 Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships
October 1978 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 151-175 lbs
1. Harley Maynard
Men’s Right 176-200 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Steve Ingram
1979 Midwest Arm Wrestling Championships
March 1979 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 176-200 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Mike Jennings
1979 Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships
October 1979 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 226-250 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Dave Schneider
1980 Midwest Arm Wrestling Championships
March 29, 1980 – Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 0-150 lbs
1. Ken Phelps
2. Brian MacDonald
3. Jeff Esterling
Men's Right 151-175 lbs
1. Harley Maynard
2. Bill Crawford
3. Terry Grimes
Men's Right 176-200 lbs
1. Dave Motz
2. Gary Osterfield
3. Joe Riedel
Men's Right 201-225 lbs
1. Steve Austin
2. Brian McSherry
3. Craig McSherry
Men's Right 226-250 lbs
1. Steve Austin
2. Brian McSherry
3. Ralph Cromer
Men's Right 251+ lbs
1. Dave Fraley
2. Lanny Julian
3. Doug Lantz
1980 Ohio State Arm Wrestling Championships
Cincinnati, OH
Men’s Right 201-225 lbs
1. Lanny Julian
2. Jerry Brickey