Freak Accidents and Sore Losers:

​18 Situations Where an Armwrestling Match Led to Someone’s Death

Over the course of history, billions of armwrestling matches have occurred. Armwrestling is quite a safe activity – while broken bones and torn tendons and muscles are possibilities, the likelihood of death being a match outcome is extremely small. But, although very rare, it has happened. These situations typically fall into two categories: those attributed to freak accidents and those caused by the actions of sore losers. This article presents 18 such examples, as reported in North American newspapers over the past 150 years.

It’s important to note that none of these examples are from matches in actual armwrestling tournaments.

Freak Accidents

St. Peters, Missouri – 1966:

​​Woonsocket, Rhode Island – 1981:

Memphis, Tennessee – 1992:

Davenport, Iowa – 1987:

Santa Maria, California – 1973:

Lewiston, Montana – 1962:

​Mentor, Ohio – 1978:

​Sore Losers

Sardinia, Italy – 1979:

Monte Vista, Colorado – 1964:

Eloy, Arizona – 1984:

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania – 1952:

Raytown, Missouri – 1988:

Duluth, Minnesota – 1901:

Athens, Alabama – 1976:

Kennett, Missouri – 1984:

Baton Rouge, Louisiana – 1967:

​New York City, New York – 1961:

Hartford, Connecticut – 1884:

​​Researched by Eric Roussin