Occupation Strongman Name Rick Brown | Height 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) Role Strongman | |
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Born 4 April 1960 Berkeley, California Weight 171 kg (377 lb; 26.9 st) Died January 2, 2002, Berkeley, California, United States Similar People OD Wilson, Geoff Capes, Jon Pall Sigmarsson, Bill Kazmaier | ||
Rick "Grizzly" Brown (born April 4, 1960– January 2, 2002) was a former professional Strongman competitor from Berkeley, California.
Biography
Brown is best known for competing in the 1985 and 1986 World's Strongest Man competitions. He competed in amateur wrestling and powerlifting at age 15, and after winning a national wrestling title in 1981, focused on strength training. Brown held a place in the Guinness World Book of Records for the largest biceps, over 25 inches (cold, not pumped). After retiring from the sport of strongman in 1987, he secured a position with the Berkeley Unified School District as a campus monitor and later a school safety officer where he served as a mentor, as a youth counselor on drug abuse and father figure to hundreds of students first at Berkeley High School in 1987. Brown claimed to have never used steroids to aid muscular development. In 1989 he transferred to Willard Middle School, where he served students and the school community for eleven years. In 1991, he began his study of Islam and later converted. In 1994, he met his wife, Jennifer, at Willard Middle School where they were both employed; in 1997 they joined in marriage at the "Wedding Court" at Willard Middle School. Brown trained with fellow strongmen competitors O.D. Wilson and Bill Kazmaier.
Brown died on January 2, 2002 in Berkeley, California, aged 41 and survived by his wife and three sons.