JOE LADNIER: POWERLIFTING ROYALTY
Powerlifter Joe Ladnier from Mississippi is a legend. Joe, sometimes referred to as “The Mississippi Monster”, could be the greatest powerlifter ever by some metrics and is absolutely one of a very elite group of history’s greatest powerlifters without question. I’m not fond of the word legend because it has been thrown around on the internet so indiscriminately that it has nearly lost its true meaning. Joe Ladnier is a legend. Joe is both a legend as an individual and the unparalleled story of his life in powerlifting and his rise to greatness is a legend that transcends his lifting accomplishments as it is truly one of a kind.
Powerlifter Joe Ladnier from Mississippi is a legend. Joe, sometimes referred to as “The Mississippi Monster”, could be the greatest powerlifter ever by some metrics and is absolutely one of a very elite group of history’s greatest powerlifters without question. I’m not fond of the word legend because it has been thrown around on the internet so indiscriminately that it has nearly lost its true meaning. Joe Ladnier is a legend. Joe is both a legend as an individual and the unparalleled story of his life in powerlifting and his rise to greatness is a legend that transcends his lifting accomplishments as it is truly one of a kind.
Modern powerlifting is a different sport in many ways than it was when Joe began competing in 1979. There was only one organization, the U.S.P.F. (United States Powerlifting Federation). Powerlifting competitions could be regional, state, national or world events but most required traveling several hours to compete against the best lifters. Gathering quality training information was difficult. There was Powerlifting USA and Iron Man magazine, and you could hope to pick up a few training tips from local lifters, but a lot of aspiring powerlifters learned by trial and error. One could say that young Joe was in the right place at the right time, and this is likely accurate, but it was the man himself that made the moves and choices that forged his greatness.
What is the right place at the right time? Well, 16-year-old Joe was thrown into a local high school powerlifting meet by his high school football coach to get points for the school team. He was 165 pounds and didn’t even lift weights. He had to ask the coach how to perform a squat so he could lift 330 pounds and then did the first ever deadlift of his life on the platform with 430 pounds to win the event for his team. He didn’t realize he was capable of this, but local USPF Junior National champion Larry Plumblee recognized his abilities and invited Joe to train with his team called The Mississippi Ironmen. As with many lifters, once young Joe heard the clanging of the weights and was able to train and learn from some knowledgeable lifters, he was bit by “the iron bug” and his strength increased immediately. With 1 month of training, 165-pound Joe “The Lad” Ladnier entered the 1979 Mississippi State Meet and did 475, 305, 450 for 1230 and 1st place in the Open Men’s Division.
AN EARLY PICTURE OF THE 165 POUND JOE LIFTING WITH LARRY PLUMBLEE’S MISSISSIPPI IRONMENT
A VERY YOUTHFUL LOOKING JOE TAKING FIRST PLACE AMONGST GROWN MEN AT A MISSISSIPPI STATE MEET
Joe was definitely hooked but something else happened at that State Meet; Joe met the great Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield who was there doing a squat seminar. Fred lived nearby and he would come over to train with Larry Plumblee and the Ironmen Team. Fred recognized how talented Joe was and offered some training guidance. From 1979 until 1982 The Lad grew in size and strength and, under the guidance of Larry Plumblee, Fred Hatfield and Doc Rhodes (all lifting greats) Joe amassed some impressive numbers. Unlike current lifters, Joe gained his experience on the platform. This is how it was done back then. It wasn’t uncommon to do meets on back-to-back weekends. Driving to a meet with your team was like doing a heavy training session under the scrutiny of judges and Joe did a few dozen meets in those 3 years. This included an impressive three (1980, 1981 and 1982) USPF Teenage National wins. In 1982 something else happened that catapulted Joe to the next level. The Mississippi Ironmen rented a Winnebago to drive to the 1982 USPF Men’s Senior Nationals in Dayton, OH. Joe wasn’t lifting so he drove the entire 17 hours to let the team relax. When they arrived one of the guys noted that Joe had a qualifying total at 198 and said he should jump in and compete for the experience. He did and at 18 years old he squatted 650, benched 418 and bombed out with his 677 opening deadlift. He had to borrow a belt and lifting equipment and his back was shot from driving all day, but he lifted against the best adult men in the nation (and the world at that time) and he realized he had what it took be a National champion.
Before they headed back home Joe was summoned by the meet promoter and one of the greatest powerlifters to ever step on the platform Larry Pacifico. Pacifico, often called the G.L.P. for the Great Larry Pacifico was 9-time World Champion and owned several thriving businesses in Dayton. Larry saw this 18-year-old prodigy lift and invited Joe to come live in Dayton with him, work at his health club and train with him. This invitation was too good to turn down and he was soon living in Ohio and training under the G.L.P.
One must understand the gravity of training with Larry Pacifico. Ohio was a hotbed of powerlifting and everyone in the sport travelled to train with Larry in Dayton. The guys from Black’s Health World would come down from Cleveland. Mike Bridges, the best pound-for-pound lifter in the sport, would visit. Mark Chaillet, a world class deadlifter who also worked for Larry, would be there. Joe even said that a strange and quiet man would drive over from Columbus with a long mustache to observe them lifting (he didn’t train); this man was a relatively unknown lifter named Louis Simmons. Larry always said that The Lad had the “Eye of the Tiger” and Joe got nasty strong. By the 1983 Men’s Senior Nationals one year later the 19-year-old, 220-pound Joe Ladnier was taking on both Dr. Fred Hatfield, world record holder Jim Cash, Jack Sideris, Jerry Jones and several other elite 220 lifters. With Larry Pacifico coaching him, Joe chipped away at these great champions until he stood victorious with an 837 squat, 523 bench and 749 deadlift for the first ever 2100 total @ 220 (2110) in history. This was before bench shirts and before radical squat suits when men were thickly muscled and intensity dripped from the air and this 19-year-old prodigy stood on the top of the winner's podium.
A DAY THAT CHANGED THE SPORT. 19-YEAR-OLD JOE LADNIER SECURED A SOLID WIN OVER VETERAN LIFTERS JIM CASH (L) AND DR. FRED HATFIELD (R) AND TOTALLED THE 1ST 2100 TOTAL AT 220 EVER (2110)
Ladnier went to the I.P.F. Worlds that year and took second on a controversial call. He worked as a trainer for New Life Health Spa in Indiana (Larry was co-owner of the chain) and he helped run Larry’s Power Elite mail order store selling supplements and equipment for a few years but in 1984 he had both a falling out with the G.L.P. and an offer to move to Adel, Georgia to train with Buddy “the Iceman” Duke. You see, they met in Sweden in 1983 at the I.P.F. Worlds. Buddy was an 800+ deadlifter @ 198 and Joe was quite the prodigious benchpresser so Buddy invited Joe to Adel to stay with him to help improve his bench while he taught Joe the secret to his world class deadlift. It was durng this time that Joe received a special invite to Gus Rethwisch’s 1984 Hawaii Invitational in Honolulu and Joe lifted 2138 @ 242 with an improved 771 deadlift. He also experienced what most lifters regard at the pinnacle of all powerlifting meets ever; Gus, who played Buzzsaw in the movie “the Running Man”, spared no expense and lifters were put on a pedestal each year at the Hawaii Record Breakers events.
JOE LIFTING IN SWEDEN AT THE 1983 IPF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
Buddy was very busy running several businesses in the small town of Adel and training time was scarce, so Joe accepted an invitation by 181-pound bench pressing phenom Rick Weil to move to Tampa and train at the now famous SunCoast Gym owned by Dick Armatrout. By 1986 The Lad was getting incredibly strong. He did a bench meet in Tampa and, taking advice from Weil, recorded a raw 600-pound benchpress. He was squatting in the mid 900’s and, after learning tips from Buddy Duke, he could deadlift 832 pounds. Bill Kazmier held the all-time powerlifting total record of 2425 and Joe had a legitimate shot of getting close to this nearly untouchable number. Only days after the bench meet Joe tore his patella tendon and had to have his knee reconstructed; this began a low point in his lifting career.
Joe Ladnier was not a quitter but he accepted that his past was behind him and that he would need to reinvent himself. He got rid of all his pictures, articles and even his trophies and awards that reminded him of the past. He healed and decided to compete without anabolic steroids in the A.D.F.P.A. (American Drug Free Powerlifting Association), which later became the U.S.A.P.L. Joe won the Drug Free Nationals in 1988 the the Drug Free Worlds in 1989. He wasn’t back to his previous weights, but he was champion again under different conditions.
JOE MADE A COMEBACK AFTER HAVING HIS KNEE RECONSTRUCTED IN THE ADFPA IN 1989
Joe pulled away from powerlifting for the next 13 years. He built a career, raised his children and he decided to train for and compete as a bodybuilder. The man was stacked with thick, dense muscle and he excelled on the posing dais. He competed in a few NPC National Masters Championships over 40 years old and, though he never received Pro status, The Lad was no slouch on the stage and looked equally as powerful as his lifts had once been.
JOE COMPETED IN MASTERS BODYBUILDING THROUGH THE 1990’S WITH HIS HARD-EARNED MUSCLE MASS THROUGH POWER TRAINING
By 2002 The Mississippi Monster’s interest was once again drawn toward powerlifting. He was initially turned off by the advancement in supportive fabrics and multi-ply lifting suits, but he became intrigued by W.P.O. Professional Powerlifting and decided to embrace this new version of the sport. He learned how to train in this equipment and, over the next 8 years, he rose to the top of the sport again; he added both an A.P.F. Senior Nationals win and a W.P.C. Worlds win to his resume as well as competing in several W.P.O. Pro Meets and a few other federations.
THE MISSISSIPPI MONSTER RETURNED TO HIS ROOTS IN 2002 AT THE WPO EVENT AT THE ARNOLD CLASSIC
As equipped events grew out of favor, Ladnier went back to his roots and, in his early 50’s, he competed multiple times in unequipped raw events where he lifted 750 in the squat, 550 in the raw benchpress and 738 in the deadlift. Joe had been at the top of every facet of the sport of powerlifting for 37 years.
There are two parts of The Lad’s illustrious career that lead me to believe he might be one of a kind and possibly stand at the top of his sport. First, no one has ever moved from town to town to train with the best lifters across the country and hone their craft on the platform. Even if someone did, the chance of being mentored and groomed by the likes of Fred Hatfield, Larry Plumblee, Larry Pacifico, Buddy Duke, Rick Weil and being in contact with and training with literally hundreds of the greatest champions the sport has ever produced are nearly impossible odds. The sport became too divided and too different to ever allow someone to repeat what Joe Ladnier achieved. He was willing to move away from his family and friends and go out of his comfort zone at a young age to become the best powerlifter at all costs. I do not believe this can ever happen again.
The second part of The Mississippi Monster’s greatness puts him in the rarest of company. Modern lifters aside (most lifters only last a few years and there is no way to accurately compare them between different federations, different judging standards and different equipment allowed), there only 3 lifters that have competed at the highest level in the sport over three decades and who competed in the greatest invitation only meets, Pro Meets, National Meets and International Meets the world has ever known. Joe Ladnier, Steve Goggins and Ed Coan have all lifted in The Hawaii Invitational, Garry Beford’s YMCA Nationals, the USPF Seniors, the IPF Worlds, the APF Seniors, the WPC Worlds and, decades later, they all three competed in the WPO Pro events at the Arnold Classic. This puts Joe in rare company BUT he takes it one step further. Joe Ladnier also won 3 USPF Teenage Nationals, the ADFPA drug free nationals, the WDFPF drug free worlds and, last but not least, competed as a high-level national bodybuilder during this time.
Joe Ladnier from Mississippi is a legend in the iron game. This is undisputed. There are so many variables to consider when discussing who the “best ever” is. No one will agree on one person being the best ever in any sport or activity. However, if we go by depth/quality of competition, variety of lifting conditions, longevity and caliber of lifting performance then Joe is hard to top in the sport of competitive powerlifting.
The great Joe Ladnier passed away in December 2023 at only 60 years old. He will be so very missed by everyone who knew him and those who knew of him, but he will NEVER be forgotten.
JOE LADNIER WITH HIS BEAUTIFUL WIFE LORI. JOE TOUCHED MANY LIVES.