Mike Scott
Born Feb 26, 1941
Died Feb 8, 2017

“Iron Mike” as he was known, owned and managed The Power Pit in Pearl City, Hawaii from 1977 to 1995. I met Mike in February of 1977. He was my friend for 40 years. He was an Olympic Lifter, Bodybuilder, and Powerlifter. Mike and Gary Watanabe were the co-owners of the Power Pit. The first Power Pit reunion was held at the main street station in Las Vegas on October 8, 2016. That was the last time I saw “Iron Mike”. He was a few days shy of 76. He looked like he was 50. He never seemed to age. I trained at the Power Pit from 1979 to 1986. Mike was one of the best trainers I ever saw. He trained many high caliber lifters that went on to win National tournaments on the mainland. He also trained bodybuilders. He trained with weights from 1958 until the day he died. His wife Kristi said he had a fit bit on when she found him and he had done 102 minutes of Cardio and weights the day he died.

I had the privilege to have Mike accompany me to the 1977, 1978 and 1985 National Powerlifting Championships in the days when there was only one federation. USA Powerlifting started in 1979 and the APF started in 1980 but they weren’t going to become a factor until a few years later. Mike and I also traveled to the outer Islands for Powerlifting Tournaments and Strength Exhibitions.

Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dave Draper would visit Mike and stay at his apartment when they would come to Hawaii between 1966 and 1969. In case any of you reading this don’t know Dave Draper, he was the “Arnold” of the early sixties and was in three movies. Dave Draper was the most famous body builder in the world until Arnold came along. Mike had a passion for the Iron Game and it rubbed off on a lot of people including me. Mike had no enemies in the Iron Game. He got along with everybody and he had a great sense of humor.

In Olympic Lifting Mike trained under the legendary Tommy Kono. Mike wasn’t a super star in any of the 3 Iron disciplines, but he was accomplished. Mike was the M.C. for all of my Hawaii World Record Breakers from 1977 to 1995. He competed in four of them. In the 1988 Hawaii World Record Breakers on ESPN, Mike famously slammed his head into the bar just before squatting – blood was spurting from his forehead. Mikes squat of 545 wasn’t earth shattering but the head of ESPN personally told me that the head butting the bar incident was very memorable.

Iron Mike’s death is the end of an era. It’s extremely hard to fathom that he’s gone! Anybody that knew Mike was his friend. He told me one time that it was hard to keep in touch with all his friends. Mike’s third wife Kristi was his soul mate and they trained together for the 15 years they were married. Mike’s last 15 years with Kristi were probably his happiest years. They just moved into a new house in Ellensburg, Washington in 2010.

The words that I penned here are just a small segment of Iren Mike’s impact on peoples’ lives and his impact on the sport in the 40 years that I knew him was phenomenal. Have a peaceful journey Mike. You earned it. It was an honor to know you.

Gus Rethwisch