by Gus Rethwisch
I have been in the sport for 45 years and I feel Jeff Magruder was the greatest bencher of all time. At 240 lbs., Jeff did a 640 raw bench. At 220 lbs, he did a 560 raw bench press. Jeff did a 661 lb. raw bench in the gym weighing 246 lbs. He benched 515 raw at 198. He did 52 reps with 315 raw.

Jeff’s more memorable meets occurred in Russia, Slovakia, and Italy in the APF where he won world championships. He totaled 2133 at the Hawaii record breakers with 639 bench press, 777 squat, and 717 deadlift. He won the Hawaii record breaker twice and also won a Venice Beach bench press extravaganza with a 595 lb. bench. The event was M.C.’d by Arnold Schwarzenegger. Jeff set 23 world records in the bench in his career.

I would include Jeff among the legends in the sport. Ed Coan was the greatest powerlifter of all time. Dr. Fred Hatfield, “Dr Squat” was the greatest squatter of all time. John Kuc was the greatest deadlifter of all time. Bill Kazmaier was the strongest man of all time and Jeff Magruder was the greatest bencher of all time.

Jeff and his brother Mike and I had some memorable times together remembering the great times at the Sushi joint in Seattle and the tri-cities Washington after meet parties. Jeff was always the center of the powerlifting meet and the center of the party. He lived life to its fullest, in business, where he was a successful contractor, in party times with his friends and family and in powerlifting.

Jeff died of Lou Gehrigs disease at age 64. But nobody, family or friends will dwell on that small aspect of his life, because he was much bigger in life than he was in death.

Most Respectfully,
Gus Rethwisch