Page 38 - Demo

n BY DAN CAMPANA
Tommy Harrison can bench press you and a couple of your friends.
That might sound odd or impossible, but only if you’re not familiar with the world of powerlifting where racking up 800 pounds on the bar isn’t far-fetched.
For as long as Harrison – a 2nd District patrol cop – has been a Chicago Police Officer, he’s been a competitive weightlifter. The Englewood native started lifting as a teen when he got into football and wrestling, but he credits two influences for putting him on a path that eventual- ly earned him the title of World’s Strongest Police Officer: now-retired Detective Al Kennedy who introduced him to the sport and that little voice inside which pushes us all.
“It was a local competition. My ego had me try a weight that I shouldn’t have tried, and I missed it. I took third place and I thought I could have won first,” Harrison, 43, recalled. “My failure motivated me.”
During the past 18 years, Harrison has captured 36 world championships, set 20 world records and, in 2007, became the first person in Canadian competition to bench 804 pounds as part of a side career which saw him inducted into the World Association of Benchers and Dead Lifters Hall of Fame.
Harrison proudly points out all of his accomplishments have come completely drug free. His “main mission” is to prove to kids, and others, that hard work, good nutrition and a solid workout regimen is the way to go.
“I wanted to prove a drug-free guy can beat a guy that’s not drug free,” Harrison said, adding his mother instilled in him the core value of working hard to achieve your goals.
Through all of this, what’s likely more astounding for us mere mortals is that his personal best on the bench press of 865 pounds came after breaking his forearm.
“The first time I broke my arm, the doctor told me I’d be able to bench maybe 300 pounds,” Harrison said with a laugh recalling the doctor’s unintentional motivation. “It
38 CHICAGO LODGE 7 ■ JANUARY 2017
Second-district patrol o cer Tommy Harrison gives a lift for Chicago Police
kind of made me mad, so, I came back and did 865.” And, yes, he said the “first time” he broke his forearm. It happened twice, both while attempting to bench 900 pounds – once in training, the second time at the world
championships.
“When I tried to go back into the 900s again, I snapped
it again. Nine hundred is not my number,” he said with a hint of been-there-done-that-never-again humor.
Recognition on the power-lifting circuit is one thing; being easy to notice as a 275-pound, muscular, police of- ficer is another. Among his colleagues, the good-natured ribbing pops up in roll call occasionally. He chuckles when sharing his favorite quips, such as being called out for having no neck or when a colleague asks if he needs to get out of the car sideways. He visited the FOP Lodge on Jan. 3 to meet with members of the Lodge 7 Board and show them some of those 36 world championship med- als.
Harrison knows his size isn’t an issue when he rolls up on a call or arrives to support another officer. It’s an in- stant “intimidation factor” that helps de-escalate situa- tions and has “got him out of a whole lot of fights.”
Despite all the machismo and clichés you can imagine about high-energy big guys heaving heavy weights, Har- rison says there is another part of it that benefits him as a police officer.
“My stress relief is lifting. When I’m frustrated about something, it calms me down,” Harrison explained. “Whatever I’m upset or uptight about, after I finish lifting, I’m relaxed. It’s great therapy for me.”
He’s nowhere near finished either. With open invita- tions to elite events, Harrison eyes new records to go after and break, but he’s also focusing on bringing more peo- ple into what he calls “an underground sport.” Harrison helped promote a January fitness expo that gathered a bevy of instructors from different disciplines and vendors to show people of all ages the ways to improve their nutri- tion and activity levels.
One of the instructors was a body builder in his 80s,
Chicago’s
strongest
cop