Jack King — The Man Behind the Iron

Mr.
'97
America

Est. 1976 · Winston-Salem, North Carolina

From an Attic in Greensboro to Masters' Mr. America

Jack King started training at fifteen in his family's attic. He discovered Olympic lifting at a Greensboro YMCA in the 1950s, entered his first meet in 1955, and never looked back. By the time he was pressing 300, snatching 260, and clean-and-jerking 340 at the 1970 Southern U.S. Regionals, he was already the strongest man most people in the Carolinas had ever seen.

Connected to the legendary York Barbell Club through Bill Starr, King became the pivotal link between Northern competitive lifting and the emerging Southern scene. He didn't just train — he built infrastructure. He coached. He set standards.

In the late 1970s he turned to natural bodybuilding. Over the next two decades he won 29 competitions — all drug-free — culminating in the 1997 AAU Masters' Mr. America and the 2002 Masters' Mr. Universe.

Today, at the gym he built on Peters Creek Parkway in Winston-Salem, the tradition continues. The platform is always loaded. The records on the wall are real. And Jack King is still training five days a week.

1955

First competitive meet — Olympic lifting at age 15

1970

Southern U.S. Regionals — pressed 300, snatched 260, clean & jerked 340

1976

Opens Jack King's Gym on Peters Creek Parkway, Winston-Salem

1997

AAU Masters' Mr. America — natural bodybuilding

2002

Masters' Mr. Universe — 29th and final competition win

2026

50th Anniversary — still training five days a week

The Coaching Legacy

Jack King didn't just build his own record — he built lifters. Under his guidance at the gym, Jimmy Bishop advanced from a 720-pound total to 910 pounds. The Roten brothers became elite light heavyweights. Dozens of state and national-level competitors trained under his eye.

His coaching philosophy was simple: heavy squats, heavy cleans, and consistency measured in decades, not weeks. The York Barbell tradition, filtered through Southern grit and applied with patience.

The gym he built in 1976 is now home to some of the top powerlifting competitors in North Carolina and across the country. The tradition keeps getting heavier.