About/Who/Why

Dan Wardlaw got a late start in competitive arm wrestling at age 46.

20 years later, Wardlaw is the second best arm wrestler in the world in the Senior Grand Masters 60-and-over 100 kg class after capturing the silver medal in the world championships in Antalya, Turkey in 2022 and in Almaty,  Kazakhstan for 2023.

Wardlaw, 66, is also the founder of the Old Man Strong Arm Wrestling Club based in Winchester, CA. But to call Wardlaw an old man is a bit of a misnomer and risks getting your arm pinned faster than you can put one of his custom club shirts on your back.

UAL President Bill Collins announced that Wardlaw will be donating the proceeds from the sales of his Old Man Strong Armwrestling Club T-shirts from next month’s 2023 UAL United States Open Arm Wrestling Championships at the Anaheim Convention Center on Aug. 5-6 to go towards sponsoring the masters classes at next year’s UAL United States Open Championships in 2024.

Wardlaw’s ultimate goal is to sell enough T-shirts in Anaheim and future UAL tournaments to be able to commit at least $2000 in prize money for all masters classes.

It was the legendary armwrestling historian and coach Merle Meeter who first convinced Wardlaw to arm wrestle on his team in the Masters division at a tournament in Lake Tahoe.

Since then, the masters division has grown near and dear to Wardlaw’s heart, motivating him to give back money and recognition to arm wrestlers who have been in the sport a long time.

Collins was lavish in praising Wardlaw’s efforts.

“I’ve had people come to me wanting to support their programs which I’m open-minded to. But I can’t support something where I assume all the financial risk just to build their organization,” said Collins.

“Dan is one of the few with a different mindset in wanting to help build the masters classes. The UAL is happy to provide the platform as this can be the start of something great. We hope people get behind this program as the bigger the push, the bigger the prize money.”