Behind the iconic squat denim and high-performance sandals is a man who experienced the storied history of Austin’s powerlifting scene firsthand. Below are the words of longtime member Buster Roye, who has a bit to share about his lifting journey.
On Dec. 1st , 2014 I joined Hyde Park Gym and was met by Brook. I was bent over, somewhat twisted and only had about 10% use of my right leg. I remember telling Brook that I lifted when I was younger and he said you can get it back.
Well at my age you will never be as strong as in your 30’s, but I got it back and then some.
I started working with Kirby Sams and was only able to step up 3 inches with right leg, but it was a start. Within a few months I was able to step up 12 inches. Eventually had to have total hip replacement but that first year at HPG made recovery a breeze and I was kicked out of PT after 3 weeks.
Later that year I started working with Stephen Moore, his accident had been about the same time as my surgery so we were both starting over to a degree. I decided I wanted to powerlift again.
I say again because I am one of the OG’s in powerlifting starting at 15 years old in the late 60’s. The sport was fairly new back then and evidently I set a few records as a skinny teen. My buddies and I worked out with a weightlifter by the name of Jim Napier who was a 165 lb shot putter for TCU who taught us powerlifting. Jim went on to hold the American Snatch record for awhile lifting 147.5 kg in the 75 kg weight class. He was impressive. In ’69 I entered engineering school at the University of Texas here in Austin. Back then UT’s Gregory Gym had a small weightlifting area, but I found a local gym to join called Texas Athletic Club. That was a hard core gym with some of the scariest lifters I’ve ever seen. That gym had professional wrestlers like Ivan Putski, NFL linemen, Doug Jones – that went on to win the World Power Lifting Championship several times, once with 3 broken ribs, and notably Dr. Terry Todd, the first US Powerlifting Champion in 1964. These guys were serious men.
Unfortunately for me the 70’s came along and I really can’t say much about that time period in print, other than there was no working out. Making a living was no easy task and a great blue collar job was $4.80/hr tying steel rebar for the downtown freeway, working out was not needed.
In 1979 I was diagnosed with a disease that at the time was considered terminal and I was told I couldn’t work or do many other recreational activities. I asked the doctor if I could go to a gym and workout and he said sure. So I joined the first HPG, Highland Park Gym on Hancock at Balcones. It too was a serious gym with a lot of drugs and steroid use. Although I was supposedly sick I was able to hit many very good PR’s for my size, clean I might add. Unfortunately the gym was shut down when the two owners were busted for crystal meth and illegal steroids.
I mention the above because obviously I got better and had learned that strength can help with many ailments. There was no medical evidence back then as there is today, but I remembered and that helped me return to lifting decades later.
Over the 11 years at HPG I have worked with many great trainers. Jennifer Chu helped immensely with straightening my frame and enabling me to start squatting. It took me close to 3 years to squat parallel and another 2 years to get below parallel. But I have to attribute what I have learned to all the current and past trainers, if I didn’t work with a trainer I watched what they did and how they helped others.
After the pandemic I started working with Rachelle MacLellan who has taken me to the next level. At the moment I hold 9 Texas USAPL records and 7 Southwest Regional US records. And we have been able dispel the old beliefs that you cannot get stronger as you age.
For those of you that do not know me I am no workout warrior, but as Kirby says I am consistent and that is what it takes.
One last thing, HPG has some of the most amazing, brightest, and successful people; you never know when the person next to you may be a world class eye surgeon, Olympic medal winner, world class musician, a nuclear fusion physicist, a Hollywood filmmaker, former ballerina or just some old guy like me.
For those of you that do know me, thank you, I consider all of you my friends for life.
