If Lincoln Hawk, Sylvester Stallone's character in the 1987 action drama "Over The Top," is a championship-caliber arm wrestler, then Jeff Dabe must be the arm wrestling world's equivalent of an All Pro, All World, All Universe competitor. To steal a joke from John Cena and Amy Schumer, Dabe, a heavy equipment operator by trade, professional arm wrestler whenever work and his children allow, looks like Lincoln Hawk ate Lincoln Hawk.
The 52-year-old Dabe began his arm wrestling career in high school and quickly garnered an intrigued and dumbfounded following, according to the Daily Mirror.
"I arm wrestled as a senior in high school," Dabe told the Mirror. "The fans way back then were the ones that named me Popeye."
"Popeye," oddly enough, seems a very apt description for the married father of three. Even from a very young age, Dabe had large forearms. While potential diagnoses for his abnormally large arms and hands, from gigantism to elephantistis, were floated as possible reasons for his odd physical attributes, doctors at the University of Minnesota could find no distinct medical reason for the exaggerated size of his upper appendages.
Either way, Dabe seems fairly unconcerned. Now competing as part of the World Armwrestling League after a long hiatus thanks to an arm injury in 1986, Dabe and his wife Gina seem to genuinely be enjoying the ride.
"It's so fun to travel to places we wouldn't normally go," Dabe told the Mirror. "I was always good at arm wrestling, but the size of my hands did shock people at first - I had the strength to back it up. People freak out when they see my hands in real life."
Now, the Minnesota State Champion, Dabe has finally started taking arm wrestling seriously, doing sport-specific training, which likely doesn't bode well for his competition.
