Alan Calvert
{{Short description|American weightlifter, businessman, and author}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Alan Calvert
| image = Alan Calvert.png
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| birth_date = 1875
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| death_date = June 24, 1944
| death_place = St. Davids, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| occupation = Weightlifter, businessman, magazine publisher, author
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| spouse = Mary Uhle Githens
| children = 4
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}}
Alan Calvert (1875 – June 24, 1944) was an American weightlifter, businessman, magazine publisher, and the author of several books. He was the founder of one of the first barbell companies in the world and one of the first strength-training magazines in the United States.
Life
Calvert was born in 1875. He became a weightlifter after reading A Natural Methodist of Physical Training by Edwin Checkley.{{cite journal |last1=Beckwith |first1=Kimberly |last2=Todd |first2=Jan |title=Strength, America's First Muscle Magazine: 1914-1935 |journal=Iron Game History |date=August 2005 |volume=9 |issue=1 |pages=11–28}}{{cite journal |last1=Hoffman |first1=Jonathan |last2=Gabel |first2=C. Philip |title=The origins of Western mind–body exercise methods |journal= Physical Therapy Reviews|date=2015 |volume=20 |issue=5–6 |pages=315–324 |doi=10.1080/10833196.2015.1125587|pmid=27695277 |pmc=5022134 }}
Calvert founded one of the earliest barbell companies in the world, the Milo Bar-bell Company, in Philadelphia in 1902. He was the founding publisher of Strength, one of the first strength-training magazines in the United States, from 1914 to 1920.{{cite journal |last1=Fair |first1=John D. |title=George Jowett, Ottley Coulter, David Willoughby and the Organization of American Weightlifting, 1911-1924 |journal=Iron Game History |date=May 1993 |volume=2 |issue=6 |pages=3–15 |url=https://www.starkcenter.org/igh/igh-v2/igh-v2-n6/igh0206c.pdf |access-date=January 4, 2019|via=H.J. Lutcher Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports}} In 1919, he sold both the Milo Bar-bell Company and Strength magazine to Richard L. Hunter and Daniel G. Redmond in 1919. In 1932, the company was purchased by Bob Hoffman, who renamed it the York Barbell.
Calvert wrote several books about weightlifting. In his writings, he promoted progressive strength training, and he argued: "There is no greater asset in the business world, and in the social world, than a fine physique."
Calvert died on June 24, 1944, in St. Davids, Pennsylvania.{{cite news |title=Calvert |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/171552249/?terms=%22Alan%2BCalvert%22 |access-date=January 3, 2019 |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer |date=June 26, 1944}} He is interred at West Laurel Hill Cemetery, Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Selected works
- {{cite book |last1=Calvert |first1=Alan |title=The Truth about Weight Lifting |date=1911 |location=Philadelphia|oclc=8895592}}
- {{cite book |last1=Calvert |first1=Alan |title=Super Strength |date=1924 |publisher=Milo Publishing Company |location=Philadelphia|oclc=637901992}}
References
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{{Physical culture}}
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Category:American male weightlifters
Category:20th-century American publishers (people)
Category:Burials at West Laurel Hill Cemetery
Category:People associated with physical culture