Alumni News
Highland Games World Champion lifted
himself out of adversity
B Y T O M B AU D E N D I S T E L
Cincinnati ’11
M
yles Wetzel, South Florida ’82, graduated
from high school at 6’4” and 120 pounds. The
morning after graduation, Wetzel had a motorcycle
accident and broke his femur for the second time.
He spent 43 days in traction and several months in a body cast. He
was forced to miss a year of school just learning to stand and walk
again. After a lifetime of extreme thinness and several resulting
injuries, Wetzel decided to make a change in his life. After beginning his college education a year late due to his injury, Wetzel
joined the Florida Iota chapter of SigEp. Around the same time, he
began lifting weights with his new Fraternity brother, John
Potanovic, South Florida ’82.
Since then, Wetzel has gone on to win a national championship in
drug-free power-lifting and body-building, just two of his many feats.
He holds multiple state, national, and world records in events ranging
from the dead-lift to the hand-grip. After achieving national recognition and domination in power-lifting, he grew bored, until seeing the
Highland Games on television.
The Games consist of nine strength events, all performed in one
day. He has competed in several Highland Games world championships, and won about forty championships all over the country.
One of his latest victories: the 2008 Masters World Champion in
the Scottish Highland Games for his age group, 45-49.
Although these accomplishments have taken tremendous physical
discipline, the mental aspect of his feats is even more impressive.
While others were out partying in college, Wetzel was on a mission.
He has overcome numerous injuries, including two broken femurs and
a broken foot. In fact, just 11 weeks after a torn rotator cuff on his
throwing arm, he was dead-lifting 505 pounds and competed just over
four months after the injury. He maintains his rigorous workout
routine today.
Since graduating, Wetzel has worked in the insurance industry and
owned his own franchise in Tuscaloosa, Ala. According to Wetzel, he
applies the same principles in business, sports, and everyday life. “You
shoot for perfection each day and strive to hit the mark. You never
actually reach perfection, but if you keep at it, you will make progress.”
Even with his tremendous power-lifting accomplishments, Wetzel
maintains that his biggest accomplishment is his successful family life.
At 48, he has been married for 18 years and has three children. Wetzel
considers himself to be the luckiest SigEp ever and says he still has a
burning desire to compete and improve. He said, “I love to challenge
myself, and I love to win!”
Wetzel “amps up” to throw this 56-pound block of steel over the bar one-handed.
He holds the world record in this event, 16’4”. To throw in a few weight statistics,
he has dead-lifted 735 pounds and front-squatted 550 pounds.
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The Journal of Sigma Phi Epsilon • Summer 2008
Alumni News