Native America Calling: Native strongmen push their strength to the limit

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Native America Calling: Native strongmen push their strength to the limit

Monday, July 27, 2026

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Trial by concrete and steel: Native strongmen push their strength to the limit

Longtime Phoenix, Arizona-based professional strongman Jerry Pritchett (Chickasaw) isn’t ready to retire just yet.

For now, his focus is on his son, Bubba, who at 15 years old, recently locked out a 615-pound deadlift at a competition. Pritchett is a veteran strongman and powerlifter who was named America’s Strongest Man in 2017 and was later named a World’s Strongest Man finalist.

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Other Native strongmen who have earned professional titles like Pritchett is Harold “Iron Bear” Collins (Lumbee). Collins was a popular competitor in the 1990s who broke six Guinness World Records, one for pulling a 50,433-pound semitruck and flatbed trailer 160 feet in 44 seconds.

In Canada, Colten Sloan (Whitefish Lake First Nation) is working hard to join the ranks of these strongmen. In 2021, he became the first Indigenous man in Canada to earn a pro card in the sport and has since competed around the world.