Pumping Iron … and Other Things

Your dad is the immortal Super Bowl-winning ESPN analyst known throughout the land as Chucky. Your uncle is turning around the Washington Redskins franchise as an NFL head coach. How, if you’re Jon “Deuce” Gruden II ’16, do you push yourself out of your family’s long shadow?

Evidently, if you’re Deuce, all you’ve got to do is flex. The alum won gold this June at the World Classic Powerlifting Championships in Belarus. Gruden, who was a running back during his time at Lafayette, picked up his medal in the junior 183-pound weight class.

Here we ask the immortal question: If it weren’t in the form of exercise equipment, what could Deuce lift?

• Deuce squatted 600 pounds five times. That’s a weight equivalent to a large vending machine.
• Deuce bench-pressed 418 pounds five times. That’s the same as lifting a 26-cubic-foot refrigerator and two full-grown leopards at the same time.
• Deuce’s deadlift max was 640 pounds. That’s the weight of a Steinway Model O living room grand piano with a car tire resting on it.