Oders Dell Wilson Jr. (September 12, 1954 – October 29, 1991) was an American world champion powerlifter and world champion strongman competitor. Wilson was known by the nickname "the Nightmare", due to his size.[3]
Career
Wilson came close to being the first American since Bill Kazmaier to win the World's Strongest Man title in 1990. Leading the competition with 5½ points before the last event - a 200m race with a 100 kg weight on the back. Wilson lacked the endurance and running speed to complete the course and ended up losing by half a point to Jón Páll Sigmarsson in the overall competition. Wilson vowed to win the 1991 World's Strongest Man title, but a back injury sustained just before the competition, a prolapsed disc, hampered his performance. Wilson would finish in fifth place.
Wilson spent 12 years in the military, eight of which were spent overseas in Germany, Japan, and Korea.[4] Prior to strongman and powerlifting, Wilson was a 200 m track athlete, a basketball player, a racquetball player, and was a boxer for two years in the Army.[4] When Wilson was not competing, he was a security guard and a bodyguard to various celebrities, including Michael and Janet Jackson.
Wilson was a successful powerlifter. He was a five-time U.S. Services champion and a five-time U.S. Army titleholder.[4] Wilson won the 1988 USPF National Super Heavyweight Powerlifting title, as well as the 1988 IPF World Powerlifting Championships.[4] Some of Wilson's training partners were also notable World's Strongest Man competitors including Rick "Grizzly" Brown, Bill Kazmaier and James Perry, who competed in the 1992 World's Strongest Man.
Wilson set multiple world records throughout his career; at the 1989 Armed Forces Championships, O.D. Wilson squatted 1,002 pounds (454 kg), bench pressed 552 pounds (250 kg), and deadlifted 876 pounds (397 kg) for a then all-time total record of 2,430 pounds (1,100 kg).[5] Wilson's weight at that meet was measured at 400 pounds (180 kg), his height was measured at 6 feet 7 inches (201 cm). It is believed that he had one of the biggest ever quadriceps, measuring 42 inches. Wilson's shoe size was 23 and his ring size was 26, while the ring size for the average adult male is between 10 and 12. Wilson also appeared in a 1989 science fiction action film Cyborg featuring Jean-Claude Van Damme. He is considered by many to be the strongest man to never win the World's Strongest Man contest, along with Riku Kiri and Derek Poundstone.
Death
On October 29, 1991, while being interviewed on a radio program just a few weeks after the 1991 World's Strongest Man competition, Wilson complained of chest pains and went outside for some fresh air. Within moments, he collapsed and died of cardiac arrest. He was just 37 years old.[3]
