Warren Lincoln Travis

Warren Lincoln Travis (February 21, 1876 – July 12, 1941) was the first famous strongman in the United States of America and a world champion back and hip lifter, who performed feats of strength on Coney Island in the first quarter of the 20th century.

In 1906, he was awarded the "World's Greatest Weightlifter" by a popular strength publication and received a jewel-studded belt.

His record was broken in 1982 by Howard Prechtel, who Back Lifted 6,066,060 pounds (2,751,520 kg) in 3 hours, 9 minutes.

Travis was defeated by John B. Gagnon for the unofficial title of "The World’s Strongest Man" in 1923.

Then Gagnon held two horseshoes upright in one hand, forming a “W”, and then asked for eight strong members of the audience to try to pull the steel shoes apart, but they could not.

[1] He died during one of his performances of a heart attack at Luna Park on Coney Island.