Ron Bath with Gary Roberts and Travis Bagent

MEET RON BATH

The world of armwrestling has taken Ron Bath to many great places and allowed him to meet many great people from all over the U.S. and the world.

This all started on Feb.15, 1962, in the small community of Wabeno, WI. Ron was fifth born of eight, with six brothers and one sister. He is the son of James and Barbara Bath. Ron was raised on a small family farm. Throughout high school Ron played several sports: basketball, some wrestling, and his best moments were playing football. Throughout high school and after graduation Ron worked masonry construction for his father’s company. He also logged several winters when construction was shut down.

In 1985, Ron married his wife Cindy and stepdaughter Nicole. Right after their wedding they moved to GA to work for a family friend who had a construction business in GA. Over the years they have had three wonderful and healthy sons: Ryan 17, Josh 9, and Matt 7. Ron and his family currently live in Canton, GA where Ron runs his own construction company.

Ron enjoys most sports and coaching his sons’ sporting activities. Ron’s most success has come in the sport of armwrestling. His first taste of the sport was when he was about 15, seeing the legendary Johnny Walker and others on Wide World of sports. His senior year in high school Ron’s phy ed. class had a small type tournament. This is where he realized he had a natural ability for this sport. Ron’s first true tournament came the fall of 1980 near his home, where Ron took a first place. For the next 5 years, Ron armwrestled throughout WI and Upper Mich., winning most of the time. Ron managed to go to Chicago several times which gave him a taste of the best. He got to see the likes of Cleve Dean, Dave Patton, Bert Whitfield, and the chance to pull Johnny Walker. At this time Ron had no clue that in just a few years he would be living right in their backyard.

So in 1985 Ron moved to GA for work, not realizing what would transpire over the next few months. Shortly after moving, Ron went to a small tournament in north GA. This is where he managed to meet Bert Whitfield in his first match. Fortunately, Ron caught Bert off guard and after along, hard match got a win on the smaller Whitfield. The next match was against the big strong, though new to the sport, Dave Randel. Dave had no mercy on Ron. This started Ron’s journey into this fabulous sport. Ron started working out with both Bert and Dave. So with their talents and Ron’s desire, he worked hard to climb in the sport. In just 3 years Ron would win his first of many National titles. Ron won the 1988 Nationals in the 220 class. However, Ron’s biggest scare came in late 1999 at the worlds in Japan where he tore a bicep tendon in his right arm. Over the next weeks he had surgery to repair the tendon. During that surgery though a nerve was damaged leading to his hand. This caused a permanent paralysis. Over the next few weeks and several second opinions, the outcome looked poor. Six weeks later Ron had the original surgeon and a neurologist operate again. This time with a lot of prayer and the lords help in a few short weeks Ron could tell the difference. The doctors had found a crushed nerve, and basically, as they said pampered it and cushioned it with some fat they found in his arm. They still were not sure how much use he would get back out of his hand. So back to the desire Ron originally had and hard work. In early 2001 Ron entered his first tournament and to his surprise pulled extremely strong. So the intentions of pulling one tournament then retiring went out the window. Within a year Ron was back to pulling with the best and winning a few times.

Ron currently holds 31 national and 7 various world titles. He Currently pulls the 220 class, though he doesn’t hide from the heavier weight classes, as he is competitive in all the heavier weight classes. At the age of 43 Ron has no reason to stop. Ron feels, with god willing and physical abilities keeping him competitive, he will remain. Ron also has the latest push of his sons who all show interest in the sport.

Ron’s workout varies do to higher commitments. Like family and work. Though he does get workouts in. Sometimes it might be only one a week or up to four times a week. One a week will usually be at least a half hour to an hour of various curls and pulling simulation for armwrestling. During the winter and slower company hours, Ron will try to work out up to four times a week on various and all body parts, with some type of pulling in each. Ron also tries to armwrestle at least once a week, but more often then not it is usually every two to three weeks. Do to the life Ron lives, which he enjoys his workouts are very inconsistent. Though with age he is learning to try and get it more consistent. That is still his biggest weakness.

As Ron reaches over 25 years in the sport his best advice to give others would be: