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Fred at work
February 15, 1952, Fred Roy was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan,
Canada. He was raised on the family farm in the French/Canadian community of
Domremy, Saskatchewan, along with his 7 brothers and 4 sisters. Growing up in a
humble background, Fred’s parents, Roger and Florence raised their family
deriving their income from mixed farming, lumber and logging camps. Hard work
with little reward was nothing new to the family clan, but still they basked in
good health and great fun with the little they had. Fred, fluent in both English
and French, graduated from the local school in Domremy. Like most young people
at that time, secondary education was not an option and so he headed straight to
work in his father’s local bush camps and then on to the mines of Thompson,
Manitoba, Canada, where he toiled in the INCO mines for nickel ore. After a year
of doing this work he went onto road construction, running heavy equipment,
building roads into the north country of Canada. He even purchased a motorcycle
and pursued his private pilot’s license. There was a lot of work available in
those years of 1969 to late 70’s. During those growing up years Fred met
Debbie Bremner, with whom he stayed in very close contact. After returning from
the North Country and working a 6-month stint as driver salesman for a petroleum
company and then 2 years for a meat packing plant, Fred and Debbie were married
in 1973 and raised a family of 2 boys Christopher and Jason and a girl, Meagan.
Fred went onto drive tractor-trailer for a cattle company and in 1975 he started
his own business in the logging industry, running three bush camps and heavy
equipment to go with it. Four tractor-trailers hauled their product to the local
mills. In the late 80’s, Fred sold out the business and in 1990 he started
working for Weyerhaeuser Canada, one of the world’s largest pulp, paper and
lumber companies in the world. He works there today as a Maintenance Supervisor. That
is quite a trail to follow, as we list off Fred’s many occupations, but there
are several things that stand out during this sojourn, the very physical work
that was done in many of the activities and the constant planning and executing
of these plans. During his growing years, Fred participated in every sport
available to him, excelling in most but not being a standout in any particular
one. His physical strength far surpassed his physical stature and it was only a
natural migration to armwrestling. Coming from a large family, it was easy to
find someone to armwrestle against and his older brothers thought it was great
fun to set up the unsuspecting in the local bars for free drinks against the
smaller Roy kid. In
February of 1979, at the local Prince Albert Winter Festival, a local
chiropractor, Dr. Reg Martsinkiw, thought it would be great fun to have an
armwrestling tournament included in the festival. He’d heard of some pretty
tough armwrestlers in Alberta and contacted them. These gentlemen were John
Miazdzyk and Tony Senger. Dr. Reg had them come out and organize the tournament,
in which Fred entered and proceeded to get two 3rd place finishes.
Nonetheless he was hooked. He talked with John for hours, asking all kinds of
questions about the ins and outs of armwrestling. There were no local
tournaments in Saskatchewan, so, Fred traveled to Alberta to attend John’s
tournaments, where he continued to get beat by individuals who were not as
strong as he was. Debbie traveled with him as much as was possible, especially
with a growing family. She encouraged him to get something going locally, so
Fred founded the Saskatchewan ArmWrestling Association (SAWA) and he began
promoting armwrestling within the province. It didn’t take long to get a
pretty big following through out the province and later in that same year, Dr.
Reg and Fred got together and planned the North American Armwrestling
Championship. Wow! What a success this was! They had quite a few Americans up
from the northern states and Canadians from across Canada, East and West. Now
Fred became involved on the National scene, traveling to where the bigger
tournaments were and promoting the smaller ones, always looking for new
armwrestling talent. John Miazdzyk, who was the president of the Canadian
Armwrestling Federation (CAWF) at the time, asked Fred if he were interested in
helping to run the CAWF. Fred threw his name into the circle and he became the
Vice-President of the West CAWF. The
year of 1979 was a very busy and important year and that same year, John
Miazdzyk hosted the very first World Armwrestling Championship in Weytaskwin
Alberta, Canada. Four countries were represented, Canada, United States. India
and Brazil. The world really didn’t know at the time that this was to be the
catalyst that started the present World Armwrestling Federation with over 70
member countries now! At that time the armwrestling was run on the sitdown style
only. In 1985, Fred became a member of Team Canada and they traveled to Mexico
City, Mexico. After 2 grueling days of competition, Fred emerged with a gold
medal in both arms, left and right. Wow! What a high that was for him and now he
wanted to carry on and defend his title. In 1986, Fred went to Las Vegas after
winning the right to participate in the Over the Top tournament, which was part
of the movie with Sylvester Stallone. He wanted the Worlds again! The 1986
worlds were to be in India, but unfortunate events in that country kept the
other countries out so it didn’t happen as planned. The 1987 Worlds were in
London, England, where Fred experienced his best tournament ever, although he
only finished with a silver in both left and right. Now he began getting a
little more involved in the politics of armwrestling as it was getting quite
busier and John needed help. In 1988, they went to Sweden, where Fred finished 3rd
in both left and right and he represented Canada on the WAF board, as John had
taken ill. In 1989, a very tragic event threatened to upset armwrestling, not
only on the National level but the World level, when John Miazdzyk passed away
from a brain tumor. At the Western Canadian Nationals that year (up to this
point there had always been several National championships which created some
confusion as to who was the actual national champion), Fred was elected to
replace John Miazdzyk as the Canadian leader. Team Canada headed for Greece,
where Fred became a Vice-president of WAF replacing the late John Miazdzyk. Fred
competed in the open tournament but his duties were taking its toll and Fred
finished 3rd once again. He had to make his mind up to either stay
competing or to get involved more heavily in the politics of armwrestling. He
decided to continue to being involved in armwrestling through the refereeing of
the sport and in building a better structure to the main body of the sport. Back
in Canada, Fred took to his new post of CAWF President with a vengeance. He
traveled to the eastern part of Canada and after meeting with all the shakers
and the movers of armwrestling there, he explained his vision of there being
only one National tournament in Canada. Many thought this to be a pipe dream and
doubted that it would work. Fred told them, let us not rush into it, but let us
have only two National tournaments, one in the east and one in the west. The top
one from each class from each tournament will become Team Canada. They did this
for two years, but then Fred said, " The worlds are getting better every year,
but yet we still don’t send our best. For example, our first place winner
could perhaps be beat by your third place finisher or vice versa and therefore
we do not have our best on the world team." After more debate and some
concessions, the CAWF became united as one and for the last 10 years, they have
been having a single Nationals with a dramatic improvement in their showing at
the Worlds. In
1990, Fred went to the Worlds in Houston, Texas, USA. There he refereed at the
championship and participated in the General Assembly. There were some conflict
with some of the delegates and it seemed a rift was starting to form in the WAF
and Fred was destined to be involved. The WAF was growing quite fast and other
forces were entering the playing field, trying to capitalize on the growth. In
1991, the WAF was in Israel for that year’s championship. Because of personal
commitments at home, Fred did not go. In 1992, the Worlds made their stop in
Geneva, Switzerland. This seemed to be the beginning of the end for the WAF that
most people knew. General Assemblies were not very productive and Fred was
growing tired of the egos that were running WAF at the time. The very democracy
that the WAF was founded on was violated to the extreme during the election
process. The President and Gen-Sec at that time duped member countries into
signing a blank sheet of paper, when asked what it was for, they were told it
was an attendance roster. Canada and several other progressive countries were
not asked to sign, nor shown the paper. At the top of this sheet the duo wrote
in after the fact, that all the below signed showed unanimous support for these
two people to continue on as President and General Secretary and therefore an
election was not necessary. Fred was very disappointed in these people. He tried
to get a North American Armwrestling Federation (NAAF) going that year, but the
same people who had violated the democratic process in WAF became involved there
as well and the NAAF became merely a shell. In 1993, the Worlds came back to
Canada, in which Fred participated again as referee and WAF delegate for Canada.
He also wrote the NAAF constitution that year, trying once again to get it
going. He got some co-operation from the American Armwrestling Association (AAA)
who appointed Ray Darling to the NAAF Board of Directors. Between the two of
them and in order to get going, upon mutual consent, Fred was to serve as
president for a two year term and then Ray would take over for two years and
then they hoped to have a general election to have new people involved. In 1994,
Sweden once again hosted the WAF Worlds. That year Fred chaired the General
Assembly and some progress was made. During the past several years, each Worlds
had been alternating, one year sit down style and the following year stand up
style. The sit down style was becoming very cumbersome and hard to referee
properly. Stand up was fast becoming very popular and was much easier to referee
and promote. In the General Assembly Fred introduced the motion and had it
debated to eliminate the sit down style completely from the curriculum of the
WAF championship. A majority vote changed the way of doing tournaments and stand
up was to be the only style promoted on the World circuit. In 1994, Fred was
asked by then President of WAF, Bob O’Leary and General secretary of WAF,
Barij Baran Das to go to Moscow and attend the Golden Bear tournament. Once
there he was to contact new members. This was a prestigious event at which some
very high profile armwrestling leaders would be attending who were not part of
WAF at the time. These included Mr. Dave Devoto, USA, Mr. Leonard Harkless, USA,
Mr. Mitsuo Endo, Japan and others. Arranged by Mr. Igor Akhmedshin, Fred
presented his pitch on WAF in front of the Russian Olympic Committee and all
others that were present. The results were very successful and WAF came away a
winner with newly acquired members. At this point and in talking to Mr. Devoto
and Mr. Harkless, Fred asked them why they had not joined forces with the AAA
and become one National body in the United States. They told him they had asked
but all their ideas and proposals had been rejected at the time and that they
were basically told they were not wanted. Fred thought this to be very odd,
especially when WAF was supposed to be trying to spread armwrestling and get as
many organizations into the fold of WAF as possible. With this information in
hand and on behalf of the NAAF organization, Fred approached the AAA and asked
if it were possible to affiliate all entities in the country of the United
States under one National banner without each organization losing its original
identity, much as they had done in Canada. No answer back! In
1995 the WAF Worlds went to Brazil. More controversy ensued, not only on the
world level but on the continental level as well. The board of directors of the
AAA took Fred aside and told him to keep his nose out of USA armwrestling
business and that the AAA was the only organization recognized to represent
armwrestling to WAF in the United States. Fred asked them what about all the
talent that was being left out of the loop, what about the following all the
other organizations had, would they not be interested in acquiring those
athletes? Were not the proposals put forward by NAAF worth debating with all
interested parties? No, no, no, were the answers that came back! Fred persisted
and he was threatened to be thrown out of the organization if he continued. On
the World level, the refereeing division was running into problems with constant
battling for power and egos were tripping out. What would it all come to,
wondered Fred? Who cared who had refereed more than the other, as long as they
had quality refereeing. In
1996 the WAF Worlds went back to the USA. Problems were getting more intense.
Now, suddenly, the then WAF leaders said Fred could not participate as a
referee, although he had done so for the last 6 years, stating WAF policy that
had never been in the constitution before. They also asked him to give the NAAF
presidency over to Ray Darling, delegating him to vice –president of NAAF.
Fred realized that they were trying to force him out by any way possible, even
changing policy without majority consent or debate. His push for a
better-structured WAF was not being met with open arms. The head hunting had
started. Mr. David Shead from England was expelled from WAF on trumped up
charges and exaggerated lies. The
year of 1997 took the WAF back to India, again under controversial
circumstances. Upon arrival in Guwahatti City, State of Assam, Fred was
registered into a hotel away from the host hotel. Out of site out of mind so it
seemed to say. He receives a visit
from Barij Baran Das who delivers him papers of charges against Fred on behalf
of WAF. Again more trumped up charges and the head hunting continued. He made
his way to the host hotel and handed out the packages on behalf of Canada who
were proposing to host the Worlds for 1998. He then made arrangements through an
interpreter to take him to an individual who had a typewriter. Once there Fred
answered all of the charges against him, point for point and then he found a
place to have them photocopied. The following day was the Annual Congress
meeting. Again they were playing silly games, giving Fred a hard time about
getting his pass to get into the meeting. The president of WAF stops him before
he enters and shows him papers that were later discerned as forged, that the
president of NAAF, who was not present at these worlds, had taken Fred out of
the position of vice-president and appointed someone else into that position,
therefore taking Fred off the board of WAF. When Fred challenged the
authenticity of these papers, even if the whole scenario was against the NAAF
constitution, he entered the meeting hall to take his place at head of the
table. Sitting in his place was the alleged replacement for the North America
delegation. An armed guard came to him and pushed him out of the way and he was
asked to sit elsewhere, which he did. He conducted himself in a gentlemanly
fashion in spite of the way he was being treated by these people who were
totally out of control. When the time came to vote for the next year’s Worlds
no other country had any proposal except for Canada. Fred passed out the
remaining world packages to the countries that had not received them as yet. It
was voted on unanimously to accept Canada’s bid. Then it came time to take
care of other business, the charges that had been presented to Fred were read
and the execution began immediately without even asking if Fred had any rebuttal
to the charges. Acting quickly with the help of the rest of the Canadian
delegation, the rebuttal papers were passed out, answering all the charges
against him. This was a move that took the board by surprise, because they did
not expect that Fred would have had the time to do all of this. When individuals
demanded that Fred have the time to answer to the charges and explain his
rebuttal, the General Secretary came out with this bit of wisdom "A
majority decision has no place in this Congress." The board pulled in their
horns and said that they would take the time to read the rebuttal (instead of
doing it in Congress and having a membership vote) and come back with a
decision. The next day is the start of the tournament. Now the WAF has a
problem. They do not have enough referees, so Fred is asked to referee, even
though the year before he wasn’t allowed. Rather then point out all of the
very apparent deficiencies in their strategy, Fred agreed to do it so that some
of the credibility of a World championship might be saved. Upon
leaving Guwahatti City, Fred runs into General Osman from Egypt at the airport.
In conversation Fred asks General Osman, "So we will see you at the
World championship in Canada next year?" He calmly replies, "No,
I am returning home to prepare to host the World championships in Egypt next
year as I was asked by Mr. Das and O’Leary to do so." Fred replies, " Were we not at the same meeting where the
membership voted unanimously to come to Canada for the Worlds next year?" "Yes"
he replied, " but apparently there has been some changes since you have not
given the required sanction fee." Fred goes to his luggage and checks the inside
pocket of his suit and finds the sealed envelope from the bid committee in his
suit. In all the commotion he had not given it to them. Upon arrival in
Calcutta, he sends the check to Mr. Das via registered mail, which he had to
sign for to receive it. Mr. Das then claims that Canada was breaking the law
because it was illegal to give post-dated checks. He is now in contact with the
host committee in Canada. Now Fred arrives back in Canada and begins contacting
Mr. O’Leary and Mr. Das to find out the decision of the board after reviewing
the rebuttal. Three months later, they return a decision that they had expelled
Fred from WAF for life and that the Worlds were going to Egypt for 1998. Knowing
of all the bogus activity that had surrounded all of this, Fred went back to the
membership and sent out a call for a vote of non-confidence against Bob
O’Leary and Barij Baran Das. The charges were explicit, based on fact and
through the only article in the constitution that could accommodate this action.
The vote for non-confidence was to take place at the World championships in
Canada. Canada went ahead with championships because it was not the membership
that had changed the location, it was a couple of scared individuals. The vote
went ahead at the Congress meeting and Das and O’Leary were removed from their
posts and an election was held to replace them. There was a majority quorum at
the Congress Meeting and the votes stood as valid. The interim President was
Fred Roy, Canada and General Secretary was Willy Deneumostier, Belgium until
election year 2000, at which time a new election would take place. The
1999 edition of the World Championship were in Tokyo, Japan. Although the
controversy had created upheaval in the world of armwrestling, some excellent
progress was made. There was actually some real work being done in Congress.
Fred was pleased with all that took place, the defeats and the victories,
because he knew that the WAF was finally on the right track. Progress would be
made. A referee training program was introduced the year before and the decision
had been made to run the clinic at every championship. Changes were made in the
constitution to stop the kind of abuse and dictatorship they had experienced
from the former administration from happening again.
The
millennium edition of the World championship went to Finland. The year 2000 was
filled with victories for Fred, which overshadowed the defeats. Great strides
again were taken in making the WAF championships more efficient and meetings
more productive.
2001, WAF
was in Poland, gaining more strength and momentum as democracy and a positive
outlook continued to prevail in the World of armwrestling. More countries joined
the WAF.
The United
States has the 2002 championships and it is promising to be a tremendous
tournament. World armwrestling unity is a big topic and the armwrestlers of the
world want it to happen. These are the people who want to see armwrestling
raised to that plain where it belongs, the goal shared by so many from so many
different countries, ultimately the Olympics. Editors comment: It is very rare to meet an individual like Fred Roy. I first met him in Moscow, Russia in 1994. I was immediately impressed by his honesty and strong leadership abilities. He is truly our leader for unity in the sport and he will ultimately take us to the Olympic games. Thank you Fred for all your hard work and dedication to the sport of armwrestling. Dave Devoto |
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