JOE REEVES (Athlete, Class of 2005)

Joe Reeves burst onto the national power lifting scene in 1983, when he won the Marine Corps Championship and then placed third in the Armed Forces Championships. 

Returning to Rhode Island, he also took up body building and in 1986 was named AAU Mr. Rhode Island (the overall winner) and most muscular.  Five years later he was crowned New England’s Baddest Bencher.

In power lifting Joe won the Rhode Island championship,  sanctioned or not, in 242 lb. class in 1987 (setting three Rhode Island records), 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991 (setting two more Rhode Island records) and 1992, when he set the Rhode Island total lift record.

Moving up to the 275 lb. class and then to the super heavyweight class, Joe captured the Rhode Island title in every year between 1993, when he was named the best Rhode Island lifter for the fifth consecutive year, and 2003.

At the national level, Joe finished in the top three of the super heavyweight class in 1993, 1995, and 1997, with his total lift of 2,078 pounds earning him second place in the last of these years.

He currently holds 21 Rhode Island power lifting records: (1) in the two hundred and seventy-five pound class, eight hundred and fifteen squat, five hundred and twenty-five bench press, seven hundred and seventy-five dead lift, and 2,050 total; and (2) in the super heavyweight class, eight hundred and forty-five squat, seven hundred and sixty dead lift, and 2,135 total.