Walpole’s Ciavattone tough as they come

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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor

Between his status as a three-time cancer survivor, a holder of over 50 weight-lifting world records, and the first American ever to lift the famous Dinnie Stones, it’s safe to say that Walpole resident and 63-year-old iron man Frank Ciavattone has been around the block.

Once dubbed the “world’s strongest man” by Alex Trebek, Ciavattone has made his mark in the weight-lifting world by doing it all the correct way: through hard work, dedication, and absolutely no outside substances to help boost his performances. Up until last year, when he finally gave up the sport professionally, Ciavattone was a force to be reckoned with in the weight room, breaking record after record.

However, early in his weight-lifting career and right up until the end, Ciavattone was forced to deal with some significant adversity.

“I got a set of weights for Christmas in 1967,” said Ciavattone, remembering how all the iron-pumping began. “I started lifting and later I started taking it seriously in 1970 when I had my first professional competition in Boston. I did Olympic-style up until the 80s, and unlike a lot of people back then, I never took any steroids or growth hormones. I did it all natural. In 1979, I was diagnosed with colon cancer. It was hard, but I beat it, and I kept lifting weights throughout the treatment processes and later worked my way up to No. 4 in the country.”

“One minute, you’re on top of the world and the next minute, you have to drop it all and focus on something that’s painful and harder than anything you’ve ever done,” said Ciavattone on overcoming the adversity of cancer three times. “I’ve hard most of my large intestine taken out and a lot of my bowel system is gone - I had that done last year. But, even through all of that, I never really changed who I was. Obviously, it was extremely difficult to go through, and it’s still an ongoing battle, but I looked at it as a challenge. Kind of like lifting weights, you know it’s a challenge and it is going to be hard, but you dig deep and find a way to get it done.”

In 1996, Ciavattone took part in the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, and became the first American to ever lift the famous Dinnie Stones (733 lbs). Ciavattone says that leading up to the history-making lift, he had not planned on attempting to lift the famous stones.

“The night before at the event banquet, one of the guys in charge, who I was friends with, got up and made an announcement saying: ‘Anybody who wants to get up at 5 a.m. tomorrow, the bus will leave early and we’re going to go watch Frank Ciavattone lift the world famous Dinnie Stones.’ And I’m just sitting there like, ‘Well, great. When was somebody going to tell me about it?’ But obviously, I agreed to do it and we went.”

The Dinnie Stones are a pair of massive granite boulders located in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. They are named after legendary Scottish strong-man Donald Dinnie, who famously carried the stones across the span of the Potarch Bridge in 1860. To lift the stones unassisted is considered an historic feat of strength; when Ciavattone arrived in Aberdeenshire, only five individuals had succeeded in lifting the stones since 1860.

“When I got up there, it was raining and it was hard to get a grip, so I had to turn my body into a different position than I was used to - but it was the only way that I could get a good grip,” Ciavattone recalled. “I bent down, grabbed them both and stood up with them at my sides. People started hollering and screaming and cheering. I slowly put them down, and that was that. It was a day of firsts. I was the first American to do it. I was the first person to do it without any type of guidance or significant training. And I had to lift the bigger stone with my left hand when I was a righty.”

As for advice to the next generation of kids looking to take up weight-lifting, Ciavattone says to take it slow and to always keep everything you lift documented.

“Get themselves a bar bell set and get as much information as you can about how to do this properly,” said Ciavattone. “Get a diary and log your progression. It doesn’t have to be drastic, but the goal in this sport is to constantly be making improvements to your game. Whether it’s weight amounts, technique, taking up new lifting methods and partaking in different events. Do it all and keep it documented. I think it is important to take it easy and to start slow. Don’t go for the heavy lifts early. Low reps with low weights to start out, and then add on weights as you get better and stronger.

“Baby steps are the right way to it.”

For funny and incisive sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter at @fLAno0.

Photos by Frank Ciavattone and Jim Sanders