USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame Class 2020 and Award Winners
Share:
by USA Weightlifting
USA Weightlifting is proud to announce the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame Class of 2020 and the winners of the 2020 USA Weightlifting Awards in honor of their achievements.
Congratulations to the winners!
For the following three rewards, the USA Weightlifting Hall of Fame Committee selected and reviewed nominations from the Membership and forwarded their recommendations to the USA Weightlifting Board of Directors, who selected the winners. Note, due to a lack of international competitions in 2020, no athlete winners were selected for 2020.
Hall of Fame - Contributors - Class of 2020 #
Tim Swords
Working out of his home garage on the outskirts of Houston, Texas, Tim Swords has coached athletes young and young-at-heart to great success. His dedication to teaching the art of weightlifting most recently earned him the Larry Barnholth Award for Technical Coaching in 2019. In 2016, he coached two-time Olympian Sarah Robles to Team USA’s first Olympic Medal in 16 years with a bronze-medal performance at the Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro 2016.
Glenn Pendlay
A longtime fixture in the Weightlifting community, Glen Pendlay took his first coaching course in 1995. He’s coached athletes from age 6 all the way to those who represented Team USA at the World Championships. Pendlay’s coached dozens of athletes who have competed at the top level, including athletes appearing at the Olympic Trials, Junior Pan Ams, Junior Worlds, Pan Ams and Senior World Championships. Through his career, Pendlay rose through the coaching education ranks and held the highest coaching USA Weightlifting certification, Level 5, Senior International Coach. Pendlay created a pipeline of athletes by building the weightlifting program in Wichita Falls from virtually nonexistent to a thriving program. Pendlay passed away from cancer in 2019.
2020 USA Weightlifting Award Winners
Mabel Rader Award for Outstanding Contribution to Women’s Weightlifting – Jim Schmitz
Jim Schmitz coached Team USA Weightlifting in the 1980, 1988, and 1992 Olympics.
Schmitz currently coaches weightlifting at The Sports Palace in South San Francisco, California, a member gym of the Pacific Weightlifting Association (PWA).
Schmitz established the Sports Palace gym and club in San Francisco in 1968. Beyond coaching Olympians and American Record holders, Schmitz is responsible for coaching his athletes to dominate national team championships in the 1980s, winning the US National Team Championships from 1982-1987 and again in 1989.
Gordon Andrews Award for Outstanding Contribution to Men’s Weightlifting – Ursula Garza Papandrea
Ursula is a former two-time national champion, two-time Olympic Festival champion, 5 time world team member and former record holder in both the snatch and the clean and jerk. She was an elite international athlete who distinguished herself as a coach in 2003 by becoming the first and only woman to attain USA Weightlifting’s highest coaching level, Senior International Coach Level 5. Ursula has extensive national and international experience in competitive weightlifting as an athlete since 1987, and 20+ years of coaching experience at national and international levels. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Exercise and Sports Science, and her Masters Degree in Political Science, and has had a career as a Professor at Austin Community College since 1994. She revived her competitive career to become Master’s national champion and best lifter in 2009, national champion again in 2010, and once more breaking national and unofficial world records in 2013. She became CrossFit Level 1 certified in 2010 and served as part of the CrossFit Olympic Lifting Certification Staff 2009-2015, in addition to teaching the USAW Level 1 and 2 Sports Performance courses. Ursula has served on the USAW Board of Directors from 2009-2020 and held the position of President from 2015-2020. In 2017, Ursula was the first ever female elected as Vice President of the International Weightlifting Federation, and served as interim IWF President in 2020.
Larry Barnholth Award for Coaching Excellence - Kevin Doherty
Kevin Doherty has produced a number of elite level athletes over the years, including 2016 Olympian Jenny Arthur and former resident athletes at the Olympic Training Center, including D'Angelo Osorio. A coach of Hassle Free Barbell in San Francisco, Doherty is also a teacher at Lincoln High School. Doherty is responsible for identifying and growing the talent of many elite-level athletes, including athletes who have appeared at IWF World Championships at the youth, junior and senior levels.
Hoffman Award, LWC of the Year: Florida
Florida Weightlifting is the 2020 winner of LWC of the year.
