Jack King started training in his family's attic at fifteen. He discovered Olympic lifting at a Greensboro YMCA in the 1950s, competed in his first meet in 1955, and never stopped. By the seventies he'd built a gym in Winston-Salem that became the center of gravity for serious lifting across the Carolinas and beyond. He pressed 300. Snatched 260. Clean and jerked 340 at the 1970 Southern U.S. Regionals. Then he switched to natural bodybuilding and won 29 competitions — including the 1997 AAU Masters' Mr. America and 2002 Masters' Mr. Universe. All natural. Connected to the York Barbell Club through Bill Starr, King became the pivotal figure who transformed Southern lifting standards. Under his guidance, lifters dramatically improved — Jimmy Bishop advanced from a 720 to a 910-pound total; the Roten brothers became elite light heavyweights. Today, Jack King's Gym is home to some of the top powerlifting competitors in North Carolina and the country. The tradition keeps getting heavier.