Jan Todd (Ph.D. ’95), professor and chair of the Department of Kinesiology and Health Education (KHE) and renowned sport historian, wasn’t always in academia. In fact, she was a legendary competitive powerlifter. She was the first woman to deadlift 400 pounds as well as the first to lift Scotland’s famed Dinnie Stones, also known, ironically, as the Manhood Stones, a combined weight of 780 pounds.
Her record stood unbroken for nearly 40 years.
At an event in March, Todd discussed her book, Physical Culture and the Body Beautiful: Purposive Exercise in the Lives of American Women, and explored the evolution of physical culture and fitness in American women from the 19th century to the present.
The first thing you notice about Jan is her presence and heart,
said College of Education Dean Charles R. Martinez. She is widely known for her physical strength, but it’s the strength of her character, her leadership, her mentorship, and her caring for others that really stand out.
Dean Martinez praised Todd’s championship of her department, the H.J. Lutcher Stark Center and the college as a whole. Her passion and steadfast focus on advancing physical culture and sport through research and storytelling have shone a bright light on the lives and accomplishments of not only women athletes, but all athletes,
he said. While her physical strength has been remarkably important in opening doors for those who have followed, her true impact has been in the enduring legacy she has fostered for her field of research and practice.
A pioneer in women’s fitness, Todd was heralded as the strongest woman in the world, breaking over 60 national and world records in powerlifting.
Despite her many achievements, Todd acknowledged that her interest in weightlifting was not exactly intentional. At the time, she was dating her future husband, the late Terry Todd. My introduction to lifting wasn’t that I wanted to be an athlete or I wanted to be a jock,
Todd said. I just wanted to spend time with my boyfriend.
This, of course, led to more than she ever imagined. I became really curious about how strong I could be,
Todd said.
In 1974, Todd began what she called serious strength training,
such as squats, bench presses and deadlifts. One year later, she broke the Guinness World Record for the deadlift, at 394 pounds.
She was featured in Sports Illustrated in 1977. Todd said that not only did the story make her a celebrity, it changed her life. It made me think about what I was doing, and the process of what I was doing,
Todd said. I began to think more about the political impact of what I was doing. The Sports Illustrated article was a gamechanger for women.
Todd appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1978, and was the first woman to be inducted into the International Powerlifting Hall of Fame. She continued to compete professionally through 1986.
In 1985, Todd joined the faculty at KHE and later earned her doctoral degree in American Civilization. Her dissertation centered on the definitive history of strong women in the 19th century, a topic she later expanded into her book.
Even though sport history existed as a field,
Todd said, there was nobody looking at the history of women’s exercise.
A prolific writer, Todd has authored and co-authored numerous books and scholarly articles over the years. Although Physical Culture and the Body Beautiful was published in 1998, it remains relevant today, offering analysis of how society continues to wrestle with outdated female stereotypes—not only concerning physical strength, but about womanhood as a whole.
There were always these questions about femininity,
Todd said. Aren’t you worried about having children, or losing your figure? We don’t ask as much these days as we used to ask.
In 1983, Jan and her husband Terry founded the Stark Center for Physical Culture and Sports, the world’s largest archive and leading research center dedicated to the study of physical culture, history and sport.
The Stark Center preserves the history of physical culture and sports through its extensive archival collections, research, education and publications.
Todd recalled sorting out the first boxes of their collection. Every time I opened up a book, there were pictures of things that were amazing and interesting,
she said, and I kept finding so much stuff about women that I didn’t know about.
