Grand Bois arm wrestler still pulling down matches at age 46

R.J. Molinere started winning arm wrestling matches at age 14.

Back then, it was older teens challenging him to contests dueled on the hoods of trucks.

Today, the 46-year old Grand Bois native is the older man in most tournaments he enters, but he is still pulling down arms.

In a career that has spanned nearly a quarter-century, Molinere has won two world championships and multiple national championships.

“I feel like my power is still there. I just takes a lot of work,” he said.

Molinere put in plenty of work, especially after the 2004 car accident that derailed his career at its peak.

It has definitely paid off. In February, Molinere won his second Arnold Schwarzenegger Classic Arm Wrestling Challenge in Columbus, Ohio.

On Aug. 1, he travels to Salt Lake City to compete in the 2008 Unified National Arm Wrestling Championship. The contest is a qualifier for the World Arm Wrestling Championship in Canada this November and next year’s Arnold Classic.

“This is going to be a hard tournament because the young guys are getting stronger, and I’m getting older,” Molinere said. “But I’m telling you, I’m going to win.”

He developed confidence early. Growing up along the bayou with siblings Alvin, Clarice, Deanna and Emma, the family lived off the land — hunting, trapping and fishing alligators.

At first arm wrestling was simply something he did while staying up and goofing off with friends at night.

At age 17, his uncle LZ Verdin entered Molinere in a professional arm wrestling tournament in New Orleans, which he won.

“I was always strong for my age, but even that surprised me,” Molinere said.

Verdin took his nephew to competitions every place they could afford to go. As suddenly as success had come for Molinere, arm wrestling began to fade out of his life.

“My uncle was working really hard at that time,” he said, “and without him pushing me to arm wrestle, I decided I rather chase women and drink beer.”

Eventually Molinere would settle down. He and his wife Stacey, a nurse practitioner, ran a successful offshore crew boat for about nine years.

But like the Houma Indian blood pumping through his veins, so does arm wrestling. Molinere found his way back to the sport he loves.

“Larry Blanchard from Body Elite, he did a tournament called Downtown on the Bayou,” he recalled. “There I met some guys from Denham Springs who are some arm wrestling freaks.”

After winning the tournament, Molinere was asked by the new Denham Spring buddies to join their arm-wrestling team, Southern Slammers, and he accepted.

Combining new techniques learned from his teammates with his years of experience, Molinere became a force in the arm wrestling community.

He began traveling the world and winning the sport’s most prominent tournaments, including the World Arm Wrestling Championships in 2001 and 2003 (Italy and Canada respectively).

He also won the GNC Pro Performance Arm Wrestling Tournament in New York City in 2001 and his first Arnold Classic in 2003.

“I was at the top of my game,” Molinere declared. “I was on ESPN, FOXSports Net and all that good stuff.”

The “good stuff” included being followed by a film crew for a yet-to-be-released arm wrestling documentary called “Pulling John.”

The momentum almost stopped permanently for Molinere one night in 2004.

While returning home from a training session in Denham Springs, his GMC Sierra was rear-ended by a drunk driver police say was traveling between 95 and 100 mph, he said.

The accident caused spinal damage and broken ribs. He still has a plate inserted in his neck.

“That screwed me up for about three years,” Molinere said. “If I hadn’t been in that accident, who knows where I would be today.”

He continued to compete, but he did not win. The frustration of losing got to him and he seriously considered quitting.

But he did not have to look far to find an encouraging voice and get him back into top form.

“My son Jay Paul told me, ‘Daddy, if you want this, we can get it back, but you really got to want it,’ Molinere said. “I asked him, ‘What are you talking about.’ He said, ‘Look, I’m going to help you. We going to work really hard, and you’re going to win the Arnold’s this year.'”

Rather than disappoint his only son, Molinere got to work. Between heavy weightlifting sessions and training on some personal arm wrestling workout equipment in his shed, Molinere was back as close to pre-accident condition as he could get.

When he won his first Arnold Classic, Molinere was in the 143-pound class. This year, he competed at 154 pounds. He went undefeated in his bracket to claim the title.

“Everybody figured at the age of 46, I was done,” he said. “Nah, I got my title back. If it wasn’t for Jay, Larry and Nancy [Blanchard] letting me workout at Body Elite, this would not have been possible.”

This would probably be a good point in his life to slow down, take stock in his children – Natasha, 26, Brittany, 23, and Jay Paul, 19 – spoil the grandchildren – A’yiana, 2 ? , Namyinah, 2, and Kayen, 13 months – and ride off into the sunset.

Do not count on it though.

“People keep telling I should think about retiring, but I say ‘I aint there yet,'” Molinere declared.

He wants to compete at least until he is 50 and has plans to grow arm wrestling – if not into the mainstream, at least into recognition as a legitimate sport.

“When you say arm wrestling, most people think it’s just a couple guys doing it,” he said. “When you go to a national championship or an Arnold Classic, there’s hundreds of guys competing, but you got to be in the arm wrestling world to see that.”

One idea to get more people to see arm wrestling is hosting “supermatches,” where top pullers call-out each other and compete for thousands of dollars in cash.

“If you had the choice between going for a plaque or $20,000, which way would you go?” he asked.

Another idea he’s entertaining is to get arm wrestling sanctioned as an Olympic sport. Attempts so far have been futile.

But the Grand Bois native isn’t giving up.

When he is not hunting, trapping or fishing, Molinere has another passion closer to him than arm wrestling: the Houma Nation.

“The older I get the more I think about it,” he said. “My wife taught a lot about the Houmas, and now we’re teaching (their children) about the Houmas traditions.”

One of those traditions is symbolized by Molinere’s braided mane. It reminds him of whom he is, where he is from and keeps him strong.

“My sisters came out darker than me and they have black hair,” he said. “I came out lighter and with this lighter hair. I was mad at them for that.”

The lack of federal recognition for the United Houma Nation means the tribe loses out on millions in educational, job training and land development grants. Molinere intends to change that.

“How can we be state recognized and not federally recognized?” he asked. “I don’t get that. If you’re Indian, you’re Indian.”

Molinere’s every move is purposeful. Whether he is pulling down an arm, pumping weights, or helping his community, there is little wasted effort. He has many goals still left to pursue and time is of the essence.

“There’s a guy who calls me Chief Ponytail,” he said while smiling broadly. “When he gave me that nickname, I said ‘You right bro’. I’m going to be a chief one day. It’s happening right now.”

R.J. Molinere readies for his Aug. 1 trip to Salt Lake City to compete in the 2008 Unified National Arm Wrestling Championship. It is a qualifier for the World Arm Championship in Canada this November. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF