By Nate Jones

Staff Writer 

What would posses someone to strap themselves to two 285-horsepower Air Force T-34 aircraft just before takeoff? 

In 1993 Dennis Rogers did just that, and successfully stopped the two planes from leaving the tarmac, earning the Grandmaster Strongman, The Association of Oldetime Barbell and Strongmen Highest Achievement Award. 

“I thought it would be a great idea to have him come to town,” said Phil O’Conor, treasurer of the Scarborough wrestling boosters program, as Rogers will be visiting Maine for the first time as part of a fundraising event.

The 51-year-old Rogers, originally from Maryland, said his career really began when a high school friend persuaded him into challenging the reigning school armwrestling champion, who was twice Rogers’ size.

“I was kind of shy, but I ended up doing it, and beat him. Armwrestling was very easy, I got bored with it,” said Rogers, who would continue armwrestling until the late eighties, when he won the World Armwrestling Championship.

In his boredom following the competition, Rogers began bending different metals bars and tools, driving nails through metal with his bare hands, tearing through phonebooks and ripping up decks of cards. The feats of strength were not new, but Rogers took a different approach to each by ignoring trade secrets of past Strongmen.

“I didn’t realize they were mostly tricks and didn’t take a lot of strength, so I got used to doing them without the tricks,” he said.

Since a friend first convinced Rogers to perform for a group of local children in 1988, he has performed in nearly 1,800 shows all over the world. After 15 years of performing, Rogers, who stands not 5-feet-tall and weighs less than 200 pounds, has become, “pound-for-pound,” the strongest man in the world.

“I’m the strongest man for what I do,” he said. “Strength is really subjective to what arena you’re talking about; I’m not going to out-lift a power lifter and I’m not going to challenge the champion Ultimate Fighter because they’ve trained their bodies in different ways.”

Rogers, who is friends with renowned professional boxer Evander Holyfield and several other professional Strongmen, said Mark Henry, a professional WWE wrestler, is by far the strongest man he knows.

“He has the most overall body strength I’ve ever seen. When they say he’s the strongest man in the world, they mean it,” he said.

As he grows older, Rogers said he is beginning to take on the role of a coach in his efforts to keep the Strongman spirit alive. He currently spends time with 40 students and advises more than 900 others, including some who are performing feats of strength with their hair, he said.

“They wrap their hair in a real tight weave, like a rope. Two of them pulled a pickup truck together, you can see them hanging onto their scalps. The pain is intense,” Rogers said.

While Rogers said his hair growing days are over, his favorite old-time Strongman, the “Mighty Adam” was a hair strength pioneer.

“He tried to stop a plane with his hair and it pulled some of his scalp away,” Rogers said. “He figured out how to train the hard way.” 

Rogers said technique and strategy play a large part in preventing injury during different feats. Once, Rogers put a nail through his hand in an attempt to drive it through a frying pan and wooden board, a trick he had done many times before.

“The board was on a stool, which wasn’t unusual, but the stool had some rubber on the top that I hadn’t seen, which caused the nail to jump. You’ve really got to think, it’s dangerous stuff,” he said.

Rogers said occasionally he forgets his own strength.

“Sometimes I won’t realize a door is locked, and I’ll end up twisting the knob right off,” he said. 

Rogers said he is often asked to prove himself to audiences, most recently in a three-part Discovery Channel show on superhuman strength which scientifically tested what it takes to stop a Harley-Davidson, a feat Rogers performs regularly.

“They found that the motorcycle put 1,045 pounds of pressure on my arm,” he said. “People try to justify or dismiss possibilities. We need to expand their thinking.”

Rogers said he encourages young people to “think big” by using his own success as an example.

“I was in special education gym class in school,” he said. “Now I have conquered two sports by being the World Armwrestling Champion and the top performing Strongman.”

O’Connor said he first met Rogers during a business tour.

“He incorporates his strength into his motivational speaking, and it really keeps you from slacking off,” O’Connor said.

Rogers will perform at the booster event beginning at 6 pm on Mar. 15 at the Scarborough High School, where he will bend steel, rip phone books and drive nails with his bare hands as part of a fundraiser for the wrestling team. 

“We’re hoping to raise $5,000,” said Dawn Carroll, president of the wrestling boosters program. 

The Gym Dandies children circus act will precede Rogers’ feats of strength and an “a la carte” dinner will be provided after his show, including an auction for items bent by Rogers during his performance. Tickets for the event are $6 in advance and $7 at the door and are available for purchase at Village Center Auto Care at Oak Hill in Scarborough or by calling Carroll at 207-510-1094.