WHO IS BILL GILLESPIE?
Bill Gillespie is a world-renowned powerlifter that hails from Tacoma, Washington. Gillespie has over 40 years of experience in the strength and conditioning world. He went to Liberty University, where he became a four-time All-American plus a two-time small college national champion in the shot put. In addition, he held the shot-put record for 24 years!
Gillespie began his career as an assistant strength and conditioning coach and eventually head of the track & field program at his Alma-mater Liberty University from 1983-1991. He then moved onto a similar role at the University of Washington. He ended up winning Pac-10 Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year and was a finalist for National Strength and Conditioning Coach of the year in 2001. In 1999 Gillespie became the Director of Strength and Conditioning. While in that position, the school made 9 bowl appearances and 3 consecutive trips to the Rose bowl.
With all this success, it was only a matter of time before he caught the attention of the Seattle Seahawks. He became assistant Strength and Conditioning coach for the Seahawks from 2003 to 2005, then returned to Liberty University as Director of Strength and Conditioning.
Now that we briefly skipped over Gillespie’s career, you might be able to see why he’s so successful in powerlifting.
You can see Gillespie’s incredible powerlifting career here. It started in 1981 as a novice where he weighed 242 pounds and put up a 635 squat, 375 lb bench press, and 645 lb deadlift. Since then, Gillespie has accumulated over 100 World Records in bench press, including the World Record Drug-tested Bench Press. This man is strong as a bull!
Bill Gillespie's Equipped Bench Press All-Time World Record of 1,129LBS
Check out the new equipped (using a multi-ply bench press shirt) all-time world record bench press executed by Gillespie in the 365 Strong powerlifting federation’s meet at Mountain Island Fitness in Charlotte, NC on January 22, 2022.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
Gillespie’s unmatched 40 year run in powerlifting is something to marvel at. We’re sad to see him leave the sport, but we’re thrilled to see him go out on top. We know Gillespie will continue to educate others using his decades of knowledge and experience to help people achieve their goals.
Kiel DiGiovanni
Author