Zach Steele Lives Up To His Name
Zack Steele has a great name for an athlete. Zach was voted Most Masculine this year at Dora High, and for good reason. He has played football for the Dawgs for three years as defensive lineman, center, and guard. He won the Wendy's Heisman for Dora High and also won the Scholar/Athlete of the week during his final season at Dora.
Zach has been lifting weights since he joined the football team. The main reason for lifting weights was to enable him to be more formidable on the football field but a while back, Coach Banks and Coach Glover assembled a core team of lifters to compete in the 2008 State Invitational Power Lift Championship at Hamilton High School in Northwest Alabama. The team included Chris Clark, Jacob Turner, Matt Tyree, Ian Sanders, Randall, Sanders, Kyle Glover and Steele.
To prepare for the tournament, Zach worked out daily increasing his weight each day. "I pushed myself to do more and more weight than I usually do," he explained. "I worked mainly on my form since the requirements were different for the tournament. Due to a knee injury during football this year, I was really worried about being able to really compete with the other guys," says Zach.
The coaches felt good about their team, but they were unsure about the chances of the untested team. "We had worked hard," Zach said, "and they felt like we earned the chance to compete."
There were 3 events in the tournament: squats, bench press, and power cleans. Each event consisted of 3 lifts, and the score was based on the amount of weight lifted correctly.
"I squatted 445 lbs, benched 275 lbs, and power cleaned 245 lbs," Steele said. "This put me 300 lbs ahead of the previous champion who had won this event 3 years in a row," he said. " This was not the heaviest I could go, but it was all I needed to win the event." Zach took home the 2008 State Invitational Power Lift Championship (in his division).
What's next for Zach Steele? "Graduation and college women," he said smiling. He has been offered an academic scholarships to UAB, and Birmingham Southern. At this time, Zach has not decided which college to attend.
What's in the future for Zach Steele? " In 2006 I started my on vending business. I have about 12 locations already,
so if any companies out there need snack machines give me a call.," says Zach. He plans to take courses in college that can help in my business endeavors. "My step-dad deals in arcade games across 2 states (Kenny's Arcade Games) and eventually I plan to buy him out and take over his business....and then...the world," he says.
Zach lives in Dora with his parents Kenny and Jackie Hogan and sister Kenna Hogan. He lifts Volkswagens and Toyota's to stay in shape.