Pete Nistok This Thanksgiving, pause a moment and remember those that, at one time or another, passed through our lives, and helped make our memories
There are those who remember Pete Nistok as that big, genial arm wrestler who one day jumped off the Highlands Sea Bright Bridge and went right through the deck of a boat passing underneath. Both survived.
There are those who remember Pete from the 1960s when he was the “front door attendant’ at the former Trade Winds Beach Club in Sea B right. Or others who recall his days and nights working at Surf and Sea.
But Pete Nistok of Highlands made his name as the WWC champion arm wrestler and two time runner-up in earlier years at Petaluma, California.
Pete began his arm wrestling career in the early 1970s and in 1973, with 400 entries in the field, placed second to Bill Harrison in the men’s heavyweight arm wrestling competition. The following year, Harrison was out of the mix, and Nistok came in third,, tying with John Woolsey. The following year, he came in second, beating Woolsey who tied for third with Bob Olson.
It was in 1980 when Pete, the father of two sons, Ethan and Seth, and arm wrestler Jeff “Samson” Margolis, began their push for power in the sport, believing it all should start and stay with the Hook. They opted for strength in the sport rather than pure technique and introduced the power variation that swept the sports world for a few years, before dying out in the late 1980s when it faded in popularity.
Pete died on New Year’s Day, 2000, at 59 years of age.
