By Guy Clifton, Reno Gazette-Journal
Reno, Nev. police Sgt. Chuck Kendricks took a little break from meth labs, drug dealers and hookers last week and got in some serious strong-arming.
Kendricks, who heads the Regional Street Enforcement Team, participated in the World Wrist Wrestling Championships at Boomtown, finishing fifth both left-handed and right-handed in the open division.
“It was a great tournament,” said the 50-year-old Kendricks, a 26-year veteran of the Reno Police Department. “All the best guys in the world were there.”
Kendricks, who has been competing in arm wrestling competitions since 1971, is one of the world’s best, despite competing against challengers half his age.
“Most of the top guys are in their 20s,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun.”
While wrist wrestling includes masters divisions, Kendricks said he’d rather stick to the open division and face the best competition available.
His love of the sport was sparked early on while he was growing up in Petaluma, Calif. Anyone who has followed the comic strip “Peanuts” through the years (Snoopy, in particular) knows Petaluma was the longtime home of the World Wrist Wrestling Championships. It moved to Reno three years ago to better accommodate participants.
Kendricks, who competes at 222 pounds, played football in high school and at Santa Rosa Junior College, but he always had an interest in wrist wrestling.
“I think just from being around it, with the world championships every year, that kind of got me interested in it,” he said.
He says wrist wrestling is 50-percent technique and 50-percent strength. He has a training table at his ranch in Fernley and his teenage sons, Neil and Michael, are his training partners.
When he isn’t training or chasing bad guys on Reno’s streets, Kendricks raises cattle on his ranch. After he retires from police work, he’ll probably turn to ranching full time.
We’re pretty sure he’ll be able to wrestle a steer or two.