Mike Stansbury is a living legend.  He influenced his sport in the community and area in ways which perhaps are not fully documented and appreciated. His dedication to the sport of weightlifting is best illustrated by the impact his vision has had on the sport and its prominence in the area and beyond.

Mike started a weightlifting team in 1947 and called it "Mike’s Gym." 

In 1956 Mike’s Gym became Mike Stanbury’s Health Club

 
Health Club at 411 Jefferson Blvd. started in 1956

Later when Mike became the recreation supervisor for the City of Lafayette, he was successful in develping young lifters who became national champions. Gene Hebert, Mike Thompson, Dick Fleming, Jimmy Reinhardt and Walter Imahara are some of his early lifters. His work with them and others inspired young men from Mike’s home parish to try the sport.  These included Terry Perrin, Warren Perrin, Bill LeBlanc, Jay Trahan, Mack Schriefer, Stafford Palombo, Glyn Viltz Cliff LeBlanc and Weldon Granger.

Click here for Mike’s profile: http://www.athleticnetwork.net/site.php?pageID=55&profID=8675

  Mike Stansbury 181#s 

In 1956, with the support of SLI Dean Glynn Abel, four members of “Mike’s Gym," who were SLI students, qualified for the National Collegiate Weightlifting Championship in Columbus, Ohio. Team members included: Stansbury, Stafford Palombo, Cliff LeBlanc and Walter Imahara. With Mike serving as captain, coach and participant, the team earned a second place finish.  The following year, with the addition of Louise Riecke (who later set a world snatch record of 325 pounds), the team was successful in winning the first National Collegiate Weightlifting Championships for SLI. Later, the weightlifting teams at USL won seven additional National Collegiate Championships in 1963, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970 and 1971.

In 1953, Stansbury met Lloyd “Red" Lerille and invited him to move to Lafayette. In 1956, Mike and his wife Andreé opened “Mike Stansbury’s Health Club, Inc." on Jefferson Blvd. “Red" Lerille worked with Mike and Andreé in the operation of their business. In 1960, “Red" established “Red’s Health and Racquet Club." After closing “Mike’s Gym" in 1960, Stansbury returned to Abbeville to run a business he inherited from his father

In recognition of his support of the program, Mike was honored, along with other members of the UL weightlifting teams, at the half-time of the UL football game on December 2, 2006.

(L to R): Dr. Joseph Murry, Wayne Vizini, Bill LeBlanc, Dr. Jimmy Reinhardt, Al Chutz, Weldon Major, George Weatherford, Dick Fleming, Johnny Arceneaux, Dr. Joseph Gaynor Burleigh, Elwood "T-Boy" Hebert, Warren A. Perrin, Gene Hebert, Terry Perrin, Walter Imahara, Stafford Palombo, Louis Riecke, Mike Thompson, Jim Courville, Rollie Andre, Mike Stansbury

Red Lerille, Andree, Mike, and Warren Perrin at the Weightlifters Reunion on Dec. 2, 2006.  

Following the Dec. 2, 2006 game and recognition at UL, Stansbury will be inducted into the “Order of Living Legends" by the Acadian Museum of Erath at www.acadianmuseum.com  Stansbury has three degrees from UL: In 1954 he received a BS in Business Administration, in 1956 a BA in Liberal Arts and in 1960 a BS in Art Education.  Click here for Weightlifters Recognition and Reunion Photo Gallery Dec. 2, 2006:
http://www.athleticnetwork.net/site706.php#