Strongest man in history?

Years ago I hung out with a powerlifter from here in AZ named Tim Isaac, I believe he was the first man to benchpress 800 lbs. Not sure what happened to the guy.

I have a couple good Bill Kazmaier stories. Back in college I worked in a health club owned by a good friend of mine. One day Kazmaier (a Wisconsin native) and his wife walk in and ask to speak to the owner. My buddy is in the lockerroom taking a shite so we walk down to the lockerroom and I tell my buddy Bill Kazmaier wants to speak with him. My buddy responds "Who the frick is Bill Kazmaier?" Kazmaier responds "only the World's Strongest Man". Buddy comes out of the stall and his jaw drops when he sees the size of the guy.

Same year, I played on a slow-pitch softball team with a bunch of locals. We are in a dive bar after a game and Kazmaier walks in looking for one of the guys on the team, apparently they were HS rivals of some sort and there was always some bad blood between them. They take it out in the parking lot and square off and Kazmaier has at least 100 lbs on the guy. After scuffling for a bit Kazmaier slams my buddy- a Wisconsin pig farmer nicknamed "Headbutt"- off the hood of a car and messes up by buddy's shoulder. My friend gets up and with one punch dislocates or breaks Kazmaier's jaw. That was the end of the fight.

I’ll put in for Kaz, as well if we’re not talking about relative strength (e.g. Lamar Gant’s deadlift). Maybe Doug Young, he was a frigging mastodon if a man.

On a similar note, I remember back on Stan Lee’s “real life super hero” shows, there’s some dude who rips decks of playing cards and phone books in half likes they’re tissue paper. Apparently his body has/uses more muscle fiber recruitment than the average human by quite a lot. There was another guy whose body doesn’t build lactic acid, which allows him to run forever and never get tired.