Top 5 Most Obscure Badasses in History
I'd be impressed if you've heard even one of these names...
It’s the weekend. Let’s do something fun and light. I have a long list of topics to write about, but I’ll save those for next week.
Just as a reminder, tomorrow is the Sunday Edition of the newsletter for paid subscribers only. Volume II is bound to get interesting (dare I say scandalous?). Normally scheduled programming resumes on Monday.
Without further ado, let’s dive into the Top 5 Most Obscure Badasses in History…
Naim Süleymanoğlu
Known as “Pocket Hercules,” he was a seven-time World Weightlifting champion and a three-time Olympic gold medalist who set 46 world records. He was 4’10” and is considered the best pound-for-pound weightlifter of all time. He is one of my biggest inspirations - what he was able to accomplish was otherworldly.
Eugen Sandow
Known as “The Father of Bodybuilding,” he was a circus-performer turned strongman turned celebrity “influencer”. He organized the world’s first major bodybuilding competition in 1901, and crafted his body into a Grecian ideal. I’ve heard through the grapevine he was kind of a dick, but he definitely deserves props for what he did for bodybuilding and weightlifting.
Leonid Rogozov
Rogozov was a Soviet general practitioner in the middle of the 20th century. In April 1961 he had developed appendicitis while at Novolazarevskaya Station, and being the only medical professional there at the time, had to perform his own appendectomy. And he did it successfully! Imagine that. This guy deserves to be on this list based on the sheer size of his balls.
Stanislav Petrov
This guy saved the world - I’m not kidding. From his Wikipedia page: “On 26 September 1983, three weeks after the Soviet military had shot down Korean Air Lines Flight 007, Petrov was the duty officer at the command center for the Oko nuclear early-warning system when the system reported that a missile had been launched from the United States, followed by up to five more. Petrov judged the reports to be a false alarm. His subsequent decision to disobey orders, against Soviet military protocol, is credited with having prevented an erroneous retaliatory nuclear attack on the United States and its NATO allies that could have resulted in a large-scale nuclear war which could have wiped out half of the population of the countries involved.” Thanks, dude.
Diogenes
Diogenes was a Greek philosopher and cynic. What’s most notable about him was he was a lifelong pauper (on purpose), and he essentially lived out of a makeshift tub. As the story goes, one day Alexander the Great ran into the famous philosopher and asked if there was anything he could do for him. Diogenes replied, “Yes, stand out of my sunlight.” Alexander declared, “If I were not Alexander, I would wish to be Diogenes,” to which Diogenes replied, “If I were not Diogenes, I would wish to be Diogenes.” Even talking to the most powerful man to walk the earth, Diogenes gave absolutely no shits.
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