John Grun Marx

John Grun, better known by his stage name Herkub Grun, was born in Luxembourg in 1868. Even though he was born into a family of blacksmiths, he decided to emigrate to the United States at the age of 21. It was there that John came across a professional strongman Aloysius Marx, who saw him moving beer barrels around with ease and proposed an idea of strongman partnership called “The Marx Brothers”.

John Grun with his son in 1904

John was most famous for breaking horseshoes in his strongman acts, but he also showed a great strength with thick handled dumbbell snatches. He particularly liked to perform a double-dumbbell lift with 2 3/4″ handles with a total weight of 275 pounds.

Blockweights which John Marx used for one handed clean & press

His other feats of strength include card tearing, halting a moving car and breaking a large block of stone supported on his chest with a hammer. Another John’s specialty was harness lifting. In the poster below, we can see him lifting at least 25 men, weighing over 4400 pounds.

John Grun poster

John Grun was forced to stop his professional career in 1909 after suffering a serious injury. Only three years later, he died after being struck by a deadly disease and his friends and colleagues erected a monument to his fame, which still stands in his hometown Mondorf-les-Bains.

John Grun’s monument

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