Christopher “Chopper” Figura became Jim Thorpe’s first state power lifting champion in 1991 and will be one of the inductees into this year’s class of the Jim Thorpe Area Sports Hall of Fame.

Figura began his competitive lifting career in the 144-pound category in various lifting competitions locally before moving on to the state and national level. Chris eventually became a “National Dead Lift Champion” in the 123-pound category.

He was already heavily involved in organized sports playing baseball, football and basketball, as athletics run in his family. Figura excelled in all three sports, but head weight lifting coach John McGowan and assistant coach Dave Malkin saw potential in Chris as a quality weightlifter and talked to him about competing. He agreed to give it a try and with typical enthusiasm he trained diligently for many months prior to entering his first competition.

Figura took first place at the state championship meet, which had at least a dozen teams competing. He faced lifters from advanced programs, including perennial powerhouse Glen Mills, as well as Hershey, Grove City, Nanticoke, Parkland, Upper Perkiomen and Quaker Valley. Chris far exceeded any of the expectations of his coaches with having to compete against top level programs of this stature and competitors across the state who had been competing for years.

“Chris was my (JTAHS) first champion,” said Coacc McGowan.

Although the sport is not recognized as a PIAA championship, it is recognized throughout the Commonwealth as the premier event. Chris received a letter invitation to compete in the dead lift portion of the national competition that same year.

The national competition was held within Pennsylvania that year so travel and participation was fairly easy and not overly burdensome. Figura was reluctant to compete on the national level, as he didn’t think he was competing long enough to do well in such a high-powered event against lifters long-involved in intense and demading meets of this kind. While there, Chris would compete against top lifters from Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, Texas and New Jersey. He ended up taking first place, becoming the first champion at a recognized national level in power lifting from Jim Thorpe.

As stated, Chris was a three-sport athlete having played football, basketball and baseball. He continues to give much credit to McGowan and Malkin as prime motivators. In 1992, he became an assistant baseball coach on the team that eventually won the only District 11 2A baseball championship in school history.

In 1994, while attending Elizabethtown College, Figura competed in and lettered in basketball. Christopher and his wife, Billie Ann, live in the Myrtle Beach area and are parents of two children. He works in the home building business in the Myrtle Beach area.

In the next few weeks leading up to the banquet, other inductees into this year’s class will be highlighted. The other inductees include the 1969 Jim Thorpe championship football team, Kayla Susko, Ethan Smith, Ryan Saunders II and PJ Johnson.

The 30th annual Jim Thorpe Area Sports Hall of Fame banquet will be held at Dean Anthony’s Restaurant in Jim Thorpe on Saturday, Aug. 17.

A cocktail hour will begin at 5 p.m., dinner at 6 p.m., and the induction ceremony will start at 7:15 p.m. Entertainment will begin at the conclusion of the induction ceremony, which will be at around 8:30 p.m. The cost is $35 for adults and $11.95 for kids. The price includes dinner, selected drinks and entertainment.

Tickets for the induction ceremony and the rest of the evening may be obtained by calling Jack Kmetz at 570-325-4923 or Wilmer Redline at 570-325-3073.