In Toccoa, GA. At the end of my mom's block.

The NY Times said of Anderson upon his death: Published: August 16, 1994

Paul Anderson, the gentle Georgia giant who overcame a childhood kidney disorder to win the Olympic gold medal in weight lifting as a super heavyweight in 1956 and then began a barnstorming evangelical career as "the world's strongest man," died yesterday at his home in Vidalia, Ga., where he had operated a home for juvenile delinquents for more than 30 years. He was 61.

According to his staff, the cause of death was complications from a long series of illnesses that had plagued him since he underwent a kidney transplant in 1983.

A largely self-taught weight lifter who did not discover his talent until college and then used concrete blocks and truck axles as training aids at his home in Toccoa, Ga., Anderson felt he was ready to set world records at the age of 20 in 1952.

A series of injuries hampered his progress, however, and it was not until three years later that he burst onto the world stage. As the unknown substitute for the injured American champion at the first Soviet-American dual athletic competition, in Moscow in 1955, the 5-foot-9-inch Anderson was scorned by his hosts.

The scorn turned to snickers when Anderson called for a weight of 402.4 pounds, more than 20 pounds above the world record. The snickers stopped when the 340-pound Anderson lifted the weight. By the time he set another record, in the clean and jerk, he was being hailed by Soviet fans.

The stunning achievement at the height of the Cold War made Anderson an instant American hero, and it was largely an anticlimax when he set three more world records at the world championships in Munich, Germany, later that year.

Although virtually conceded the gold medal at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne, Australia, Anderson was stricken with a severe inner-ear infection.

Competing at 304 pounds and with a 103-degree fever, he fell so far behind his chief rival that on the final of three required lifts, he needed to clean and jerk 413.5 pounds, an Olympic record, to claim the gold. Twice he tried and failed. On the third attempt he asked God for a little extra help and got it.

"It wasn't making a bargain," he said later, "I needed help."

Anderson forfeited his amateur career the next year when he began an exhibition tour to raise money for his juvenile delinquency project.

In the years that followed, he routinely made 500 appearances a year, combining inspirational talks with feats of strength.

Anderson never relinquished his billing as the world's strongest man. On June 12, 1957, at an exhibition in Toccoa, Anderson scrunched under a table loaded with carefully calibrated weghts, totaling 6,270 pounds, and lifted it off the ground. The feat has never been equaled.

Anderson is survived by his wife, Glenda; a daughter, Paula Schaefer, and a sister, Dorothy Johnson.