Jeff Dabe was born in 1963, a happy, healthy little boy. Doctors couldn’t find a single condition that would explain what would soon become increasingly clear: Dabe is a real life Popeye.
The little boy was born with unusually large hands that kept on growing with him, although there is no scientific explanation for them.
Scientists at the University of Minnesota looked for gigantism or elephantiasis but there was no trace; Dabe was just blessed with superhuman-like forearms.
“People freak out when they see my hands in real life,” he says.
Dabe has never really seen his unusual arms as a burden — and why should he? The remarkable limbs made joining the arm wrestling team in high school a breeze.
“I arm wrestled as a senior in high school. The fans way back then were the ones that named me Popeye,” Dabe said.
Unfortunately, in the late ’80s, he popped his right arm and gave up arm wrestling, although that isn’t quite the end of his tale.
Here’s Dabe at just 10 years old, already more buff than the average adult. In high school he competitively arm wrestled but after an injury he was forced to quit.
Dabe’s forearms have a 48cm circumference and each hand can hold an entire basketball.
His wife, Gina, doesn’t mind at all. “I always encourage Jeff no matter what he does – and it’s so fun,” she said.
Now, at age 52, Jeff has decided to get back into arm wrestling and fulfill his dreams. Instead of competing with his injured right hand, he now just uses his left.
“I was always good at arm wrestling, but the size of my hands did shock people at first — [but] I had the strength to back it up,” he said.
Watch the video below of Jeff arm wrestling.
This post originally appeared on LittleThings.com and was republished her with full permission.
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