Profile: John Y. Smith – Iron Game History – February, 1990

For the inaugural issue of Iron Game History, it seemed appropriate to feature a strongman who exuded strength and vitality at an advanced age. John Young Smith was born on April 22, 1866 to a Scottish father and German mother aboard an Austrian ship in Chinese waters (different, to say the least). Unfortunately for young John and the other two children, their father died in 1870 and their mother passed away a week later. Orphaned at such a tender age, John literally grew up working on sailing vessels.