Robert Harper ’67
In an athletic life that has spanned decades, the latest chapter for Robert Harper ’67 may be his most surprising yet. In the early 2010s, after selling the mutual fund company he helped found, Harper decided to try out CrossFit. He had spent a lot of time on the road during his business career. “I figured I’d just kind of burned my body,” he said from his home on Mercer Island, Wash. “And so, when we sold, I said, ‘Well, I should get in shape.’”
Harper, who had been a competitive swimmer as a Logger and then had served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam, said he liked the whole-body emphasis of CrossFit. “You’re doing push-ups, sit-ups, squats, burpees, pull-ups, and lifting weights,” he explained. He began competing and ranked 195th in the world among men 60 and older, but as he aged, Harper said “I just couldn’t hold the place any longer.”
So at age 70, he turned to powerlifting, which comprises squatting, deadlifting, and bench-pressing. On his 80th birthday, he lifted in the California state meet and set three American records for lifters 80 and older. Those lifts (308lb squat, 177lb bench, 435lb deadlift, for a total of 920 pounds) also ranked him No. 1 in the world in his age group and 90kg weight class.
At 81, Harper is now less concerned with records than with staying in shape to maintain his quality of life. “It feels good to be in shape and not have to worry about falling down, not being able to walk, or not being able to get up,” he said. “Even if I had to wait until I was 80, being ranked No. 1 in the world at anything is beyond my wildest dreams.”
