Willie Reagan, who began his professional arm wrestling career in 1983, is now passing along his championship tradition to his 19-year-old son Boomer.

At age 14, Boomer began competing in youth divisions at tournaments where his father was pulling in the adult classes. After a year of winning every youth tournament he entered, Boomer moved up and began competing against adults. The transition did not happen smoothly, and Boomer ended up losing most of his early matches to adults before finally winning his first adult tournament at age 16.

Together, Willie and Boomer have become one of the most successful and well-respected father-son teams in professional arm wrestling. In October 2005, Willie and Boomer competed in the arm wrestling World Championship in Reno, Nevada. The tournament was a chance for an aging Willie, now 43 years old and competing in the Masters division (the sport's equivalent of the senior circuit), to once again prove that he is among the sport's elite pullers. For Boomer, 2005 in Reno was an opportunity to defend the gold medal he had won there in 2004 in the amateur division.

Professional arm wrestling is a sport that wants to overcome its stereotype as nothing more than the drunken bravado of men at a bar. The World Armsport Federation is trying to have arm wrestling included in the Olympic Games, though most people don't recognize it as a legitimate sport. And while some professional arm wrestlers in other countries may earn enough money from tournament winnings to make a living off the sport, it is not the case for most competitors in the U.S. Willie and Boomer are fortunate to get limited tournament sponsorship from local businesses in their hometown of Norwalk, Ohio, but usually end up paying most of their expenses out of pocket to travel to competitions around the country.