Cyril Batten
Cyril J. Batten began his love for individual sports as a wrestler at West Middlesex High, a love that led to multiple national and world weight-lifting records in a career that continues today.
In fact, his latest mark came in 2004 when he set the AAU world bench-press record for 60-and-over age group with a lift of 500 pounds.
At West Middlesex High, Cyril was a 4-year letterman. His senior year, 1961, he was the District 10 Section 3 runner-up at 138 pounds and had a season mark of 25-6. In 1963 he was the AAU regional champion at 155. He later served as assistant coach at West Middlesex for two years.
He went on to become a living legend in Master's Class weight lifting. In the United States Powerlifting Federation, he was a 3-time Masters national champ (1993-95) in the 275-pound class, while winning two national bench-press titles and setting a national record. He earlier was Michigan state Masters champion and record-hold. With the American Drug Free Powerlifting Federation, he won numerous Masters national championships in the 242-, 318- and 275-pound classes and was national and American record-holder in all three classes. In the American Powerlifting Federation/World Powerlifting Federation, he established world and American records in both 242 and 275 classes for all lifts.
In 2003, he was the USA Powerlifting national bench-press champion. He was the world bench-press champion for 60-plus in the super-heavyweight class and selected to compete on the IPF World Team in 2002 and '03.
n rifle-shooting competition, he was equally accomplished. During the late 1970's and early '80s, Cyril won numerous state, regional and national championships in bench-rest shooting in various classes. He went on to win the 1980 world championship in the unlimited class with the International Bench Rest Shooting Association.
A former assistant wrestling coach at West Middlesex, he was inducted into the Michigan Powerlifting Hall of Fame.
As engineer and president of Batten Corp., he helped design research vehicles, which set a total of 47 world, international, national and American speed and endurance records. Cyril was instrumental in the original Oldsmobile Aerotech program in 1987, when A.J. Foyt drove the Aerotech to a closed-course world speed record of 257 mph.