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Age: 41

Hometown: Champaign, Ill.

Native of: Petoskey, Mich.

High School: Petoskey, Class of 1983

College: North Central Michigan College, then University of North Dakota.

Status: Partner of five years, Dairiku Hozumi, lives in Boston.

Work: Is a visiting lecturer at the Intensive English Institute ( IEI ) of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is the head of the academic reading and writing component.

Previously: From 1993 to 1999, he was teaching at Korea University-Seochang Campus in Jochiwon, South Korea.

Hobbies: Following college football, especially North Dakota, Michigan State and Illinois.

Also enjoys: traveling, genealogy, cooking, music and reading.

It's a fact: He loves pets and lives with eight birds—one cockatiel, four parakeets, two canaries, and a white-eyed conure.

It's also a fact: Plays the piano.

As a kid, John Hudson always admired people who had a lot of strength. He was, for instance, glued to his TV set anytime Olympic weightlifting or powerlifting was shown. It was the same with the World's Strongest Man Competition. Russian weightlifter Vasily Alexeyev was a hero of sorts to Hudson.

His admiration for the musclemen ultimately led him to the University of North Dakota, where he was a competitive wrestler. He then himself became a competitive powerlifter, eventually setting one world, four national and 26 state records in the Masters 40-46 year-old super heavyweight division.

Oh, yeah—Hudson also is gay.

'When I started lifting in 1980, I didn't have anyone to coach me. Well, I eventually found those coaches in 1985, and that's when I just fell in love with the sport,' he said.

Hudson was living and working in Korea for most of the 1990s, and he did not powerlift overseas. When he returned to the States, Hudson resumed competing, 'and that's when I realized that I loved the sport even more, partly because it really takes my mind off the stress of the day. I really enjoy challenging myself to set a new record, or pass what I [ lifted ] the last time. This sport is all about constant challenge, and that I enjoy.'

Hudson's best lifts are the bench-press ( 677.7 pounds last May 27 ) and the deadlift ( 727.5 pounds in 2004 ) .

'Power lifting is an unusual sport in that we have a number of different federations,' he explained. 'Bench press and deadlift are commonly called the ironman lifts, and I'm pretty good at those.'

How good is he? Well, he ranks among the top five nationally among drug-tested lifters in his weight-class, and he's a top 10 lifter internationally.

So how do you lift that much weight?

'I guess, willpower,' he said. 'I was 21 during my second competition and, at that time, I thought I was getting pretty strong; I was almost deadlifting 500 pounds. Then there was a 70 year-old and he deadlifted about 550 pounds, and he was lighter than me. He then hook-gripped the bar, which is simply using two fingers from each hand, and he lifted it.

'That really taught me that age is just a number [ and ] that anyone at any age can be a good, competitive powerlifter. If you really take care of yourself and train smart, than this is a sport for life.'

Hudson was slated to compete in the annual World Association of Bench Pressers and Deadlifters ( WABDL ) World Bench Press and Deadlift Championships, held Nov. 15-20 at the Riviera Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. However, he was unable to do so because of illness. Instead, he organized and coached Team Illinois—which won the WABDL team championship for the second consecutive year. Hudson also won the Outstanding Coach trophy.

Hudson is one of the four founding members, and also is a lifetime member, of Illini Powerlifting, the powerlifting club of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He organizes Team Illinois for meets, particularly the annual WABDL World Bench Press and Deadlift Championships.

'When I first started coaching, I was hesitant. I wasn't too sure if I wanted to take time away from my training to coach others instead of simply focusing on my lifting,' he said. 'But then, the first few times I saw lifters I trained get up on the platform and do well, it was amazing, very gratifying. Those are special moments.'

Take, for instance, the 105-pound student from Taiwan whom he helped train. 'He had never lifted before and, after training for about six weeks, he had his first competition, and was really nervous,' Hudson said. 'Well, he deadlifted a junior world record in his first competition. And to see the smile on that kid's face, my, that was a thrill.'

Chris Morgan of Great Britain is one of the world's other top openly gay powerlifters. Referring to gay athletes he said, 'I know there are a lot of closeted people in the sport.'

Hudson did not compete in this summer's Gay Games because, as he explained, he 'was already committed to lift at the National Championships in Dallas, which were held a few weeks after the Games, and I didn't feel like I could do both competitions.'

He added: 'I am a big supporter of the Games, but I feel like I did more good for the LGBT community going to the nationals. A lot of the guys ( in Dallas ) quite possibly are homophobic, yet when they saw me lifting more than them, they have the chance to talk to me, and just see that I do not have horns sticking out of my head because I'm gay.'