MOBILE, Ala. — Harry McCaskill does not lift heavy things to win trophies, though he would not mind a few. The 57-year-old Mobile native trains in strongman, he says, so that he can grow old on his own terms, and he will be back in competition this weekend when the Strongman Showdown at The Grounds returns to the Greater Gulf State Fair.
The second annual competition is set for Saturday, Oct. 31, during the fair at The Grounds, 1035 Cody Road North in Mobile. It is hosted by Tyler and Megan Davis, a Mobile couple who have won numerous strongman championships around the world and who promote the sport through their company, Strong Crue.
“For the show we put on at the fairgrounds, I have a guy who is 57 years old,” Tyler Davis said. “He competed last year, and he is doing it again this year. He has a message about staying strong as you age.”
Strongman Showdown at The Grounds returns for year two
The Davises launched the amateur show last fall to give local athletes a chance to try the sport in front of a hometown crowd. The inaugural event in October 2025 included seven weight categories and farm-and-fair-themed events with names such as the Bale Bustin’ Farmers Relay and the Sky-High Keg Toss.
Both hosts know the sport at its highest level. Megan Davis, who took up strongman while living in New Zealand, won the 2025 Pro Strongman League title in the 64-kilogram division and has also claimed national championships and the Strongest Woman on Earth title in her weight class at the Shaw Classic. Tyler Davis has won national and world titles of his own, including back-to-back victories in the 90-kilogram division at a Pro Strongman League event in Roanoke, Virginia.
- Event: Strongman Showdown at The Grounds
- Date: Saturday, Oct. 31, during the Greater Gulf State Fair
- Location: The Grounds, 1035 Cody Road North, Mobile
- Hosts: Tyler and Megan Davis, Strong Crue
Who is Harry McCaskill?
McCaskill was born in Mobile and works in business development and sales. He and his wife, Michelle, will mark 33 years together in November and recently returned from an early anniversary trip to Switzerland. They have one son, also named Harry, who is 28.
Father and son are close. They lift weights together, shoot at the range and have even made the trip to Pensacon, the pop-culture convention in Pensacola, where they dressed as Nathan Drake and Victor “Sully” Sullivan from the “Uncharted” video game series.
Away from the gym, McCaskill bikes, hikes and jumps at any chance to go duck hunting.
He grew up mostly playing baseball and football, but he says he was athletic enough to try nearly anything. He played tennis, soccer and basketball — though he admits he was “horrible at basketball.” In his 50s, he spent about six months doing CrossFit before deciding it was too hard on his shoulders. He also ran the Creek Crawl, a 5K obstacle course race in Foley, four or five years in a row before an aching Achilles tendon kept him out last year. He hopes to return to it next year.
Why strongman? ‘To age with dignity’
McCaskill has lifted weights for many years. The more he watched strongman competitions, the more he realized that the sport’s movements mirror the things people must do to stay independent as they get older.
Deadlifts and farmer’s carries, he notes, are much like picking groceries up off the floor and carrying them inside. Log presses mimic reaching overhead to pull plates down from a shelf.
“The bottom line is I realized Strongman-type movements would help me age with dignity,” McCaskill said.
His competitive streak played a part, too. McCaskill says his sales background makes him competitive by nature, and he was looking for a way to test himself. While browsing Iron Podium, an online platform where strength athletes find and register for events, he came across the first Strongman Showdown in Mobile. He looked at the weights for the novice division, decided he could hold his own and signed up.
A first meet with an audience of one division
“I had no idea what I was doing!” McCaskill said of that first competition.
He prepared as best he could, but he did not have access to all of the implements used in the events, and he went in nervous. In hindsight, he says, his biggest mistake was not having a coach. Two other men had registered in his open novice division, so he expected to face younger competitors. On competition day, neither showed up.
The Davises let him compete anyway, running through every event on his own. He finished all of them, moving every weight and implement.
The memory that stuck with him most, though, was the crowd that came to cheer on, as he put it, “the old man.” A week before the meet, he had hurt his arm, and Amanda at Athlete’s Choice helped rehabilitate him in time; she came to watch. So did his massage therapist, a cousin who drove over from Atlanta, and his wife and son.
“It was a humbling experience,” he said.
Moving up to the masters division
McCaskill has since competed again in the novice ranks, facing eight younger men in his weight class at his most recent novice meet. Having graduated from novice competition, he will now compete in the masters division for athletes 50 and older, in the 220-pound-and-under weight class, against men his own age and size.
He admits it may sound boastful, but he says people are often surprised when they learn how old he is.
“When most people see me and learn my age, they say, ‘I hope I am in that good of shape when I am 57,’” McCaskill said. “I tell them they can; you simply have to be disciplined enough to stay consistent.”
He also gives his parents credit for passing down “some incredible genetics.”
Falls, strength and the lawnmower test
McCaskill has strong opinions about why staying strong matters, and he points to a sobering statistic. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, falls are the leading cause of injury and of injury-related death among adults 65 and older.
His theory is simple: Many older people fall because they lose strength when they stop being physically active. He compares it to equipment left idle through the off-season.
“Have you ever let a lawnmower or boat motor sit up all winter without cranking it? It does not run too well come the spring; your body is exactly the same,” he said.
Health experts have long recommended strength training for older adults. Federal physical activity guidelines advise adults to do muscle-strengthening activities at least two days a week, and they encourage older adults to add balance training as well, to help prevent falls.
A promise shaped by his father’s death
For McCaskill, the subject is personal. His father died at 42 of a massive heart attack. He smoked, had high blood pressure, ran two businesses and spent late nights out with business associates.
“What happened to my father was preventable, and I was not going to leave my wife and son the same way my father left us,” McCaskill said.
He believes many people prepare carefully for retirement but never prepare for aging itself.
“Most people plan for retirement with 401(k)s, IRAs, real estate or other investments, but they are not planning to age,” he said. “Your investments made you millions, but you cannot take the grandkids to Disney because your health is poor. You have friends traveling to Costa Rica, but you cannot handle the international travel or rainforests and tough terrain.”
Training to age well, he says, pays dividends that a brokerage account cannot.
“If you train to age, you can have a much higher quality of life and better relationships with family and friends because you can stay engaged at home and abroad,” McCaskill said.
See the competition
The Strongman Showdown at The Grounds takes place Saturday, Oct. 31, during the Greater Gulf State Fair. Spectators can watch McCaskill and the rest of the field as they work through the day’s events at the fairgrounds on Cody Road North in west Mobile. Fair hours and admission information are available from the Greater Gulf State Fair.
