Staff photo by Fritz Busch
The Strong Man, John Beatty pulls two full-size pickup trucks at the Brown County Fair Saturday.

NEW ULM — Strong man John Beatty took a few deep breaths, attached himself to a harness connected to two full-size pickup trucks, leaned forward, pulled a heavy rope hand over hand and began pulling the trucks down.

Before long, he was jogging, then running down the Brown County Fair midway, trucks in tow.

Beatty, 56, was breathing heavily after pulling the trucks, then stood still and took more deep breaths.

He began lifting weights as a high school student with hopes of playing football. Beatty soon learned he could lift very heavy weights and do unusual feats. He appeared on “America’s Got Talent,” on television and made it to the finals in Hollywood.

These days, he mixes vaudeville show feats and strong man feats.

At the fair last Thursday, he bench pressed a woman, bent a stainless steel fry pan, lowered two sledge hammers to his nose, tore up an 800-page phone book several ways and lifted a long, wood bench with 10 children on it which he said weighed more than 800 pounds.