derrick craSs
2x Olympian, in the sport of weightlifting, and creator of DC Blocks®
Throughout his athletic career as an Olympic weightlifter, Derrick incorporated intense mental and physical training and became known as one of America’s toughest weightlifters. Derrick’s driving force is to help people of all ages and abilities attain their fitness and athletic goals through his products, training, and seminars.
THE EARLY YEARS
At age 16, Derrick Crass began lifting weights at the Belleville Weightlifting Club, under nationally-ranked weightlifter and coach, Ted Frank. Derrick’s parents, Howard and Jane, were supportive as he showed a gift for the Olympic lifts. He won all national age-group competitions and set many National Junior records as a teenager.
1980
His junior career culminated with an 11th place finish at the 1980 Jr. World Championships in Montreal, Canada. He moved to the US Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to pursue his dream of making an Olympic team. At the USOTC, he was coached by Harvey Newton, MA, and sport psychologist, Michael J. Mahoney, PhD. Derrick’s athletic career, and his life, became about maximizing his physical and psychological potentials.
1982
Derrick quickly became a force in weightlifting. He competed in the 1982 Olympic festivals as well as the 1982 World Championships in Ljubjiana, Yugoslavia.
1983
Just prior to the 1983 National Championships, while training like a mad man and ignoring all the signs of overtraining, Derrick fractured his L4 vertebra and ruptured the L4-5 disc, rendering him unable to walk. Heavy doses of prescribed prednisone for the next year enabled him to regain painful walking and lifting, but lead to Cushing’s syndrome, and intense knee pain.
1984
At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, CA, Derrick received cortisone injections into the infrapatellar ligament of his right knee eight days prior to competition. Assured by the medical team that nothing would go wrong, he competed. Disaster struck. During Derrick’s first lift of the competition, as he was beginning to explode upwards with the barbell, he felt a quick rip in his leg. As the bar continued upward overhead, he was unable to fix the barbell. In an instant, the bar came crashing down and shot him backwards. Derrick discovered his arm dislocated at the elbow and had intense knee pain. The medics put his elbow back in place, and Derrick hobbled off the platform, onto a stretcher, and into retirement. Or so it seemed.
1984-1987
After the crash at the 1984 Olympics, Derrick underwent several reconstructive knee and elbow surgeries in Belleville, Illinois. To regain strength and mobility from his career-ending injuries, Derrick did what he knew how to do — lift weights. After a year-and-a-half he realized that the weights he was lifting in his Olympic-lifting rehab program would place him on the podium at Nationals. He decided to evolve his rehab program into a training program and return to competition.
1987
After the crash at the 1984 Olympics, Derrick underwent several reconstructive knee and elbow surgeries in Belleville, Illinois. To regain strength and mobility from his career-ending injuries, Derrick did what he knew how to do — lift weights. After a year-and-a-half he realized that the weights he was lifting in his Olympic-lifting rehab program would place him on the podium at Nationals. He decided to evolve his rehab program into a training program and return to competition.
1988
Derrick miraculously came back to make the 1988 Olympic Team, placing 9th in the clean and jerk and 11th overall.
1989
Derrick went on to win the 1989 National Championships and the “Best Lifter” award in Houston, Texas, the 1989 Olympic Festival in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and he represented the United States in the 1989 World Championships in Athens, Greece. The Russian Electrical Stimulation research that aided Derrick in his comeback was published in the International Journal of Sports Medicine, June, 1989.
1990
Derrick won his second consecutive National title in 1990 in Farmington Hills, Michigan, and represented the United States at the Moomba International Championships in Melbourne, Australia, placing third.
1992
Numerous surgeries to Derrick’s elbows, knees, and shoulders resulting from “a Crash” eventually led to his retirement in 1992, after narrowly missing his bid to make his third Olympic Team.
1994
Derrick graduated from Washington University’s program in Physical Therapy in 1994.
1997
In 1997, Derrick opened his clinic and training facility in Belleville, Illinois, Metro East Center for Conditioning And Health (MECCAH). Derrick had created an early, wooden variation of DC Blocks at that time for his facility.
2002
His daughter, Rachel, began training for weightlifting competition and Derrick returned to compete as a Master’s athlete (age 35+). He set Master’s National and Pan-American records, and won medals at Master’s World Championships. The preparation paid off. In 2002, Rachel and Derrick competed together in New York City at the Sr. National Championships; she was one of the youngest competitors, he was the oldest.
2010
Derrick became inspired when, during a weightlifting competition in 2010, he saw a disassembled jerk box next to a stack of Hi Tech plates made of recycled plastic. He began prototyping his blocks out of wood and from there, the owner of Hi Tech put Derrick in touch with the manufacturer.
2013
In 2013 Derrick graduated from Saint Louis University as a Physician Assistant, but has since retired.
2014
Derrick improved upon the design for DC Blocks into what they are today with added crenelations. He also released the Flat Top.
2016
Throughout 2016, Derrick conducted lectures across the country, in association with the Cross Country Education, to help bridge the gap between the medical community and the increasing population of weightlifters and Crossfit athletes. Derrick aimed to improve the communication between the medical community and their active patients reluctant to give up their athletic goals. In his lectures, Derrick educated medical professionals regarding nomenclature, movements, and how athletes can safely perform different aspects of lifting, and ultimately dispelling the myths of weightlifting being unsafe.
Also in 2016, Derrick released the Double-Wide for a larger platform from which to perform pulls, plyometrics, or to configure as portable jerk boxes.
2019
DC Blocks® introduces the Block Cart.
2022
DC Blocks® develops the ULTIMATE DC Blocks® Original. This new product introduces a cut-out handle for easier transportation and carrying.
Today
Derrick continues to expand his line of DC Blocks and help athletes through training and seminars. He lives with his wife Anne in Florida.
weightlifting achievements
Olympic team member (1984, 1988)
Pan Am Games team member (1987)
Senior World Championship team member (1982 and 1989)
Junior World Championships team member (1980)
Gold Medalist in Oceania Championships (1984)
Silver Medalist in Manuel Saurez Cup (1987)
Bronze Medalist in Moomba Cup (1990)
Senior National Champion (1987, 1989, 1990)
Best Lifter at Senior National Championships (1989)