Meet Big Tommy Burns | Strongman & Strongwoman Ambassador

We had the good fortune of connecting with Big Tommy Burns and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Big Tommy, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I was born and raised in Flint, Michigan. I grew up like most people in a loving but uniquely dis functional family and environment. My family and community were loving people who took care of each other for the most part, but it was filled with violence, drama, poverty, drugs, gangs, mental health battles, tragedy and the struggle to succeed and triumph over it all.

My mother and father were both two young teenagers in the mid-1980’s, that knew nothing more than the street life and living in the hood when I was born. My mom was 14 years old and my father was 16 years old. They weren’t a couple nor did they have any intention on being together after I was born.

My mother lived a very rough life as a young woman that had to grow up way too fast, she had 3 kids before the age of 18, been strung out of drugs during the crack era and would battle alcohol addiction to cope with the pain of life, while also embracing a life as young black woman with schizophrenia. She passed away in her sleep from a heart attack at the age of 29 years old.

My father lived just as rough a life being a young half Black American and half Native American man that knew nothing but the street life. He would often tell me stories about how much he loved me and the many times he would go break into cars or steal a car to sell it just so he could buy me diapers and other baby needs in his teenage years. I lived with him for a years from the age of 3-4 years old and I remember being so happy with him even though we lived in shelters and with different girlfriends he had. I knew he was proud to be able to have his son with him through it all. After going back to live with my mother once she got clean from drugs he would struggle to find the motivation to keep on the straight and narrow path and for the next 30 years spend almost half that time behind bars for various crimes he would be arrested for. He was late diagnosed as bi-polar and would seek help from government appointed therapist and medication to cope. After suffering a minor stroke and battling the depression from beginning stages of the Covid pandemic, he decided to take his own life and not struggle anymore or feel like he was a burden to anyone.

My parents are just two of 25+ funerals that I’ve had to attend or tragedies I’ve had to endure in my life including being in the house as my grandmother was shot in the head from a drug-deal gone wrong and my younger brother being gunned down just six months after his son was born.

With all of this going on as a kid I knew very early on that I wanted more for myself and the rest of my family. I knew that better was out there because I would see it on different tv shows and in movies, where I found my escape from the day-to-day heaviness of reality. Although watching these shows and movies allowed me to explore a different world as a kid, it also left me depressed many times because I didn’t know if that life that I seen and desired was made for someone life me.

It was when I watched professionally wrestling and shows like The World’s Strongest Man that my fuse was really lit. I remember being 7 years old and catching the 1990 World Strongest Man when it aired and seeing a gentle that reminded me much of myself and who I aspired to be like, a strong, we’ll spoken, fun, humble black man. His name was OD Wilson and he stood 6’6 and weighed over 400lbs, they called him, “The Nightmare”. I remember watching how amazed the spectators was with OD Wilson’s size and performance.

All of that piqued my curiosity with this athlete but what got my attention and won my heart was what he said during an interview after performing in the first event of that show. The interviewer asked him where did he get the power from to do well in that event and OD talked for a bit about it, but before he moved on he looked int the camera and said, “I just want to say, for all the kids watching out there when you grow up, you wanna be a strongman. It’s great stuff.” It was at that moment that young Big Tommy Burns at 7 years old weighing almost 150lbs knew that he wanted be that one day he would be that big and that strong and he was going to be a strongman.

Fast forward 22 years later after being a first generation graduate of high school, going off to be a first generation graduate of college from LA Valley College in Los Angeles and playing football at the prestigious Howard University in Washington DC, figuring out life and career after all that in 2014 I had finally competed in my first local strongman competition, because the dream had not left me all those years, and I felt at home for the first time in my life.

That same year I had relocated from the east coast in the Washington DC area to the San Francisco Bay Area on a leap of faith with the desire to begin to grow again in life because I had been feeling stagnant for some time. With no job, no family, no support, just a desire for better and some awesome friends that let me sleep on their couch until I started to get on my feet I was able to say the only thing I knew I would continue to do was pursue strongman, after finally competing after the first time.

I had set out on a journey to become the first ever Black Worlds Strongest Man winner. This pursuit has since taken me on a journey of living in faith, fulfilling purpose and potential and manifesting the vision of helping many people who were once like me, lost in a world without direction and the feeling of support to help move forward.

My vision began to get even more clear that it wasn’t just winning World Strongest Man that I wanted to pursue in this space, it was introducing as many people to this incredible sport and the community inside of it as possible. I knew that it people were seeking direction, purpose and love like I was before that this was a place could be inspired and empowered to become their strongest self.

We launched The Driven Athlete Foundation Inc 501(c)(3) with the mission of Developing Leaders Through Building Strength. Our goal is to empower and equipment athletes and their families with the leadership skills and strength necessary to make significant impact in their community and the world around them.

This is not just set out for those person’s considered athletic, this is for everyone because life is a sport and all of us are athletes in it who deserve the opportunity to become our strongest selves and play the game at our highest level.

Today our team and organization host 5 (2- local competitions, 1- regional competition, America’s Strongest Teen, and one Worldwide Competition called Static Monsters) strongman & strongwoman competitions. I’m the West Coast Regional Director for Strongman Corporation, the largest strongman and strongwoman competition licensing organization in the world.

We have year around trainings to introduce the sport to more people through our community called “The Strongman Club”. Starting in 2023 we’ll launch our leadership and empowerment events and products to really help those people in our community and who we serve not just become strong physically but become the strongest life athlete they can be in order to play at their highest level and greatest advantage possible.

My hope is that this is not just movement that’s here today but that it it becomes apart of my legacy that lives far beyond the span of my life. That this vision I’ve invested a good portion of my life and energy into not just pays bills but becomes something that helps me redirect my entire family tree into a more abundant and resourceful state.

Finally, I want the world to know that the world is abundant and that we can strong and kind and helping, like it’s very possible to be a badass without having to be a jackass. Our focus is Building Community & Building Strength because each of us needs all of us, and all of us needs each of us if we are going to level the world better for the next generation of leaders.

What should our readers know about your business?
I’m very proud of the fact that our focus is on empowering and building the community within the sport of strongman & strongwoman as opposed to just building one gym, organization or entity. This is completely unorthodox to the way of traditionally building the sport we are in.

Right now we’re have 3 club locations in the The Strongman Club community that host weekly Strongman Saturday trainings and we have a few more hub locations that host trainings in the weekday or monthly.

We also partner and support other gyms in their trainings and competitions throughout the state.

I’m also very proud to say I’ve been to support as a spectator, volunteer or athlete very local competition that’s been licensed by Strongman Corporation in the state of California.

We are finishing up our 6th year building this organization and community. By the end of this year we will have hosted 19 local competition in the last 6 years and have served over 700 athletes with these various competitions.

I’ve personally been able to serve at the biggest competitions in the world along with building at the local level with Strongman Corporation Open Nationals, The Arnold Sports Festival, The World’s Strongest Man Show, and this year I’ll be adding Mr. Olympia with America’s Strongest Man & Woman and Masters Nationals.

I’ve been blessed to serve at every level, and every age group of this sport now and I take great pride in that.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
– Monday & Tuesday we’ll get the touristy stuff out the way if they are visiting for the first time. Bus tour through San Francisco, Alcatraz, visiting the pier. – Tuesday gym in Hayward then head to hang out San Jose to hangout for the day.
– Wednesday gym in Concord then hangout in the Walnut Creek/Pleasant Hill/Lafayette area.
– Thursday we’ll be getting up early and heading to Napa for wine tasting and a change of scenery.
– Friday we are chilling and relaxing, maybe even invite friends over for a hangout.
– Strongman Saturday at one of the Club location (Hayward, Sacramento, Daly City) then head to hangout in Hayward later that day.
– Taking a trip up North and hiking through some woods and seeing the California Red Woods.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are so many people along the way in the journey that have been absolute miracles for me at various stages of my life.

I’d like to shout out the late, great Myles Munroe. His collection for books, audios and videos and teachings for the most part has had a tremendous impact on my life and many of my closest friends and acquaintances.

Website: www.thedrivenathlete.org

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