Kim Wood, mentor to Brian Pillman & first full-time NFL strength coach, passes away
Kim Wood, mentor to the late Brian Pillman and longtime strength coach for the NFL’s Cincinnati Bengals, has passed away at the age of 80 after “a brief illness.”
The news was announced by the Bengals Wednesday night, noting he was the NFL’s first full-time strength coach. He worked in that capacity for 28 years.
He was also influential in the weight lifting and fitness world as noted by the Bengals’ story:
“Wood also emerged as a titan when weight training exploded in the late 1960s and early 1970s, first with Nautilus and then with his own company, Hammer Strength, a cutting-edge innovation overseeing the evolution of free weights to machines.”
For wrestling fans, he was the mentor to Pillman, then a special teams member of the Bengals. As documented by the Pillman-focused episode of Dark Side of the Ring that featured Wood prominently, he was a key figure in Pillman finding himself and his unique character.
“He made his mark in pro football as a trail-blazing strength coach. He made his mark in the strength world by forming Hammer Strength. And he made his mark in the pro wrestling world by guiding Brian Pillman into one of the most successful storylines of the 1990s that really changed pro wrestling with a blend of theatrics and reality that hadn’t been done before. What a testament,” former NFL reporter and current AEW employee Alex Marvez told Bengals.com.
Dave Meltzer wrote the following:
“The Cincinnati Bengals just announced the death of longtime strength coach Kim Wood at the age of 80. He was the mentor of many people, including myself, Alex Marvez, Brian Pillman, Anthony Munoz and countless others. This one hurts a lot. He was one of the inventors of the Hammer Strength exercise equipment line and a pioneer working for Arthur Jones in the Nautilus era. One of the strongest college football players of his era, great high school wrestler. Genius intellect.”
Wood appeared on Wrestling Observer Radio with Meltzer and Garrett Gonzales in May 2021.
Since 2011, Josh has been a contributing editor to Wrestling Observer/F4WOnline.com and also hosts the Punch-Out podcast. He has also written for Fight Magazine, Bloody Elbow, Bleacher Report, and other websites. He's a 2000 graduate of the University of Maine, worked in pro sports, and once was an indie ring announcer.