Collofello an Aztec king; USF junior tops Guinness record
By Tina Akouris takouris@suntimes.com November 30, 2012 8:06PM
Brandon Collofello acknoledges the crowd after setting a new world record with 31 Aztec pushups in under a minute at the University of St. Francis, Wednesday, November 18th, 2012 in Joliet, IL | Gary Middendorf~for Sun-Times Media
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Updated: January 3, 2013 6:21AM
University of St. Francis junior Brandon Collofello didn’t think he was in trouble when Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow walked into the Pat Sullivan Recreation Center on Wednesday night.
In fact, it was quite the opposite.
Collofello did 31 Aztec push-ups in one minute during halftime of the Saints’ men’s basketball game against Purdue-Calumet in a near-packed house at Sullivan Recreation Center. Glasgow, whose son attends St. Francis, was there as a witness to the event for Guinness World Records.
“At first I tried to count, and then I lost count,” Collofello said. “I figured if I got past 20 that was the bare minimum and I had to do at least 20 to set the record. Anything past that was a bonus.”
The world record is 20. Collofello needs to send some type of documentation of his feat to Guinness World Records in order for it to be considered as a world record.
Collofello, a biology/pre-med major, said Guinness representatives told him they need video of him doing the push-ups from two different angles, media clippings produced after the event, and witnesses — one of which has to be a public notary and another of which was Glasgow — all to prove that the record attempt actually happened.
“(Glasgow) heard about it and volunteered to help,” Collofello said. “His son told him about it and he offered his time.”
An “Aztec push-up” isn’t an average push-up. The person doing the push-up lowers himself to the floor, then propels himself into the air, touching his hands to his feet from a pike position before landing at the top of a push-up position.
Collofello actually spun a negative into a positive when he started learning Aztec push-ups. He used to play football for the Saints but two knee injuries his freshman year curtailed Collofello’s athletic career. Looking for new, challenging workouts, he stumbled upon the push-ups while watching a video about them.
“I first saw the push-ups online and thought it was really cool,” Collofello said. “I looked to see if there was any record and I put together a proposal to make the most of them in one minute.”
But Collofello, a Minooka native, needed a hook, too.
He was also doing the push-ups to raise money for Feed My Starving Children (FMSC), a nonprofit Christian organization that tries to feed malnourished children around the world. FMSC provides these children with dehydrated meals.
With the funds raised from the push-up event, student leaders at USF are hoping to host a FMSC event on campus on April 6 that will assemble and pack 100,000 of the dehydrated meals.
Collofello’s goal was to raise $3,000 for the FMSC event in April. He said he’s fairly certain he achieved that goal through pledges and donations made at the game.
“We have to raise $22,000 to buy the raw ingredients and then pack 100,000 meals (at the April event),” Collofello said. “We still have to collect some of the pledges, but we do have more than $3,000.”
