one of America's Rising Stars of Strongman and his thoughts on WSM 1999 in Malta. 
(With photos below)

S-P: Tell us a little bit about you: where are you from, athletic background,
student? job? events leading up to the WSM?
WB: I am a 22 year old student from Durant, Oklahoma.  I am a senior at
Southeastern Oklahoma State University, with a double major in Business
Information Management and Health/Phys/Ed.  Currently I work with my brother in
our parents steakhouse.  I have a fairly limited athletic background,
playing basketball and running track, followed by 4 years of varsity tennis
in high school.  My first "Iron Sport" was bodybuilding, which I took up at
the age of 15.

S-P: How and when did you get into the sport?
WB:After 2 years of bodybuilding, I decided to try my hand at
powerlifting.  I won the '97 APF Teenage Nationals in the 308 class, and
became the only American teenager to bench 500lbs. that year.  About this
time, I ordered every one of the WSM videotapes form Crain's Muscle World. 
After watching Jon Pall and Kaz, I became hooked.  I figured I was better
suited to strongman than powerlifting anyway, since the former not only
required brute strength, but explosive strength and muscular endurance as
well.  I started competing in small contests put on by Bill Holland and the
NASS, then I worked my way up.

S-P: You finally get invited to the WSM.  Tell us how and when it happened.
WB: I got the call in the last week of July.  I had been dieting down since
I returned from the Beauty and the Beast in Hawaii, and had been considering
giving up the sport for good.  I weighed only 229 at the time, but I knew I
couldn't pass up the opportunity.  43lbs and thirty-something days later, I
was in Malta.

S-P: What are some of the highlights of your strength career?
WB: At the 1998 Survival of the Strongest competition, one event called for
competitors to bear hug a 462lb log, then hold it for time.
Before my turn, the best time was 61 seconds, by both Bryan Neese and Phil
Pfister.  I went on to hold the log for 3 minutes, 4 seconds, before
collapsing.  The deadlift hold at the Worlds would have to be another
highlight.  I passed out after holding the car for 2 minutes, 11 seconds. 
Other lifts include a 450 btn push press (training-430 in competition) at 19
years old, a 215lb one arm db clean and press(training), 425lb hang clean
(w/ very little knee bend), deadlift 755x2 (with suit).  Since I've lost the
weight (used to compete as high as 312!!), my deadlift has been going up
fast, while my pressing strength has suffered a bit from where it used to
be.

S-P: How did you prepare for the WSM??
WB: As I mentioned, I only had about 5 weeks notice, and I was not informed
of my events until 2 weeks before I was to leave.  When I wasn't eating to
put on weight, I was training 2hrs/day, 6-7 days/week.  Until I found out
the events I did virtually no event-specific training. Because I was trying
to put on weight so fast, I did no conditioning work.  This ended up hurting
me a great deal in a couple of the events.

S-P: once in Malta, tell us the goings on and behind the scenes events.
WB: I had heard all the horror stories concerning the television
production, abuse of athletes, how its more of a TV show than contest, etc.,
before going, so I was prepared for the worst. Despite a couple of delays
and some griping by a few of the competitors, I thought things ran well. The
interviews for ESPN and the BBC were the worst part for me.  They had me in
a stuffy room, sweating to death, holding different poses, and answering
cliché' questions for about 75 minutes straight.  All in all, my brother and
I had a good time.  Almost all of the competitors were extremely friendly. 
We spent most of our time hanging out with "Huge-O" Girard, Ken Brown, and
Ed "the gambler" Brost. To answer your question, I do have some very
interesting stories that most of your readers would love to hear, but I'd
rather not publicly post some of them.  I will say this though......the
rumors about Kaz are true!!  The clothes he wore for the TV segments will
not do him justice when it airs.  He was by far the biggest, most muscular
guy there.  None else was even close.

S-P: what would you like to say to all your fans out there??
WB: Any of my fans should contact Hugo Girard, president of the Whit Baskin
fan club, as well as Quebec's finest "Mountie", for more information. ;) 
Seriously though, I didn't know I had any fans....

S-P: Any final thoughts??
WB: First I would like to say thank you to Juoko Ahola, Ed Brost, and Jamie
Reeves, all of whom helped me a great deal in Malta.  I would also like to
thank Douglas Edmunds and the others who decided to take a chance on me. 
Lastly, I would like to thank Mark "samson" Keshishian for giving me the
opportunity to do this interview.  As far as the future goes, I'm hoping to
be invited to the World Team championships this year to represent the U.S.,
which would be quite a thrill.  IMHO, next to Phil Pfister, I'm the best
American Strength Athlete out there. I think that if I stay relatively
injury free, I can win the worlds in the next 4-5 years, hopefully becoming
the youngest ever to do so.