Fort Pierce, Florida (CNN) – President Barack Obama got a warm embrace on Sunday – one that lifted him about a foot off the ground.
While campaigning in Fort Pierce, Florida, the president stopped into Big Apple Pizza and Pasta Restaurant, where about 10 customers were gathered inside, and greeted the shop’s owner, Scott Van Duzer.
“Scott, what’s going on man,” the president said as he walked in. “Scott, let me tell you, you are like the biggest pizza shop owner I’ve ever seen.”
Van Duzer, 46, stands 6-foot-3, weighs 260 pounds and says he can bench press 350 pounds, according to a pool reporter who was at the restaurant.
“Everybody look at these guns,” Obama said, pointing to Van Duzer’s chest. “If I eat your pizza will I look like that?”
Laughing, Van Duzer hugged the president, arched his back and hoisted him off his feet.
“Look at that!” Obama said after he was back on the ground. “Man are you a powerlifter or what?”
Talking to reporters afterward, Van Duzer said he didn’t know the president was coming to his restaurant until about 40 minutes beforehand. The Florida business owner rushed from the driving range to get there in time.
Describing himself as “a big political person,” Van Duzer said he was “just overcome with excitement” and lifted the president. Van Duzer said he was a registered Republican who voted for Obama in 2008 and plans to cast his ballot again for the president in November.
Asked if he was concerned about a Secret Service reaction to the hug, Van Duzer said he was informed that “I was all right as long as I didn’t take him away.”
The president said he wanted to stop by the shop and express appreciation to Van Duzer for leading community efforts that encourage blood donation.
“I still wonder how he got these biceps, but what we know is that the guy’s just got a big heart along with big pecs,” Obama said. “So we’re very proud of him and we just want to say thank you for all the great work.”
The president wasn’t the only Obama to receive a big boost recently. A female Olympic wrestler picked up his wife, Michelle, while the first lady was in London to watch the opening ceremony and lead the presidential delegation.
“Even before she made the rounds I thought I can’t just hug her like everybody else,” the wrestler, Elena Pirozhkova, said. “I think she was nervous. I went slow. I just picked her up. I wanted to ask her permission. There was security all around. And she gave it. I will only meet her once. I wanted to do something different.”
–
– CNN’s Ashley Killough contributed to this report.
