I won first place in the 60 and older category at the Mr. Olympia Masters competition in Chicago in 1996.
This picture and the one below were taken backstage at an exhibition in Atlanta in 1979. I was asked to be a guest poser along with Chris Dickerson and Boyer Coe. I had just opened my gym in West Hollywood the year before and training for the exhibition gave the gym a tremendous energy.
This is one of my favorite shots.
This was taken in the first World gym in Santa Monica. Butler was in the gym to shoot Arnold when I came in. He asked to take a few informal shots. I was in training for the NABBA Universe in London and was in decent shape so I hit a cople of shots in front of the window. Butler promised me copies, but I never got them. Ed Corney spotted this on Ebay and alerted me.
These two photos were taken at Bill Pearl's Pasadena Health Club a few days before the 1973 Mr. America which I won. Bill and I had just finished our last posing rehearsal and he asked if I would go through my routine for the gym members. This was to become my "Signature" pose.
I weighed around 225
I personally think this pose is very unattractive. But it is very popular and a real crowd pleaser. At this contest (Mr. Universe) my main competition was Bertil Fox and this was his most used pose so I did it for the photographer.
This picture and the one below were taken at the Mr. Universe in London. in 1977. Dave Johns was the current Mr. America that year. He returned to London the following year to win the overall title.
Dave and I trained at Bill Pearl's but we never trained together due to our very different training styles. Dave liked heavier poundages and longer rest periods than I.
In 1974 the Japanese Bodybuilding Association asked me to do a two week exhibition tour of guest posing including the Mr. Japan contest. Here I'm being thanked by the Mayor of Tokyo.