SCOTT, Somewhere up above you mentioned me meeting Steve Reeves.
That occured on numerous times during his livrely-hood which may be worth repeating during this discussion.
I first met Steve when he passed me by while I was sitting at the water's edge of Lake Elsinor ''over thar in the Berkeley/Oakland area of Northern California. He tapped me on my head and said, "Get big, kid!" and then joined my dad for a brief conversation.
I am guessing here but I must have been around 6 which would make Steve about 19 or so at that time.
Then a few years later before he became a famous movie star ... I met him and George Eifferman while we were waiting for a train to take us all from San Fran to los Angeles . That was a short, "Hello - Goodbye" conversation.
Then when I was in my late teens, I was doing some heavy benches at the now defunct American Health Studios and he stopped to watch me do some serious benches which apparently impressed him because he waited until I completed the 8th rep of my 3rd set.
And later that summer Steve came to Rio Nido on northern California's Russian River (a noteworthy summer resort area) where he got knocked to the ground with a sucker punch but managed to get up with an embarassed smile on his face.
But the sucker puncher had already taken off in a rush.
Then a year or so before he passed away, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Steve and his wife/girlfriend(?) for an event that was being held in his honor.
Reeves and Eifferman were good friends up until the very end and we were asked to not say anything about Steve's passing when we paid George a visit in the hospital.
I mentioned this earlier but Steve's mom once said that Steve never had a cold nor a cavity as a young man.
Good days back then within the world of bodybuilding .... now long gone .... with minor exceptions.
