It was an icy cold and windy weekend in Columbus Ohio early in March 1992, the wind was so cold that it was hard to breathe.
Thousands of shivering fans had assembled outside the Veterans memorial to see this Classic posedown. Vince Taylor was the clear winner that night and perhaps, in condition that not he or anyone else has matched again. I remember sitting next to his wife, I had guessed his weight at 225. She said he was 204 on the morning of the show. Momo Benaziza was second and way freaky. My Old mate Sonny was third after nearly blowing it all the night before. He had left his dieting late and went very hard, when he started drying out he dehydrated very quickly and ended up cramping severely. He bounced back just fine with a can of coke with added table salt. He ended up in some of the fullest condition ever. Sadly Momo passed away on a later tour and Sonny in 2004 (RIP).
With Arnold attending the Victory banquet, a huge turnout was inevitable. The inner crowd of exhausted Pros, rich sponsors, Judges and hangers on, partied long into the night. I hit the sack in the wee hours, inspired, amazed and exhausted.
I had an early flight that Sunday morning. I had traveled half way around the world, just for this one night and now I had 24 hours to get back to work in Australia. As I crawled out of bed I wondered if it was all worth it.
I sleepily walked into the foyer at 6.30am to call a cab to the airport.
As I waited I heard voices coming out of the elevator, the voices sounded aged but lively and excited. It had seemed that the whole hotel was asleep, so I was kind of glad to know someone else had to be up. As the voices came around the corner I could hear the conversation clearly, one was telling the other that he would kick his arse in the gym and the other retorted with "no chance." I strained to see who would be up, training so early after such an exhausting day and night. I literally froze as Joe Weider and Reg Park walked to the reception desk and dropped off their keys for safe keeping. The comical banter continued as they ventured into the cold, dark Columbus morning. This image has stayed with me, after all these years the originals, the old time hardcore bodybuilders were still showing us the way............
It was worth it!
Here is a shot I took with Joe, Ben, Arnold and Vince that memorable weekend so long ago.
