One of the greats of all time, for sure!
I remember when M and F did a spread on him. He was on the cover. They photographed him on the beach, lifting a car behind his back. I think it was a convertible Corvette. He was no longer competing, but the photos were awesome and showed he still had amazing wheels.
I went out to Venice beach right after medical school specifically because of that article, which described how he first arrived there, living in a seedy apartment with several other guys. He talked about having a large yellow parka with cans of tuna in the pockets. He talked about eating at the Rose cafe, etc.
So out I went, got a crappy little hotel room and trained am/pm at World's and Gold's in Venice for about 2 months. Truly the trip of a lifetime. So who do I meet out there? See the enclosed photo. It was taken at Gold's Venice. Year was 1991 (as if you couldn't tell by my baggies and BetterBodies sweatshirt--what a loser!). Anyway, I did cable crossovers with him. I couldn't believe it. I told him I came out there specifically because of what I had read in his article, and he smiled. He was very pleasant.
Then, on the red eye back to NY, guess who sits next to me? Yup. He was on his way to Connecticut, where he said he maintained a second residence. I offered him a can of tuna, but he declined.
