Author Topic: TOM & ARNOLD .... When Platz met Schwarzenegger  (Read 2354 times)

Nails

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TOM & ARNOLD .... When Platz met Schwarzenegger
« on: April 03, 2013, 07:12:34 PM »
By Peter McGough

 




Last January 9th we posted an excerpt from an unpublished interview yours truly did with Tom Platz some time ago. It created such a torrent of demand for more that we decided to publish another excerpt -- we hope you are both happy now. Anyway, here’s The Golden Eagle talking about his one of his main mentors Arnold Schwarzenegger. In a future story he’ll discuss his other mentor, Dave Draper.

 

Peter McGough: When did you first meet Arnold?

Tom Platz: It was 1977, I was 18 and at college in Detroit. Arnold had just brought out his book Education of a Bodybuilder and he was doing signings at J.C. Penney’s. So I went down there, bought the book and stood at the back of a long line waiting for him to sign. Suddenly he looked down the line and motioned for me to come to the front. I could only think that it was because I was a lot bigger at 200 pounds than most people in the line, and looked like a bodybuilder. He told me I reminded him of one of his training partners Roger Callard. So then I figured maybe he thought I was Roger and signaled me to come forward. I learned later that when he got back to LA he told Roger, “Hey I met a guy in Detroit who looks like you.”

 

What else was said at that meeting?

I told him that after I finished college I would be relocating to the west coast to become a professional bodybuilder. He gave me one of those, “Hmm, I’ve heard that a million times before ….. whatever?” looks. A few years later when we’d be lying on Santa Monica beach getting a tan I’d remind him of that look.

 

What sort of relationship did you have with Arnold once you got to know him?

We became really friendly in 1979 and trained a little bit together. He was quite lean and had retired from bodybuilding competition – we didn’t know he’d make a comeback in 1980. He invited me to make appearances with him: he’d give a seminar and I’d pose. I was always impressed by the amount of planning he’d put into his appearances. He’d hit local media outlets and do like six back-to-back interviews. His capacity for work was amazing. At that point he had won the Olympia six times, but even then was talking about making it big in Hollywood and after that politics. I was a bit like, “Hmm, I’ve heard that a million times ….. whatever?” I think coming from Europe, he looked at America and was like, Hey, I can achieve anything I want here.




 

arce1988

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Re: TOM & ARNOLD .... When Platz met Schwarzenegger
« Reply #1 on: April 03, 2013, 07:14:43 PM »
  Very Cool, Nails.