Getbig Bodybuilding, Figure and Fitness Forums
Getbig Main Boards => Gossip & Opinions => Topic started by: OAK on September 14, 2022, 10:29:51 AM
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😔
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RIP to one of the greats.
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One of the greats who made me want to lift.
RIP
Hospitals are dangerous places. Avoid them if possible.
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R. I. P.
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good bye bill. RIP one of the true greats of the iron game.
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PIP
His physique to longevity ratio was off the charts. Sick build
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Bill Pearl
[image] [image] [image] [image] [image]
Height 5'9"
Born October 31, 1930 Prineville, Oregon
[ website ]
1953
Mr America - AAU, Winner
Mr California - AAU, Winner
Mr California - AAU, Most Muscular, 1st
Mr Southern California - AAU, Winner
Mr Universe - NABBA, Overall Winner
Mr Universe - NABBA, Tall, 1st
1956
Mr USA, Winner
Universe - Pro - NABBA, Tall, 1st
1961
Universe - Pro - NABBA, Overall Winner
Universe - Pro - NABBA, Tall, 1st
1967
Universe - Pro - NABBA, Overall Winner
Universe - Pro - NABBA, Tall, 1st
1971
Universe - Pro - NABBA, Overall Winner
Universe - Pro - NABBA, Tall, 1st
Magazines
1953 July Vol 13, Num 1 IronMan
1953 August Vol 82, Num 17 Health and Strength
1953 September Strength and Health
1953 September Vol 7, Num 9 The Bodybuilder
1954 February Vol 2, Num 1 Muscle Builder
1954 June Vol 8, Num 6 The Bodybuilder
1955 January Vol 84, Num 1 Health and Strength
1955 January Vol 14, Num 4 IronMan
1955 April Vol 18, Num 3 Muscle Power
1955 May Reg Park Journal
1956 March Vol 15, Num 5 IronMan
1956 April Vol 19, Num 3 Muscle Power
1956 June Strength and Health
1956 July Reg Park Journal
1957 January Vol 86, Num 3 Health and Strength
1957 September Vol 17, Num 2 IronMan
1961 February Vol 90, Num 3 Health and Strength
1961 July Strength and Health
1961 September Vol 12, Num 2 Muscle Builder
1961 October Vol 90, Num 20 Health and Strength
1961 October Vol 90, Num 21 Health and Strength
1961 November Vol 21, Num 2 IronMan
1962 April Vol 91, Num 7 Health and Strength
1962 December Strength and Health
1963 January Vol 92, Num 1 Health and Strength
1963 June Vol 22, Num 5 IronMan
1964 February Vol 1, Num 2 Muscular Development
1964 May Vol 93, Num 10 Health and Strength
1965 January Vol 94, Num 2 Health and Strength
1965 February Strength and Health
1966 April Vol 3, Num 4 Muscular Development
1966 August Vol 95, Num 16 Health and Strength
1967 January Vol 96, Num 1 Health and Strength
1967 March Vol 96, Num 7 Health and Strength
1967 March Num 9 Muscle Training Illustrated
1967 July Vol 96, Num 15 Health and Strength
1967 October Vol 96, Num 22 Health and Strength
1967 November Vol 96, Num 24 Health and Strength
1968 January Vol 27, Num 1 IronMan
1968 February Vol 97, Num 3 Health and Strength
1968 March Vol 5, Num 3 Muscular Development
1968 March Strength and Health
1969 July Vol 28, Num 5 IronMan
1969 November Vol 6, Num 11 Muscular Development
1971 October Vol 100, Num 10 Health and Strength
1971 November Vol 31, Num 1 IronMan
1972 December Vol 9, Num 12 Muscular Development
1973 June Vol 102, Num 6 Health and Strength
1977 Vol 1, Num 7 Muscle Digest
1978 August Num 69 Muscle Training Illustrated
1982 December Vol 2, Num 5 Natural Bodybuilding
2002 January Vol 128, Num 1 Health and Strength
© MuscleMemory
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A true legend and great person.
RIP Bill!
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91 and change, and active and with it through most of that time is a great run.
RIP.
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RIP...
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PIP
One of the most influential people ever in the iron game.
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That rare bodybuilder who is worthy of true praise, both as a muscleman and as a human being.
A fine gentleman who shames, in all ways, a majority of personalities who exist, and who have existed, in our subculture.
Bill is an individual to look up to. To attempt to emulate.
Rest in peace, Mr. Pearl.
Fortress gives hail.
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Job well done Mr Pearl
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R.I.P. I have looked up to Mr.Pearl since 1977 when I started this.
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RIP
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R.I.P. I have looked up to Mr.Pearl since 1977 when I started this.
I vividly recall that photo you posted from around that era. Incredible strength, Cook.
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(https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/W/WEBP_402378-T2/images/I/51Z0TGGKKQL._SX366_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg)
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1952
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RIP.
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RIP
Arnold must be getting scared with all the old greats dying off
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RIP to one of the greatest who ever lived!
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Rip. Although I did think he had already passed.
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Very good old style physique when natty in the early 50s.
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PIP
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RIP iron brother.
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He had the kind of physique that made you want to be more powerful and on top of that he was a true gentleman.
RIP
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He had the kind of physique that made you want to be more powerful and on top of a man.
RIP
Leave the Keys asap. ;D
PIP
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Quite unusual for a former juicer to reach this age.
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I have a copy of Keys to the Inner Universe, signed by Bill no less. It’s a good book.
RIP, to one of the giants of modern bodybuilding.
A few photos:
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Quite unusual for a former juicer to reach this age.
His use was on the light side...
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R.I.P.
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91 and change, and active and with it through most of that time is a great run.
RIP.
Holy crap, after all that steroid abuse, imagine if he was natty
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.
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Bills 3-Volume Book "Legends of the Iron Game" probably the best book ever written on the subject.
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Sad news.
RIP.
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one of the greatest
as strong as he looked
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RIP. One of the all time greatest.
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Leave the Keys asap. ;D
PIP
Worst case of the Keys Disease I’ve ever seen!
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Legend. RIP.
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There was a photo of Bill Pearl in Don Aplin's basement gym in Kamloops in 1958 when I started lifting weights. His double biceps was nothing short of amazing and in truth I never did get arms that big! Several years later Bill astonished everyone with his huge arms standing with arms by his side. He kept winning big titles over the years yet never followed Larry or Arnold endorsing products for Joe or Bob. He remained his own man and lived according to what he believed.
I did meet Bill in San Francisco in 1991 at an IRSA conference where he was at the Life Fitness stand presenting the electric exercise machines. A pity they didn't succeed because they were very effective. He is thought well of by almost everyone in the Iron Game.
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Bay likey.
Rest In Peace.
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Very sad news! RIP!
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Leave the Keys asap. ;D
PIP
LOL! Jesus christ.
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91 years, I’d say it’s a life well lived especially how healthy he was all his life. Amazing triceps too.
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P.I.P
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:'(
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:'(
I wonder whatever happened to vera Christenson, she used to be in Strength and Health all the time.
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:'(
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:'(
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RIP...
He was very handsome in 1953, a bit boyish maybe, when he grew over 200 pounds he lost that, still good looking but later he had bloaty face.
Rip to one and only Pearl.
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Nice to see they went from competing wearing diapers to thongs now, next they should compete naked
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I wonder whatever happened to vera Christenson, she used to be in Strength and Health all the time.
She`s currently chained in my basement and has been for decades now! :D
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Nice to see they went from competing wearing diapers to thongs now, next they should compete naked
You forgot the fig leaf!
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:)
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(http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=680895.0;attach=1393041;image)
Perfect physique right there
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Pearl made an everyday plain white tee-shirt look godlike!!
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:'(
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You forgot the fig leaf!
Levrone would wear a booster fig leaf.
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A quick search showed he was using the oral steroid nilevar.
That stuff must of been so potent, in what year was it discontinued and what was the reason?
What took over that drug? Dianabol?
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A quick search showed he was using the oral steroid nilevar.
That stuff must of been so potent, in what year was it discontinued and what was the reason?
What took over that drug? Dianabol?
Him being a genetic freak definitely helped, I knew two gentlemen with barrell chest and thick shoulders in their late eighties, Pearl was among that group.
It is incredibly rare to be thick at advanced years.
As most ham and egg permabulkers kick the bucket in their 70’s.
Reg Park was probably juiced lightly, he also was thick to the very end. (Or till cancer devoured him)
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:)
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She`s currently chained in my basement and has been for decades now! :D
;D ;D ;D ;D ;D smart move.
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surprisingly zabo beat him for best arms in the mr. socal.
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A quick search showed he was using the oral steroid nilevar.
That stuff must of been so potent, in what year was it discontinued and what was the reason?
What took over that drug? Dianabol?
https://www.steroid.com/Nilevar.php
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He was big, with big arms, but, idk, he was never ripped, he was never ripped as Arnold, he had fat chubby cheeks
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He was big, with big arms, but, idk, he was never ripped, he was never ripped as Arnold, he had fat chubby cheeks
Was pretty ripped in his last Universe win.
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He was big, with big arms, but, idk, he was never ripped, he was never ripped as Arnold, he had fat chubby cheeks
He was a natty just like you bro !
::)
He`s far better than any of the bloated messes waddling around these days.
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Bill beat the odds. Few bodybuilders live to be 91 years old. May he rest in peace.
Done sensibly bodybuilding and strength training can extend one's life span.
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A quick search showed he was using the oral steroid nilevar.
That stuff must of been so potent, in what year was it discontinued and what was the reason?
What took over that drug? Dianabol?
Have you ever apologized for stinging Hankins’ foot?
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Vera Christiansen was tiny going by that pic of her standing next to Pearl who I think was 5'10".
(http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=680895.0;attach=1393047;image)
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He was a natty just like you bro !
::)
He`s far better than any of the bloated messes waddling around these days.
Natty? lol he was NOT natty!
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Natty? lol he was NOT natty!
Well lets be honest here.....neither are you !!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Well lets be honest here.....neither are you !!!!!!!!!!!!!
;D
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Natty? lol he was NOT natty!
He was in his 80's.
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Well lets be honest here.....neither are you !!!!!!!!!!!!!
I LOVE PARNITHS FLIP PHONE AVATAR..
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:)
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Natty? lol he was NOT natty!
Doesn't need to be. Only cookie-cutters are NATTY.
More poison in a RONA-Vax needle than in 70 years of steroids it seems...
VaxTurd libz, dumbest people on the planet...
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Doesn't need to be. Only cookie-cutters are NATTY.
More poison in a RONA-Vax needle than in 70 years of steroids it seems...
VaxTurd libz, dumbest people on the planet...
Does this mean anyone who had the 'RONA-Vax' is not natty? :)
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Well lets be honest here.....neither are you !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bro...
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He was big, with big arms, but, idk, he was never ripped, he was never ripped as Arnold, he had fat chubby cheeks
Bill Pearl was one of my favorites. His "20-Months-to-a-Champion's Physique" series in IronMan changed my training life significantly.
I stopped training to failure, "Train; Don't Strain!", rhymes just like Haney's "Stimulate; don't annihilate!" ;D
He claimed that it was pointless to adopt a training style or philosophy, unless you can use it for the rest of your life.
As for his not being ripped, remember he came from the era where being super-ripped wasn't cool. Some competitors actually got MARKED DOWN for that, because it didn't look healthy.
Then, there's the rumor that Weider kept Schwarzenegger from competing at the 1971 NABBA Universe, for fear that a loss to Pearl (who retired after that show) would damage the Oak's marketability. Pearl beat every other top bodybuilder who competed at that show, including 3-time Mr. O, Sergio Oliva.
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PIP to the legend Bill Pearl.
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:'(
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Does this mean anyone who had the 'RONA-Vax' is not natty? :)
Prime, yes!
You are juiced to the gills I guess! ;)
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:)
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Three dapper looking fuckers
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(http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=680895.0;attach=1394609;image)
Looks like a grown-up version of Junior from Problem Child
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My nikka
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Dr Harry Pearl, Abortion Specialist! (Bills Brother):
https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2d/211/783.html
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Dr Harry Pearl, Abortion Specialist! (Bills Brother):
https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2d/211/783.html
Good find, GR.
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Dr Harry Pearl, Abortion Specialist! (Bills Brother):
https://law.justia.com/cases/california/court-of-appeal/2d/211/783.html
yeah I remember that, seemed pretty odd. one of the few pics of harry.
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:)
(https://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=680895.0;attach=1394322;image)
I wonder if that's Mark Cameron on the right, big US Olympic lifter 70's, 80's -
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(http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=680895.0;attach=1394609;image)
He looks a bit like Arnold's kid there.
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I wonder if that's Mark Cameron on the right, big US Olympic lifter 70's, 80's -
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He looks a bit like Arnold's kid there.
Thought the exact same thing after I made my post but was too lazy to change it!
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Thought the exact same thing after I made my post but was too lazy to change it!
I wonder if it's too late for Arnie to claim it's Bill's kid. 3 some gone awry.
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I wonder if it's too late for Arnie to claim it's Bill's kid. 3 some gone awry.
Before his name is on a slab, I hope Mike Katz ventures out west one more time to take young Joseph under his wing. The day will finally come when Arnold walks into Gold’s and then up to Mike just so he can say, “You remember Joey?”
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RIP
Arnold must be getting scared with all the old greats dying off
This. ^
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Legend. :(
But I have never seen a picture of a back double biceps pose from him in my life.
Weird.
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Legend. :(
But I have never seen a picture of a back double biceps pose from him in my life.
Weird.
I've seen a few of the angled versions, but never a straight on BDB in print.
Past his prime, but here he is doing one at 1:57 -
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Most of the posing is front, I wonder if he just didn't like back poses.
Edit - another earlier one at 5:57 here -
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Thanks, BB. 8)
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If you pick a baterial infection while in the hospital and die because of it ....
Does your family gets any type of compensation ????
Wooo$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$hhhhh
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I've seen a few of the angled versions, but never a straight on BDB in print.
Past his prime, but here he is doing one at 1:57 -
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Most of the posing is front, I wonder if he just didn't like back poses.
Edit - another earlier one at 5:57 here -
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56 GUEST POSING...looked damn good.
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:)
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William Arnold Pearl was born in Prineville on October 31, 1930. While he was still a young boy, the family moved to Yakima, Washington, where his father opened a restaurant. Bill and his brother and sister worked in the resteraunt, Bill washing dishes,three or four nights a week and weekends, for no pay. To earn money he worked summers in Hop fields or orchards.
He began his weight training career by lifting gallon cans of vegetables overhead and by lying on the floor of their family diner hauling a gunny sack full of potatoes onto his chest and pressing it in a crude fashion as many times as possible.
When Bill was 14, his friend, Al Simmons, knowing of his desire to develop into a strongman, came to the Pearl home holding a war-time issue of Strength & Health magazine. Bill spent the intire summer saving money to purchase a York Big 10 Adjustable Barbell set.
Enlisting in the United States Navy in 1950, Pearl won the 13th Naval District "Heavyweight Wrestling Championship" and the "Pacific Northwest All-Comers"
meet in 1951. He was 11th Naval District heavyweight champion the following year, but was defeated in the first qualifying round for a place on the United States Olympic wrestling team.
While serving in the United States Navy, Pearl was stationed in San Diego, where he began training at Leo Stern's gym. Encouraged by Stern, at age 22, he won the first of several major bodybuilding contests including the 1953 AAU Mr. California and Mr. America events. The same year, he captured the NABBA Amateur Mr. Universe title in London. In 1956, he won the Professional Mr. USA contest.
Subsequently, Bill's international tours earned him NABBA Professional Mr. Universe titles in 1961, 1967, and 1971. His competitive bodybuilding career spanned a nineteen-year period.
Complementing his interest in weight training and bodybuilding, Pearl became a leader in the fitness industry. He owned and managed several gyms on the West Coast from the 1950s through the 1970s.
In 1962, Pearl purchased George Redpath's gym in central Los Angeles, that became one of the first co-ed facilities in the United States. The gym attracted national and Olympic track athletes, professional baseball players, and world-class power-lifters and bodybuilders.
During his career, Pearl trained and coached nine Mr. America winners and fourteen Mr. Universe champions. In the 1960s, he contracted with North American Rockwell's Aerospace Program to guide training protocols for Rockwell executives and astronauts. This job lasted for nearly ten years.
With Bill's fame as a world-class bodybuilder, came opportunities to speak about fitness, weight training, and bodybuilding. During the 1960s, Pearl traveled to more countries than any other Mr. America before him.
Spreading advice about fitness, weight training, and bodybuilding became a lifetime commitment for Pearl, and he wrote three best-selling books, including Keys to the Inner Universe (1978), Getting Stronger (1986), and Beyond the Universe: The Bill Pearl Story (2003).
At this time he traveled extensively for Life Fitness as, among other things, a good-will ambassador. One of the presentations he did for them was a slide presentation on The Golden Age of Strength. This was the inspiration for his (Labor of Love) "Legends of the Iron Game" which he compiled over a period of eight years.
At this time he traveled extensively for Life Fitness as, among other things, a good-will ambassador. One of the presentations he did for them was a slide presentation on The Golden Age of Strength. This was the inspiration for his (Labor of Love) "Legends of the Iron Game" which he compiled over a period of eight years.
In 2004, Pearl was awarded the Arnold Swarzenegger Classic Lifetime Achievement Award for significantly impacting the world of bodybuilding. (A list of other awards can be found on Wikipedia.)
Pearl retired from bodybuilding and settled in Talent, Oregon, in 1978, where he operated Bill Pearl Enterprises. His workout facility was housed in a barn on his property, and people came from all over the world to work out with him. HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BILL PEARL IN THAT GREAT IRON PALACE IN THE SKY.
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:)
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:)
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Wow. That video of Bill guest posing at 56 years old is really impressive. He doesn't look too far off his peak condition from decades earlier. A little smaller but great condition, full, no tears or saggy muscles/skin etc...
Compared to 90' pros dead, small, useless, losing limbs and organs, can't walk etc...
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:)
Did Bill Pearl Win the 1971 Mr. Universe Contest with Kindness?
Throughout bodybuilding history, contests have been won for various reasons other than someone being the most well-developed, aesthetically pleasing. Bodybuilding is a subjective sport, and the definition of perfection differs from person to person. Contests have been won due to physical attractiveness, charisma, etc. In its early years, the Mr. America contest winner needed to be a good-looking and well-spoken individual who would be a great representative of America. It is easy to see how someone as attractive as Steve Reeves, charismatic as Arnold Schwarzenegger, or as charming as John Grimek might have an edge in a subjective sport such as bodybuilding. But has a bodybuilding contest ever been won because of kindness?
Bill Pearl is and will be bodybuilding’s greatest gentleman. In a sport where competitors are often stereotyped as brutes with IQs not breaking triple digits, Pearl broke the mold. He has been a great representative of bodybuilding for eight decades now and usually praised his opponents instead of bashing them. In the rare case Pearl said something derogatory about someone it was always worth noting. Steve Reeves brought bodybuilding aesthetics, Arnold Schwarzenegger brought it into the mainstream, and Bill Pearl brought it decorum. To say Bill Pearl is a nice guy is an understatement.
Bill Pearl is also one of the most successful bodybuilders to ever compete in major contests winning 10 of the 12 contests he entered. His worst showing was taking 3rd place in the first contest he entered at age 21 (Mr. San Diego) and he took 2nd place in the 1956 NABBA Pro Mr. Universe losing to the great Jack Delinger. The only bodybuilder with a better record was the immortal and undefeated John Grimek.
Bill Pearl, Reg Park & Sergio Oliva - A Battle of the Giants
The contest in question was the 1971 NABBA Pro Mr. Universe held
September 17th in London, England. Pearl was reluctantly competing and had every right to be angry. He had been comfortably retired for the past four years and was now back on stage at almost 41 years of age feeling like he had been pulled out of retirement for the wrong reasons, and only to please others.
He had been called out by Joe Weider and Arnold Schwarzenegger in several of Weider’s muscle magazines. Apparently, Weider was upset that many of his readers frequently wrote letters to the magazine about Pearl, praising him as the greatest bodybuilder ever. Nautilus founder, Arthur Jones, and Sergio Oliva also challenged Pearl to come out of retirement for the contest. Jones and Pearl had gotten into a spat about the effectiveness of Nautilus equipment vs. free weights and Jones had been training Oliva exclusively on his equipment to try and promote his products as the builder of champions. Jones had offered Oliva $5,000 if he could beat Pearl in the contest. Pearl didn’t have any help from his longtime trainer, Leo Stern, who also challenged him to come out of retirement and shut up the critics.
Facing Pearl that day were some of the greatest bodybuilders to ever walk the stage: Sergio Oliva, Reg Park, and Frank Zane. It was arguably one of the greatest bodybuilding contests ever assembled and certainly would have been the greatest if Weider would have let Arnold compete in it. However, Weider had recently enacted a rule that any athlete would be suspended from the IFBB for a year if they competed in an event outside of the IFBB which would have made Arnold ineligible to compete in the Mr. Olympia contest the following weekend.
Before the competition began an event occurred backstage that might have played a role in Pearl winning the contest. The competitors were backstage pumping up preparing to go out and pose when according to his autobiography, Beyond the Universe: The Bill Pearl Story:
A young Belgian boy, about eleven years old, had been brought backstage, to see and possibly meet some of the contestants. The father nudged the boy, his autograph book in hand, toward Sergio. BIG MISTAKE! The moment the boy got into his space, Sergio shouted something like, "Get the hell out of here! I don't have time for autographs! See me after the show!" The outburst shocked the father and son to the point where you could actually see dismay on their faces.
Bill Pearl and the Belgium boy, identified as Chris Vandenbroele in Pearl's autobiography
Regaining his composure, the father began pushing the boy toward me. The boy walked over, his head down, autograph book at arm's length, afraid to make eye contact. Having seen the crestfallen look on the child's face, I signed my name and then picked him up and placed him on my shoulder as he flexed his skinny arm while his father snapped a photograph.
The next time I saw his father, he was looking at me while sitting at the judge's table with a smile on his face, nodding his head up and down, mouthing the word, "Yes--yes--yes."
While this is certainly an interesting story, and no doubt true if told by Bill Pearl, it begs the question; Did a judge potentially switching his vote from Oliva to Pearl make any difference? According to an article written for Muscular Development magazine shortly after the contest by its General Secretary, Oscar Heidenstam:
It was Pearl with 10 firsts, Oliva with four firsts. So Bill took his fourth Mr. Universe title, and we doubt if there will ever be another Mr. Universe contest like that again.
Based on Heidenstam’s article it appears there were a total of fourteen judges and 10 cast their first-place ballots for Pearl and 4 cast theirs for Oliva. Based on this information, if the Belgium judge in question had voted for Oliva instead of Pearl the final first place vote tally would still have given Pearl first place easily at 9 first place votes to 5.
While this story is certainly interesting, it appears Pearl would have won the contest easily even without the potential switched vote from the Belgium judge. It is worth noting however, this story proves that factors outside of the objective judging of one’s physical perfection seem to play a role in bodybuilding. It is human nature for our perception of others, including their attractiveness, to evolve as we learn more about their character. It would follow then that a great champion in a lineup of perfect bodies would have to exude some extra intangible quality like confidence, charisma, or maybe even kindness. THE STORY BEHIND THOSE PICS.
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Great unique physique.