1988 was a great year for Phil Hill if memory serves me right he won the heavyweight class of the NPC the year before and entered the 1988 Night of champions in New York (I think it was in New York) and completely dominated the event he looked like a new level of bodybuilder on stage next too former greats like Robby Robinson and others I think Shawn ray might have entered as well his Quads, Back, Arms etc were ahead of his time and hill was being tauted as the next big thing (and rightfully so)
He looked incredible @ the 1988 Mr Olympia and placed @ the back of others he was definitely superior too that decision gutted him he asked (apparently) bodybuilding officials/judges why he placed where he did the only explanation he was given (apparently) was that he had too “pay his dues” first...as was the saying back in those days he didn’t except that explanation (and fair enough) but he let it get too him and dropped out of bodybuilding.
If you watch that then famous posing routine of his @ the 88 Olympia (and keep in mind that’s nearly 32 YEARS AGO) you can see how good he really was in a lot of ways a forerunner too what Phil Heath would be (minus the conditioning) the other thing he had in common with heath was his lack of shoulder width witch they both made up for with outrageous muscle fullness etc.
