I met Sergio and Arlene in Sydney in 1981. He came out to do a seminar and pose at a contest my ex Roz and I were involved with running. Sergio trained at my gym a few times and he came to my place for a party. Roger Walker and Lincoln Webb were there as well as other Mr Australias. Sergio was a down to earth guy and I respected him because no one bought him. I have to laugh at CS saying Sergio was a ladies man. Well, I asked Sergio about the gals who hang around contests hoping to score with the guest poser. His reply still makes me laugh, "Those days are gone!"
I would go up to Sergio when he was training at my gym and he would be sipping coffee in between bench presses. He never used much weight then and I think he injured his elbow because they were not the same as when he was at his peak. He did say something about injuring his elbow. Anyway, he told me he couldn't train with me yapping to him. So I went to talk to Arlene. She was a white gal from Georgia. Hell, I wondered how he went over when she brought him to meet her parents. So I asked her that question and she avoided answering. Finally she said, "They liked him." Can you imagine a white family having a big black dude show up in their home as guest of honour! The deep south and all. Anyway, Arlene always wore that funny cap. She was an attractive lady and since I share Sergios interest in women it was obvious to me that they were not suited. She seemed pretty smart and though Sergio was no dope he was hardly educated. Well, I finally told her that I didn't think it would last between them. From the look on her face I think she knew that, too. Maybe she thought Sergio was going to make a lot of money or something. When she shot him I wasn't surprised but Sergio told the officials it was an accident. I thought he was shot twice. Anyway, he eventually got custody of the children so that is a sad story all round. If you met Sergio you couldn't help but like him. My kids adored him and he posed for photos with them and knew how to treat kids. I can't help feeling that maybe he was messing around with another woman and Arlene found out. She seemed like a woman you wouldn't want to betray.
I had to pick him up at his hotel to bring to Castle Hill for the posing show. Arlene didn't come. Well, you should have seen him. It was warm weather and there he was in black tight fitting trousers with a sort of sash around the waist. He wore a red tight fitting singlet and he looked absolutely huge. Naturally he wore a heavy gold chain. It was fun talking to him about Arnold and the old days. He had some sort of boots on and was at least 6 feet then. I am about 5-10 and he was much taller than me then. He told me he weighed about 240 pounds and was quite large when you consider how small his waist was. There he was walking down the street and everyone was looking at him. Gosh, I had never felt so small!
Sergio began his posing routine with the lights out and in the kneeling position with head bowed. Then the lights gradually were turned on and he rose like a cartoon character. You have to understand that the Sydney audience had the Olympia the previous year and Arnold was the biggest guy seen here. Well, the audience was almost silent. Sergio did his routine and left the stage to a big ovation. The audience kept clapping but Sergio refused to do an encore. That was that. He did a short duo routine with Bev Francis so there were the best male and female bodybuilders on the stage at the same time. I asked Sergio why he didn't do an encore. He insisted the audience didn't clap enough. Heck, it was because their mouths were still open and people were too shocked to even respond. I don't think he ever accepted that.
He told me he couldn't go to the beach any more because kids would follow and hound him.
I laugh at Joe and Ben Weiders sense of humour. Well, Bev Francis got 8th place when she competed in Las Vegas in 1983. Sergio got the same placing! I told him not to compete because he wouldn't get a fair deal. I also told Larry Scott when he was here in 79 but Larry went ahead anyway and didn't do well. Before Sergio arrived in Australia I went out and paid about $10,000 for a 2 1/4 Rollieflex SLX camera system because I wanted to take photos of Sergio. When I saw that his condition was a bit smooth I wasn't that interested. The lighting at the posing was a bit dark so it wasn't good for photography and I didn't get any shots of him on stage. Then he told me he wanted $1000 to pose for photos and I lost all interest. No way I would be able to sell those images.
Sergio gave a seminar a couple of days later at City Gym. Typical of most bodybuilders who have never been to college he had no idea what a seminar was. He merely answered questions and if the right questions were not asked then the audience learned nothing. He was candid about his answers and everyone like him. He admitted to drug use but said he didn't take much. He didn't give any specific details.
When he was at the gym he wanted to do some reverse curls on a pulley apparatus I had made there. That was before I had my factory where I design and build my own equipment. Anyway there was a skinny gym member using that curl apparatus so Sergio asks if he can work in with him. The guy was delighted to share the machine. There was about 60 pounds on the machine and Sergio took a couple of plates off and did slow reverse curls with about 40 pounds. The other guy literally shook his head. How did Sergio get that big if that is all the weight he lifted? He had maybe 15 inch arms while Sergio was huge. The people who saw him signing photos after the show were amazed at how big he looked just sitting there. Those forearms were huge.
Sergio came to Sydney about 10 years before but just passed though on his way to Queensland. He was surprized that he had to take another plane to get there. You should have seen him coming through customs. He was wide as could be and everyone looked. They had a press conference for him and I remember one Asian reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald asking him how much he paid for his suit. Sergio needed tailor made suits as you can imagine. Well, he said it was about $500. The reporter asked him if that was dollars? "Yes, we deal in dollars!" was Sergio's reply. The guy was witty.
I asked Sergio about Arnold and he said Arnold was a nice guy. Contrast that to when I asked Arnold in 74 about Sergio. "He's a pig!" Arnold said that about all the black bodybuilders I mentioned including Robby Robinson, Chris Dickerson, Bill Grant, etc. I told Arnold he was prejudiced. "No, I just don't like any of those guys." was Arnold's reply.
It is a pity that Sergio didn't use other people the way Arnold did. Arnold did say that if he had Sergio's body he would have beaten a guy like himself. Sergio was totally independent and who could blame him for thinking he was unbeatable. Imagine if you could see that image in the mirror every day.
He told me a funny story about Bertil Fox. Well, they were supposed to compete in a contest and Bertil was in the bathroom in one of the toilets. Sergio knew he was in there. You know how there is often a little crack that you can see outside the booth? Well, Sergio took his shirt off and did some poses in the mirror to check his condition. He knew Bertil was watching. Sergio enterred that show and won. No one saw anything of Bertil! Apparently Bertil had second thoughts about competing after seeing Sergio.
Sergio lost to Bob Gajda in the Mr America AAU contest and that was ridiculous. Sergio was very upset and wanted to be Mr America. He knew he couldn't win the AAU contest so when he competed in the Weider shows he won just about everything he enterred. At one contest he enterred the Mr America and Mr Universe and the lads weren't happy about it. He just wanted to be Mr America. I think he took the trophy but the other guys sort of split the places.
When Sergio showed up at the Olympia in 1967 he caused a sensation. Former golden boy Larry could see he was not going to beat Sergio. One year no one showed up to compete against Sergio. The prize money in those days? $1,000. Yep that is all they got. What cheapskates the IFBB were. Sergio refused to do the butt kissing that Arnold was good at. Well, Arnold had a plan and used whatever and whoever to win and advance his career. He did shows for the judges so that when they were judging the Olympia who did they place first? The 1980 Olympia proved that and I have the score sheets somewhere. Sergio believed he was the best and just had to show up on stage and he would get the trophy. He was prevented from competing after a while and had to compete in the Dan Lurie contests where he continued to win.
I respect Sergio because he did it his way and he is still probably the best big guy every to be featured in bodybuilding magazines. The Olympia has been controversial since Arnold started competing in 1970. Sergio is a good man and one of the few honest guys out there. In the old days just about everyone denied using drugs. I laugh today when all old timers say they didn't take much and then you discover they took Decca and Dianabol and heaps of other stuff, too. The smart guys didn't use too much or for very long. Those guys who were at the top had long careers and the accumulated effects of drug use has come to haunt them in later years.
I credit Arthur Jones with getting Sergio to be his best. There is no way Sergio could have achieved that on his own. Had he embraced everything Arthur had taught him maybe the history of our sport would be quite different. No wonder Sergio wasn't impressed with the guys who won after he retired. When you know you are better than the guys on stage it must be a bitter pill to swallow.
I will see if I can find some photos of Sergio's visit to Australia. He was quite the guy and I wish him nothing but the best.
Vince Basile,
Mr Canada 1970
