It doesn't seem that long ago that I had a photo taken with Zabo at Venice Beach in 1969 when I was on my honeymoon. Joe took my wife, Roz, to Muscle Beach while I had a workout. Joe was interested in selling his gym and I asked him if he would finance me. He gave me a look which said he was the kind of guy who didn't joke about $. Seymour Koenig, who used to wrestle in Vancouver, BC., told me Joe was keen to sell the gym as he wanted to travel more in the merchant marine.
I first met Zabo in October 1968 and I recall an amusing story about his girlfriend. I was at the original 'Muscle Beach' at Santa Monica sun tanning. Arnold had just arrived from Germany and was there with some mates. I was sort of observing the scene when I saw Arnold get up and walk to the surf for a swim. I was surprised that nobody paid him any attention. I mean, the guy was huge and weighed about 250 pounds and was 6' 1 1/2". I know because I measured his height the next year in Honolulu. How could a giant like that not be conspicuous on that famous beach? A few minutes later, Zabo's curvaceous Mexican girlfriend got up to have a swim. Everyone looked at her! Well, she had a great body with this small waist and everyone looked. I thought to myself that bodybuilding was an empty pastime because here was a gal who didn't train who got more attention than the biggest bodybuilder in the world at the time. Well, I am sure Zabo would have had her come to the gym, but she was not a figure or bodybuilding gal. The truth is most people envied Zabo than they did Arnold on that day!
Joe called Zabo 'The Chief' and that was fitting because Zabo was a cool guy and mates would assemble at his place to watch football. I caught up with Zabo again in 1980 when visiting LA and then again in 1991. One day when I visited the World Gym I asked after Zabo and was told he was asleep in the cupboard in the office so that he would be there if Joe called. I didn't believe it but apparently it was true. Joe told me he opened another gym after he sold the original Golds so that Zabo and Eddie would have jobs! Now that is looking after your mates. Joe was a good businessman but he looked after his mates and his customers. He let me train for free when I was there for a month in 1968. I offered to do some cleaning, etc., but he shook his head and said just to tell him how long I would be there.
Over the years Zabo got older but aged slower than most of his contemporaries. Zabo looked the best is what I heard when he attended old time reunions. He told me several times, "Where is the pot of gold from all this training?" Well, he lived to see some guys earn a lot of money from the sport. In the days when Zabo competed there was virtually no prize money but a title and trophy was sufficient reward, anyway. Zabo was a keen observer of the human condition and would comment on things if he knew you.
I used to shake my head when I witnessed Zabo doing his long abdominal sessions. Something like 40 minute doing partial situps and leg raises. I think he popularized the partial movement used by just about everyone since. He did them religiously maybe because his abs made him a bodybuilding celebrity. I always felt Leo Robert had better abs but Zabo won more best ab trophies for sure.
Steve Reeves, Reg Park, Vince Gironda, Clancy Ross, Joe Gold, and now Zabo Koszewski are gone. These guys were legends even in the old days and were always featured in the magazines.
The big guy in the photos above with Zabo is Steve Merjanian. What an interesting guy he was. He was the strongest big guy at Golds in those days and everyone respected him. One day I challenged him to lift this big block of wood used to stand on while training. It was something like 4 inches thick and weighed about 60 pounds. Big Steve's hands were too small and he couldn't lift it. Not to be undone he told me 'come here kid' and proceeded to hold an Olympic bar out front at shoulder height and rotate it from vertical to horizontal and back to vertical using one hand. I didn't even attempt to duplicate that feat and merely quipped that it was one all!
