Yeah, a saga for sure. When I first arrived in Australia I offered myself as a judge in contests in Sydney. That was for Fred Vella. The first show was the Mr New South Wales contest in 1972 I think. I put Robert Deigan first over Paul Graham. Then a few years later I put Paul Second to John Koziura in a Mr South Pacific contest. Paul wasn't happy. Paul found out I talked to another judge before the finals and that guy changed his vote. Paul wasn't at all pleased because he figured he was the clear winner. Someone must have shown him the results before the finals. The judges were wondering what Paul was going to do. I mean, was Paul going to start punching the judges!
In 1975 Robert Nailon won a controversial Mr New South Wales contest over a superior Hans Meyer from Orange. So, naturally, many booed the result. A gym member attended the after contest feed and when accused of booing claimed that I started it. Paul and Arnold said they would get me in Melbourne at the 1975 Mr Australia contest. I told Frank Burwash what their plans were and Frank assured me he wouldn't let that happen. What a fool I was to enter under those conditions. I came last in my class and didn't win a trophy. Not even best poser. Robert Nailon wasn't in the tall class so we were never compared. Robert was working in one of my gyms at the time. I asked him if I had too much oil on for the evening show. He told me he doesn't talk to anyone at contests. I was livid at the whole debacle and fired Nailon when I got back to Sydney. Later Robert said that Arnold was like that at contests so that was why he didn't talk to me. Took us a couple of years to sort that out. His mum told him I gave him money for photos and drawings so we forgot about that incident. Ah, the good old days.
