Forgotten bodybuilders

[evandatp]

The Brutally Huge Bill Davis.

Didn't he invent that tanning lotion? Moire cream ??

[Kwon]

[stuntmovie]

SCOTT,  I was at Pearl's in Pasadena when Clint Beyerle and his training partner were prepp'n for one of the National contests that was being promoted by Gold's at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium when Gold's was owned by Ken Sprague and I do recall that Clint went into Bill's office and apologized because he and his partner were going to train at Gold's for the contest simply because it could possibly benefit them in the contest.

That showed me that Clint was a damn good person to explain to Bill before joining Gold's.

Back then Clint was probably the most ripped-up/vascular competitor in Southern California, but I forget how he did in that contest and who won the overall. (It might have been Gary Leonard.)

DO you recall who Clint's training partner was back then?

And I believe that Clint got his pilot's license around that same time period.

Any idea what he's been up to lately?

[stuntmovie]

COACH, Thanks, I'm not much of a FaceBook user but I'll try to contact Joe this week.

[BB]

Bob Reis -

.

Ali Malla -

.

Went fully religious at a certain point.

Also the big bodybuilder Ken C ?, that used to do shows in Kiss Demon make up in the 80's.

[WalterWhite]

NJ's own John Hnatyschak.

[stuntmovie]

BB, I think that is "BOB" Reis!

[BB]

BB, I think that is "BOB" Reis!

Ha, yes. I was reading some stuff on Bill Davis just before, and mixed the names .

[Ronnie Rep]

Bob Reis -

.

Ali Malla -

.

Went fully religious at a certain point.

Also the big bodybuilder Ken C ?, that used to do shows in Kiss Demon make up in the 80's.

Reis was a thick mofo.

[WalterWhite]

Vic Terra

[njflex]

Vic Terra

HE WAS GREAT ,,,

[WalterWhite]

HE WAS GREAT ,,,

[crownshep]

What was that blonde headed dude on the Twinlab label sometimes.  Dean something?

Franco Santerello was another that had a flash in the pan "career"

Are you thinking of Dean Caputo

[njflex]

NABBA CHAMP...HE COULD HAVE DONE GOOD IN IFBB WITH THIS LOOK ,,HE DID NATIONALS LATE 80'S AND WAS NOT TOP 5,,NABBA HE WAS GREAT..

[Ronnie Rep]

HE WAS GREAT ,,,

Yup.

[Jayel]

Aaron mr intensity maddron

Garrett downing

The Sebastian homo

Tevita aloholei or whatever his last name is

Eric Bui

[Taffin]

Pat Nicholls

[Big Pat]

Thought I could add a few bits of info about Ralph Kroger and others in the San Diego area.

Mr. Kroger bought a gym in El Cajon after the his gym in Del Mar. The original gym was set up and equipped by Maylen Wiltste, who was an assistant strength coach for the San Diego Chargers under Alvin Roy. Maylen the Magician, as he liked to be called also owned a gym in the PB/ La Jolla area. Ralph went to Hawaii to work as a carpenter as I recall from talking to a few of his former members. His gym was later owned by Glenn Vogel, a Jr. Mr A (class winner I believe) and then by a Wayne Collins(sp). Most of the guys went to Bill Golumbick's Valley Barbell Club when it moved from Spring Valley to North El Cajon in the old Army barracks. Mr. Golumbick is an interesting part of gym history in SD county all by itself. Mr. Kroger's last gym is/was in Cherokee Ind., call the Victory Gym. Don't know if it's still in business or not.

Gene Fisher bought George Redpath's last gym in Spring Valley in 1968  or so. I knew Mr. Fisher very well and bought his equipment for the gym I owned. Gene and Bill were all "Stern's boys" as I called them. Mr. Stern is   the Father of weight training in San Diego having opened his gym in 1946 after the war. Had some fine conversations with Leo and he was alway willing to answer my training and history questions, as long as I followed him around from his equipment store to his gym or to his wife's Fitness Salon.
  
Some other notables from the San Diego gym history include-

Bud Keith who had his Health House gym on the boardwalk near Belmont Park in Mission Beach.
Earl Clark the Mr. A winner, who had a gym in the South Bay area for years.
Bob Clark who was a gym owner but mostly known for his Iron Co. gym equipment {later become Polaris}
Roger Mentz(sp) who had the Iron Man gym in Oceanside.
Bob Janis who had the Oceanside Heath Club and was the AAU physique chairman for the SD district.
Paul Edney who owned the first Gold's Gym franchise in SD.

I hope someone finds this info helpful, sure was interesting to be a small part of at the time.

Be safe and strong,

Big Pat

 

[nerdoldnerdith]

No Olympia, no care. You blew it, Kai.

[stuntmovie]

BIG PAT, I did find your latest post to be of interest as you mentioned individuals within the game whom I knew well many years ago but have lost contact with.

And thanks for the update on Ralph Kroger whom I've never actually met but our 'paths' crossed frequently and he did play a decent part of the bodybuilding game within he San Diego vicinity.

I can recall Ralph's beachside Del Mar gym as a small stand-alone building about 20 feet off the sea-side of the Pacific Coast Highway and I'm sure that the freeway improvements over the years have removed any evidence of that structure today.

I was unaware of his move to El Cajon but it must have been soon after that move that he made the big move to Hilo, Hawaii and set up a small gym on the 2nd floor of a commercial building on the main street there.

All of the above is based on long term memory so some small parts of it may not be too precise and I do not recall ever meeting with the other associates you mentioned.

But I did know Bob Janus well when he had that small gym in Oceanside on the east side of 101. Actually I believe it was built as a Hand-Ball business but Bob apparently installed some minor weight equipment and sold handball as well as gym memberships.

And Roger's last name is spelt "METZ". And he was a friend of Bob's whom I also knew for a very short while.

Paul Edney's Gold's Gym, under another name and another owner, was located on one of Oceanside's side streets pretty close to the beach. I don't recall the year that Paul took over and made it a Gold's but I was long gone from Pendleton around that time.

Paul eventually sold it or closed it up and moved to Hawaii until he recently returned to California.

Strange thing here but one late afternoon while I was driving through Pendleton along the PCH, I saw a truck in front of me advertising Pearl's Gym and as I passed that truck I noticed that Bill, himself, was driving it.
I honked and gave him a military salute and he laughed and saluted back.

Roughly 15 years later I met him formally and even if many years  have passed ... Bill always comes up, remembers my name and offers a hearty handshake.

One of the great gentlemen in this game!

Pat,I asked before but .... Do you recall a San Diego BB competitor from the mid 1960's who sliced up his leg pretty badly (and accidentally) with a chainsaw?

Thanks again, Pat ........ Stunt

PS. I never did meet Mr Stern but I was inside his 2nd floor San Diego once upon a time during a stint at there MCRD. Wasn't it situated above a bar where the military hung on?

[Simple Simon]

BIG PAT, I did find your latest post to be of interest as you mentioned individuals within the game whom I knew well many years ago but have lost contact with.

And thanks for the update on Ralph Kroger whom I've never actually met but he did play a decent part of the bodybuilding game within he San Diego vicinity.

I can recall Ralph's beachside Del Mar gym as a small stand-alone building about 20 feet off the set-side of the Pacific Coast Highway and KI'm sure that the freeway improvements have removed any evidence of that structure today.

I was unaware of his move to El Cajon but it must have been soon after that move that he made the big move to Hilo, Hawaii and set up a small gym on the 2nd floor of a commercial building on the main street there.

All of the above is based on long term memory so some small parts of it may not be too precise and I do not recall ever meeting with the other associates you mentioned.

But I did know Bob Janus well when he had that small gym in Oceanside on the east side of 101. Actually I believe it was built as a Hand-Ball business but Bob apparently installed some minor weight equipment and sold handball as well as gym memberships.

And Roger's last name is spelt "METZ". And he was a friend of Bob's whom I also knew for a very short while.

Paul Edney's Gold's Gym, under another name and another owner, was located on one of Oceanside's side streets pretty close to the beach. I don't recall the year that Paul took over and made it a Gold's but I was long gone from Pendleton around that time.

Paul eventually sold it or closed it up and moved to Hawaii until he recently returned to California.

Strange thing here but one late afternoon while I was driving through Pendleton alone the PCH, I saw a truck in front of me advertising Pearl's Gym and as I passed that truck I noticed that Bill, himself, was driving it.
I honked and gave him a military salute and he laughed and saluted back.

Roughly 15 years later I met him formally and even if many years  have passed ... Bill always comes up, remembers my name and offers a hearty handshake.

One of the great gentlemen in this game!

Pat,I asked before but .... Do you recall a San Diego BB competitor from the mid 1960's who sliced up his leg pretty badly (and accidentally) with a chainsaw?

Thanks again, Pat ........ Stunt

PS. I never did meet Mr Stern but I was inside his 2nd floor San Diego once upon a time during a stint at there MCRD. Wasn't it situated above a bar where the military hung on?

schmotastic post.

[stuntmovie]

Thanks, BeThere. Glad you read it. More to come which may not be of interest if you did not have the opportunity to witness the growth nor participate within what this site is supposed to be all about.

Hey Pat! You did mention another individual whom I may have met and have since forgotten......

"Bud Keith who had his Health House gym on the boardwalk near Belmont Park in Mission Beach."

A small group of us Marines used to travel to the beach cities between LA and San Diago and compete in any physical fitness activities which those beach-cities sponsored.

Bodybuilding back then was only a minor attraction, but we did excel in anything that required functional muscle within and outside of the Pacific.

And yes, we did manage to take most of the trophies back to Pendleton.

I think it was Bud Keith that held such an event each summer in Mission Beach. I sort of recall that he had an old beach-front house filled with various lifting gear and that house was just a bit north of a roller coaster
and there was a famous beach bar around the corner where all the winners and all the losers would gather to down their thirst with as much beer as was humanly possible to consume.

Was that possibly a Bud Keith event? I never did thank him for all those trophies we took back to the base.

And last question.... Do you recall the names of the individuals who opened the Gold's Gym a bit further north up by the La Jolla area?

[Simple Simon]

Thanks, BeThere. Glad you read it. More to come which may not be of interest if you did not have the opportunity to witness the growth nor participate within what this site is supposed to be all about.

Hey Pat! You did mention another individual whom I may have met and have since forgotten......

"Bud Keith who had his Health House gym on the boardwalk near Belmont Park in Mission Beach."

A small group of us Marines used to travel to the beach cities between LA and San Diago and compete in any physical fitness activities which those beach-cities sponsored.

Bodybuilding back then was only a minor attraction, but we did excel in anything that required functional muscle within and outside of the Pacific.

And yes, we did manage to take most of the trophies back to Pendleton.

I think it was Bud Keith that held such an event each summer in Mission Beach. I sort of recall that he had an old beach-front house filled with various lifting gear and that house was just a bit north of a roller coaster
and there was a famous beach bar around the corner where all the winners and all the losers would gather to down their thirst with as much beer as was humanly possible to consume.

Was that possibly a Bud Keith event? I never did thank him for all those trophies we took back to the base.

And last question.... Do you recall the names of the individuals who opened the Gold's Gym a bit further north up by the La Jolla area?

You are aware its a 70% chance you are talking to uncle junior?

[Taffin]

Pat,I asked before but .... Do you recall a San Diego BB competitor from the mid 1960's who sliced up his leg pretty badly (and accidentally) with a chainsaw?

Thanks again, Pat ........ Stunt

I don't mean to do Pat's work here, but I think I can help by reproducing part of one of his previous posts if I may:

"I believe the man you are referring to with the leg injuries is Big John McWilliams. I had an older gym member of mine who trained with him at the North Park Health Club in the 60's. He was the club manager and from what I was told trained a lot of the SD Charger football players, including John Kemp. I have heard two, now three stories on how he injured his legs. One is war injuries, two is yours about the chainsaw and three, which Dr. A on IronAge forum states, from an industrial accident. Years ago Mr. George Coates (former IM writer) lent me all the photos that Mr. Stern took of him, he is always wearing long pants. There is one famous image of him that appeared in IM magazine in the late 50's that shows his right arm flexed which looks like a bowling ball . He has been given credit for having the first true 20" arm. "

http://www.getbig.com/boards/index.php?topic=280916.msg5044791#msg5044791

[Big Pat]

Greetings Stunt,
Thank you to Taffin for your fine archival skills.

As Taffin quoted from my previous text, John McWilliams was the only one I knew of that had some kind of serious leg injury that he felt he needed to keep his legs covered for. The only person that might know the true story is George Coates-if he is even still around. There was also some discussion on the old IronAge forum about Mr. McWilliams but that was destroyed by a virus of some kind years ago.

Bud Keith was an interesting man and gym owner. His Health House gym was right on the boardwalk in the heart of Mission Beach as you said. I don't know what year he started the Mr. Muscle Beach contests but after he closed his gym (late 70's?), the Hamel brothers turned it into a gift /bike rental shop and continued the contest on a balcony/platform that faced the ocean. The only one I attended was in 1982 because of few of my gym members wanted to me go down. Mr. Keith was a nutritionist also and supplied many gyms in the area with supplements including Mr. Golumbick's Valley Barbell Club. I think the Beverly Co. took most of his business when they offered a multi pack with each gyms logo. Bud Keith's son still sells his dad's nutrition bars online.

The only other Gold's franchise owners {other than Paul Edney} I knew of  were the Fisher brothers (not related to Gene) that owned one in Fletcher Hills area of El Cajon.  Spent most of my training time at my home gym the commercial one I had and Mr. Fisher's.  

Never met Mr. Pearl but as you know he stayed close to Leo for all those years after he trained at his gym. If he is anything like Leo, he would always remember you and what you had discussed with him. I met Mr. Stern in 1978 as a "Young Lad" as they say and he always took the time to answer my questions and talk about training - as long as I followed him from his  equipment store, shop, gym and his wife's figure salon.  His second gym was above a chicken/meat rendering business in the early days. Now it's a Chinese cleaner store. North Park had it share of bars back in the day. Now it's a trendy hipster area, if that's the correct term for it.
 
As I stated before, I wish I had taken the time to sit down with some of the pioneers of  San Diego gyms, I am sure it  would have been enlightening to say the least. You must always remember and thank those who paved the weight training way.

Alway look forward  and appreciate your posts.

Be safe and strong,

Pat