When I was 17 years old, I drove out to Rockford, Illinois to see the AAU Mr. Illinois contest. My brother and I walked into the prejudging and Belknap was standing in the middle of the stage, he was the only competitor in the short class. The audience was dead silent, everyone was in shock. Belknap weighed about 215 pounds at 5'4", ripped and vascular everywhere. He was a total freak. Back in 1980, very few bodybuilders had that much thickness and mass while being ripped and vascular. His legs were Tom Platz-like and he had 20 inch arms and super thick all over. He easily won the overall that night. Three months later, he won a very tough AAU Mr. Midwest Open, also held in Rockford. By that time, everyone had heard about this new freak in bodybuilding and the show was sold out. When Belknap came out at night to pose, the audience went nuts. Back then, they had an actual posing platform and Belknap jumped onto the platform and landed in the middle facing the crowd and the place went crazy. He looked unbelievable with his wild curly hair and his massive and ripped physique. Sergio Oliva was there and was watching from the front row and he was blown away. He told someone that Belknap was better than most of the professionals the way he looked that night. I remember his arms were so big that he had to throw his arm back to do a side triceps pose. His legs were freaky, super big with cross striations and vascularity all over. The day after that show, the promoter took some pictures of Belknap in a gym and sent them to Weider. Weider flew Belknap out to California as soon as he saw the pics. He won the America later that year but he lost about 25 pounds to compete in the light heavyweight class.
