Ray Mentzer lived at our house as well as his girlfriend and daughter, Dagny. He named her after the heroine in 'Atlas Shrugged' by Ayn Rand.
When you saw Ray in person you realised how big he was as a bodybuilder. Much bigger than Mike. Ray tried but never won the Mr Universe like Mike did.
Ray told me how his Dad favoured Mike. That bothered Ray. He claimed that one day Mike had some mates in his car on the way to school but didn't pick
Ray up. I related that story to Mike in 1992 at Golds after Ray set up a meeting. Mike couldn't remember doing that! The truth is Ray felt Mike was getting
more attention at home.
Ray looked serious with his moustache and glasses. Truth is he just wanted to be left alone. One New Year's Eve we went out to visit a friend who wanted
to meet Ray. Ray wasn't interested in her but fell for her friend who he eventually married. I stayed with them in Torrance in 1992. Ray had to pick up
his daughter, then 5 years old, from the police station because his ex girlfriend wasn't comfortable being around him. Dagny would be 35 now.
Anyway, muscle for muscle, Ray was one of the biggest bodybuilders I have seen. Arthur Jones measured his arms at over 20 inches cold. Lots of photos of
Ray don't portray his size. If he was standing behind Mike, Ray didn't look so big. However, look at the photo below and be amazed.
