RIP - Tom Prince - 02-05-22

[WalterWhite]

He was positively one of the biggest, most muscular motherfuckerss in the world for a few years. Crazy huge.

Good guy. Always social. ALways friendly.

PIP

 x2



PIP

[6 Reps]

Around the turn of the century, late 90's or early 2000's, I was in the audience at a local contest here in LA.  I was sitting in the rear, the seats were typical theater style seats.   There were some empty seats in the row in front of me.

About a third of the way into the contest, in walks Prince, into the row in front of me.  I was aghast at how huge he was.  I thought to myself, my God, this man is never going to fit into one of these seats.  I thought it like a normal adult sitting in a little child's chair.  But by golly, he did sit down.  To this day I don't know how he crammed himself into that seat he was so huge.

RIP

[Taffin]

Don't know if it was the lighting, or the type of filming, or just his conditioning, but that short clip of him from '96 had some of the thinnest skin I think I've ever seen

And the lantern jaw look just worked for him too (nh)

It's a shame - PIP

[Rambone]

Don't know if it was the lighting, or the type of filming, or just his conditioning, but that short clip of him from '96 had some of the thinnest skin I think I've ever seen

And the lantern jaw look just worked for him too (nh)

It's a shame - PIP

Palumbo was saying his 3rd place NOC was his best look, but that’s probably because Palumboism was setting in nicely. I think it’s ‘96 because his waist was tiny and tight (double no homo) but everything else was huge (except for the light switch triple no homo)

[Fortress]

Tom looked amazing from the side:

Jason Statham packing on the mass.

But seriously …

RIP

Guy was absolutely gigantic. Looked like a human tank. And allegedly he was strong as FRICK.

He truly paid a steep price for the abuse he inflicted onto his body.

Never knew the man, but, as with Matarazzo, I’d imagine he had serious regrets.

I just turned 52, so, damn.

Pretty bloody young.

Again, RIP.

[beakdoctor]

What did he do so far outside the typical pro drug protocols? People say he was a walking drug experiment  and abused his body....

What did he and Mattarazzo and Nassir do that killed them? As opposed to Ronnie or Dorian or Ray or Taylor?

Excessive ammounts? Being reckless/ careless?

[Earl1972]

What did he do so far outside the typical pro drug protocols? People say he was a walking drug experiment  and abused his body....

What did he and Mattarazzo and Nassir do that killed them? As opposed to Ronnie or Dorian or Ray or Taylor?

Excessive ammounts? Being reckless/ careless?

tom and mike's case just pure bad luck, some people smoke two pack a day and never get sick and then some nonsmoker breathes in second hand smoke and gets lung cancer

i remember people saying on the forums that tom used rec drugs a lot too, who knows for sure but i thinks there is always some truth to rumors like that

nasser was still playing the size game well into retirement and would often brag about being 300 lbs with abs while being about 50 years old, he always seemed to be a bit unhealthy so maybe he just couldn't handle the drugs well to begin with

E

[conflicted]

It wasn't just bad luck. Tom made a choice to not monitor his health. His kidney damage could have been prevented, or at the very least caught in the very early stages.

Someone made a post in the early 2000s on musclemayhem asking Tom if he got blood work done.

Tom gave a one word reply: No

The poster then asked Tom if he was ever worried or concerned about his health?

Tom gave the same one word reply: No

Weeks later Tom was diagnosed with kidney damage, and shortly thereafter the thread was removed.

Someone had screenshotted the thread, reposted it, and asked if Tom still felt the same.

In an angry and embarrassed tone, Tom said of course he felt differently and wished he had gotten his blood work done. He was angry at the poster and thought his own ignorance and cockiness was being  thrown in his face for a laugh.

The poster replied that his intention was not to belittle Tom. It was to use Tom's mistake as information and education so others wouldn't make the same mistake, and monitor their blood work.

Tom responded positively to that, and agreed it was a good message.

Tom was a good guy. Damn shame. RIP.

[Earl1972]

It wasn't just bad luck. Tom made a choice to not monitor his health. His kidney damage could have been prevented, or at the very least caught in the very early stages.

Someone made a post in the early 2000s on musclemayhem asking Tom if he got blood work done.

Tom gave a one word reply: No

The poster then asked Tom if he was ever worried or concerned about his health?

Tom gave the same one word reply: No

Weeks later Tom was diagnosed with kidney damage, and shortly thereafter the thread was removed.

Someone had screenshotted the thread, reposted it, and asked if Tom still felt the same.

In an angry and embarrassed tone, Tom said of course he felt differently and wished he had gotten his blood work done. He was angry at the poster and thought his own ignorance and cockiness was being  thrown in his face for a laugh.

The poster replied that his intention was not to belittle Tom. It was to use Tom's mistake as information and education so others wouldn't make the same mistake, and monitor their blood work.

Tom responded positively to that, and agreed it was a good message.

Tom was a good guy. Damn shame. RIP.

he was definitely reckless, but so were many others that never ended up on dialysis and are still relatively healthy to this day so yeah... bad luck

E

[Never1AShow]

It wasn't just bad luck. Tom made a choice to not monitor his health. His kidney damage could have been prevented, or at the very least caught in the very early stages.

Someone made a post in the early 2000s on musclemayhem asking Tom if he got blood work done.

Tom gave a one word reply: No

The poster then asked Tom if he was ever worried or concerned about his health?

Tom gave the same one word reply: No

Weeks later Tom was diagnosed with kidney damage, and shortly thereafter the thread was removed.

Someone had screenshotted the thread, reposted it, and asked if Tom still felt the same.

In an angry and embarrassed tone, Tom said of course he felt differently and wished he had gotten his blood work done. He was angry at the poster and thought his own ignorance and cockiness was being  thrown in his face for a laugh.

The poster replied that his intention was not to belittle Tom. It was to use Tom's mistake as information and education so others wouldn't make the same mistake, and monitor their blood work.

Tom responded positively to that, and agreed it was a good message.

Tom was a good guy. Damn shame. RIP.

[jude2]

RIP iron brother.

[Rambone]

Lol!

[honest]

Nubain had a lot to do with Toms health issues, certainly when your under its spell your not monitoring your health, the drug takes over you like any other opined addict, it turned a generation of bodybuilders into junkies, Dan Duchaines last gift to the community. No disrespect meant to Tom or any others by mentioning it. It was a curse on the sport.

[AbrahamG]

Palumbo was saying his 3rd place NOC was his best look, but that’s probably because Palumboism was setting in nicely. I think it’s ‘96 because his waist was tiny and tight (double no homo) but everything else was huge (except for the light switch triple no homo)

I think Tom (RIP) looked his best as an amateur although the NOC 3rd place version was incredibly freaky.  Tom, Titus and countless others decide when they turn pro that they need to warpspeed themselves right to the Olympia instead of sticking with what got them their pro cards in the 1st place.  That's my take anyway.

[Earl1972]

i don't think tom ever could've been an elite pro

he could pack on a lot of muscle but his structural flaws having short stumpy legs and a very long torso would make him look out of place against the top guys

E

[King Shizzo]

I remember I had a dust-up with Prince, back in the Muscle Mayhem days. It was after he had a health scare of some sort, or maybe it was even his kidneys then, and he was talking about a "comeback".

I made the comment on lines of: "Are you sure that's a good idea?" And he blew up on me saying " it's my body, and I'll do what I want with it".

It went on for pages with other posters chiming in.

Those were the good old days....

[AbrahamG]

I remember I had a dust-up with Prince, back in the Muscle Mayhem days. It was after he had a health scare of some sort, or maybe it was even his kidneys then, and he was talking about a "comeback".

I made the comment on lines of: "Are you sure that's a good idea?" And he blew up on me saying " it's my body, and I'll do what I want with it".

It went on for pages with other posters chiming in.

Those were the good old days....

You should put this on his obituary condolence wall.   

[Earl1972]

I remember I had a dust-up with Prince, back in the Muscle Mayhem days. It was after he had a health scare of some sort, or maybe it was even his kidneys then, and he was talking about a "comeback".

I made the comment on lines of: "Are you sure that's a good idea?" And he blew up on me saying " it's my body, and I'll do what I want with it".

It went on for pages with other posters chiming in.

Those were the good old days....

yeah i still can't believe he tried to make a comeback

E

[benchmstr]

Dude did shows on just deca, test, and GH..but the Rec drugs did him in.

Seriously, enough dangerous stuff is done in bodybuilding..why add the rec drugs?

Bench

[Omega Male]

Dude did shows on just deca, test, and GH..but the Rec drugs did him in.

Seriously, enough dangerous stuff is done in bodybuilding..why add the rec drugs?

Bench

Because most people are mentally weak pussies and they need some kind of high to get by.

[Skylge]

Dude did shows on just deca, test, and GH..but the Rec drugs did him in.

Seriously, enough dangerous stuff is done in bodybuilding..why add the rec drugs?

Bench

Don't forget the massive amount of painkillers many bodybuilders take, year after year. A toxic cocktail.

[Matt C]

Jason Statham packing on the mass.

But seriously …

RIP

Lol!  I didn't even notice that at first.  I can see the resemblance now. 

I just spent the past little while trying to dig up classic/Ironage posts from Tom on the now-defunct MuscleMayhem website message forum.  I wasn't able to pull much up, as the free message board software that was used at the time seemed to cause problems for the archive website.

One thing I noticed in Tom's posts is that his writing was not excellent.  It wasn't awful - but there were simply too many typos in Tom's posts for me to believe that he had a Master's degree in English Lit.  A Vince Goodrum-esque source I know told me that Lonnie Teper had called the University of Miami to verify Tom's claim, and received none - at which point Tom halted the claim.  In 2003, Lonnie Teper called Grambling State University in Louisiana to verify that Ronnie Coleman graduated with a degree in Accounting "Cum Laude". 

So I could believe Lonnie actually did that for Tom too.

Also, the only verification of Tom's degree online are self-referential, posted by himself.

BUT...I could be wrong.  It's just noticing typos, such as tom starting sentences with numbers [below] is something an English major shouldn't do.  I could be wrong.  I'm not meaning to talk ill of the dead - but someone told me Tom actually did not have that degree.

Below is a classic post from BB.com, allegedly from Getbig, lol.  Getbig has been one of the freest and REALEST message boards online for decades now - be it for bodybuilding, or any topic.

The third post/image below is of Tom claiming that it would be "easy" for Tom to be 240-lb at 6% body fat.    This is where Tom's views in life bordered on the delusional.

Classic thread from the day of Tom Prince's last contest [attempt]:

https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=230087

Archived coverage of that Contest/Tom's health issue there, from Flex Magazine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20040605095422/http://www.flexonline.com/news/36

[Matt C]

Below is the avatar Tom Prince used for MuscleMayhem.  I posted both there and here at the time, but was ultimately IP banned for responding to King Kamali's wife in his original kitchen lighting threads [pre-Arnold Classic 2004] to her comment that negative comments "only motivate him", by saying that to be motivated from negative comments struck me as somewhat insecure.  And that was it - banned.

And finally - below is a screenshot screenshot of a post of Tom stating, essentially the same thing about his bodybuilding career as former Ugandan self-declared president-for-life Idi Amin said about his time as a dictator in that country: "An Italian journalist, Riccardo Orizio, asked [Idi Amin] in 1999 whether he felt remorse. No, Mr. Amin replied, only nostalgia."

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/08/19/opinion/editorial-notebook-the-obscenely-easy-exile-of-idi-amin.html

Tom Prince - even despite the kidney problems he ended up with - said something similar, looking back at his bodybuilding career.  So maybe this answers the question posed as to whether or not Tom regretted in [what was to him] his old age, the choices of his youth.

I am completely certain that Mike Matarazzo had deep regrets from the last decade of his life - from December 2004, having just turned 39 and found out he had artery blockages, through to the time of his death, just before turning 49.  If I recall correctly, it was in 2007 that Mike called Lonnie Teper and told him he didn't want Lonnie to contact him anymore.  Not from any problem caused by Lonnie - but simply because he did not want to be reminded of the world of bodybuilding, which I think he [rightly] thought took decades off his life.

Five bodybuilders from the 2001 and 2002 Mr. Olympia contests are now deceased.  And at the time, most were in their thirties.  If I'm counting right, that's 5 of 34.  Then you have another three who suffered serious health consequences: Orville Burke had to retire after lapsing into a coma during surgery in 2002, Gustavo Badell was rushed to the ER for a heart problem of some kind - around 2015, but possibly earlier than that, and Flex Wheeler has had the numerous health issues we have heard about.  Then we have two who did serious jailtime - Craig with his massive jail sentence over the murder of Melissa James, and Melvin Anthony, who, if I recall correctly, was sentenced to a long prison stretch.

So that's pretty awful outcomes for 10 of 34 competitors from 2001-2002.  That's basically 3 in 10.  And in another five years, I bet we will be adding to that list.  And as I said, these weren't exactly old men competing at the time.

[Matt C]

Oh brother - it's a great eye-rolling workout, to read some of Tom's classic/Ironage posts:



 

You know - even at the time, I didn't buy it.  But had Tom said that two years earlier, when I had two years of training under my belt [age 20], and didn't know much about the truth of the bodybuilding world - I would have believed him.  I mean, hey - if he was, what, 312-lb at what looked to be under 10% body fat [photo below], it didn't seem TOO unrealistic for Tom to be 240-lb at around the same level of body fat.



At the time, I probably thought Tom was 6% there - so basically, from what I could tell, Tom could lose a full 75-lb [almost all muscle], and achieve his 240-lb and 6% body fat goal.

So it would have made sense to me at the time [up to age 20 / two years of training and following bodybuilding].

But then I wised up...and there was no chance that I was believing Tom in 2004.

Amazing physique for sure - but it makes me wonder if he was ever off gear for any significant period of time [one full year or more], for him to believe the things he did.

[Matt C]

I think BFG, who used to post here, was Tom.

Check Tom's first point in that BB.com thread below, and compare it to almost the exact same statement from a post that BFG made here, shortly after Greg Kovacs died.

Also, coincidentally, Tom and BFG both had a similar posting run, and even a similar post count.  That may not mean anything, but it's interesting that both members had a similar post count to time on board ratio.

BFG also claimed to be a retired pro, so...I think it's definitely possible.  Just like how "The Undercover Pro" disappeared as soon as Craig went to jail.