Muscular Development, Vol 8, No 9, Page 8, September 1971
MR. AMERICA CONTEST
IT WAS A GREAT WEEKEND -- a hot one, but one of the BEST. Contestants and spectators from allover the country converged on York for the important festivities that took place on June II, 12 and the 13th. But of the three days, the 12th was the hottest night when the battle for the honor of being chosen as the 30th Mr. America was staged. And from this great array of contenders, it was the massive and husky Casey Viator that came through as the winner. During the past year he has been unusually successful in winning ALL the contests that he decided to enter. Still a teen-ager, Casey is the youngest ever to achieve this great honor. Quite an achievement for one so young!
MR. AMERICA RESULTS
1. Casey Viator
New Iberia, La. 377
2. Peter Grymkowski
Rochester, N.Y. 350
3. Bill St. Joh
Glassboro, N.J. 350
4. Edward Corney
Freamont, Calif. 337
5. Carl Smith
Louisville, Ky. 336
6. Anibal Lopez
New York, N.Y. 335
7. Charles Amato
Milwaukie, Ore. 334
8. Joe Tete
Florence, N.J. 326
9. Bob Gallucci
Hartford, Conn. 323
10. Michael Mentzer
Ephrata, Pa. 319
11. Michael Dayton
Napa, Calif. 319
12. William Grant
Orange, N.J. 311
13. Curt Haywood
Pataskala, Oh. 304
14. Ken Covington
Philadelphia, Pa. 296
15. Kent Huehn
Orlando, Fla. 290
16. James Handley
York, Pa. 277
17. Joe Dodd
Trenton, N.J. 270
18. Frend Shandor
Manville, N.J. 262
19. Ron Neff
Philadelphia, Pa. 261
20. Anthongy Pace
Pittsburgh, Pa. 260
21. Robert Birdsong
Louisville, Ky. 259
22. Don Ross
Detroit, Mich. 247
23. Douglas Beaver
Fremont, Oh. 245
24. Ronald Gibson
Fremont, Oh. 241
25. Bill Aspaugh
Noblesville, Ind. 239
26. Robert McNeill
Broomal, Pa. 238
27. Thomas Willert
Trenton, N.J. 227
28. Spyros Loukas
Washington, D.C. 226
29. Sam Stamoulis
Roebling, N.J. 221
30. Ronald Thompson
Flint, Mich. 217
31. Tom Campanaro
Fremont, Oh. 199
32. Thomas Johnson
New Albany, Ind. 185
33. Thomas Crawford
Greenboro, N.C. 165
JUDGES: Bob Crist, Chairman
(Virginia Assn.), Morton Steuer
(Metropolitan Assn.), Peary Rader
(Midwestern Assn.), Bob Bendel
(Middle Atlantic Assn.), Joe Paul
(Central Assn.), Jack Lipsky
(south Atlantic Assn.), Jerome
Weis (Ohio Assn.), Gordon Andrews
(Michigan Assn.).
SCORERS: Messrs, Bendel, Paul, Weis.
Most Muscular Man
Casey Viator
Michael Dayton
Bill St. John
Anthony Pace
Peter Grymkowski
Best Arms
Casey Viator
Michael Mentzer
William Grnat
Best Back
Casey Viator
Peter Grymkowski
Charles Amato
Best Chest
Casey Viator
Peter Grymkowski
Bob Gallucci
Best Abdominals
Charles Amato
Anthony Pace
Bill St. John
Best Legs
Casey Viator
Michael Mentzer
Bob Gallucci
Little over a year ago Casey entered and won the Teenage Mr. America title here in York, and less than a month ago, in Bay town, Texas on May 16th, Casey took the Junior Mr. America title, along with most of the subdivision awards. . . which he again repeated in the Seniors. A most impressive string of victories for anyone.
Of course the line-up of contestants this year was one of the best, and certainly one of the largest groups in recent years to assemble, though several failed to put in their appearance at the last minute. Unfortunately, Ken Waller, one of the formidable contenders, was disqualified on the grounds that he allowed his picture, knowingly or unknowingly, to appear in a commercial advertisement circulated in a widely distributed magazine. At a special meeting that morning a final vote was taken on the issue, with only two votes given in his favor, while five opposed him. Naturally, this eliminated him from the competition and Casey had it all his way. If Ken Waller was eligible there would have been a much closer battle for the top honors, since Waller is bigger and heavier and apparently was in top shape, against the shorter but more massive Casey Viator. Of course reaching a decision under those circumstances would have given quite a headache to the judges, and the results might have been different than they turned out. At least it's something to speculate about. However, even as things turned out, a tie for second place resulted between Peter Grymkowski and the perennial Bill St. John. On the second voting ballot, Grymkowski scored 137 points over St. John with 132 points, putting Grymkowski ahead of St. John in the contest. However, another tie for 10th place was also broken by a second ballot. In this case the relatively new-comer, Mike Mentzer, forged ahead of Mike Dayton by one point, 128 to 127. But the overall competition was excellent, and most of the contestants looked really great under the lights.
Periodically, it seems, York has been plagued with the heat of Hades during most of the Nationals that are held here, and this year was no exception. However, the weeks and days BEFORE the York weather was pleasantly cool. . . only to soar near the 90s during the championships. Those who sat through this may be a little shocked to know that immediately following the championships the weather got much cooler, so much so that by Tuesday many places here in York had to turn on the heat! Unbelievable? Yes, but nevertheless, true! In fact ever since the Nationals the weather has been pleasant. . . not nearly as warm as it was during the Nationals. Yet in spite of the heat very few people walked out, and those who did went out only to get a drink of water and returned to their seats promptly. Everyone stayed to the bitter end, so you know it was a good contest and interesting enough to keep everyone in his seat. However, once the winners were announced, and the awards presented, the auditorium began clearing out--but not one minute before!
All in all it was a great championship, and although many people didn't mind the heat, a few did complain. . . but even they did not leave until the finish. Matter of fact, portable air conditioning units were considered prior to the event, but inasmuch as the weather was pleasantly cool earlier, there was no reason to suspect that temperatures would rise near the 90s, as it probably did on Saturday evening when the auditorium was filled to overflowing. Every seat was taken; the aisles were filled, the space along the back row of seats, even the lobby was jammed, all trying to get a glimpse of the contestants as they went through their series of poses. This overcrowding contributed to much of the heat in the auditorium, but as mentioned earlier, everyone remained in his seat until the last of the winners was announced. It was a great contest, and it was put over in a big way. Everyone who witnessed this great event seemed to enjoy it immensely.
There was very little grumbling about the selection. A few thought that Grymkowski should have taken the Best Chest award, and Michael Mentzer should have gotten the award for Best Arms, while Tony Pace should have won the Best Legs trophy. But on the whole the majority of spectators agreed with the decision of the judges, consequently no one booed thus making it a unanimous decision.
Among the assembled throng a number of former Mr. Americas showed up, and everyone of these former title holders looked fit and in top shape. Even muscular Sergio Oliva and massive Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Dan Lurie were about, all looking impressively husky. Matter of fact, Sergio and Arnold plan to compete against each other in London this coming September, along with Bill Pearl, Reg Park, Dennis Tinerino and several others. And in the amateur division, a proposed battled between Viator and Waller is pending; not to forget Chris Dickerson who is again flying over to make his bid for the title. Chris gave a very impressive posing display just before the Mr. America contest got underway, and this man still retains a high degree of muscularity and symmetry that should be a threat in any physique competition.
Our thanks to the appointed photographers who covered the event for Us, especially to John Fritshe, Doug White, AI Antuck, Dave Sauer and Achilles Kallos from South Africa, all of whom did a great job:, but unfortunately due to our deadline we had only contact prints to choose from, therefore used them only in their original size. However, we will feature more of the photos in months to come, and in much larger size. So if you missed this contest, keep a watch on MD. You'll be seeing most of the men in some of their finest poses.
Our thanks goes out to all the men who helped to make this a successful affair, and we look forward to next year's event that will be held in the Detroit area. . . hope to see you there! It's like when they had the 71 mr america contest in york pa . all the big name guys showed up to check out the new kid casey viator.
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