Ron was truly ahead of his time. I grew up in the same town as Ron and as a kid I used to go to the same gym where he started his lifting career. It was a tiny hole in the wall joint called Ryan's Gym in Norwood PA. I was 15 and Ron was at the height of his career out in Cali and when he would come back home and train there the atmosphere would be electric. At the end of his bodybuilding days he moved back and I got a chance to get to know him as I got older. He was a great guy but just could shake the booze and always had the monkey on his back. He would dissapear for months at a time, come into the gym looking like shit and within two weeks look like he could step onstage, he just had the most amazing genetics for building muscle. It was a shame how he ended up and I felt bad when I heard that he had passed away.
