Watson Wins Jr. Mr. America
Seno Is Most Muscular

By The Editor

WE have never seen a better lineup of physiques at Jr. Mr. America than the lineup on the platform of the Jefferson High School Auditorium the night of June 1, to compete for the great title at the contest sponsored by the Columbia Athletic Club in Columbia, Missouri.

Twenty-five men competed for the title of Jr. Mr. America and Most Muscular Man. Several men whose names are familiar to readers were entered, such as Bill Seno, Harry Brown, Mike Majoris, Paul Wachholz, and others of like caliber, made this a tough contest to win. This reflects great credit on the physique and character of the winner, Randy Watson.

I'm sure there were many disappointments among the competitors as well as their fans, but only one man can win and there were 6 or 8 in the lineup who would have made worthy Jr. Mr. Americas.

This was the first time that a Jr. Mr. America contest used athletic points, to my knowledge, (but with so many regional contests in past years others may have done it without my knowledge). This made quite a difference, but we wish to congratulate the competitors for their cooperation in this respect. Bill Clark, meet director, had informed them that they would not be given athletic points unless they brought valid proof of their athletic accomplishments, and this they did, with newspaper clippings, affidavits, medals, certificates, school year books, etc., so that they satisfied the judges, with one or two exceptions. We will also say that this was the most athletic group that I've ever had the privilege to judge, for all of them but two, received the full 5 athletic points. If this continues, the time may come when athletic points will be superfluous, as all contestants will be athletes of considerable ability.

Points were figured a little differently in this contest, in that, instead of using fractions of points, we used decimals and this made it much easier to total the points of each man.

The Most Muscular contest was run off the first night. This gave the judges a chance to see the men the first time and made their task the second night a little easier. There were some real muscular boys there. Bill Seno, with his herculean development was the ultimate winner, with 13.8 points, and Val Vasilieff second with 13.5, Harry Brown 3rd with 13 points (very close). Seno, from Melrose Park, is 24, 5'8" tall and weighs 197. Last year he won the Jr. Nationals in Columbia in his class and was runner up to the Jr. Mr. America title. He was 8th in the Mr. America in Detroit. He has had three years of college football, has dead lifted 580, and holds the world bench press record at 447¼.

In the Jr. Mr. America contest the boys were paraded around the platform in groups and observed relaxed in front, side and back positions. They were brought out several times and also allowed to pose under the lights, as usual. The lighting this year was more natural, in that there were no single spots, making it easier for the judges to get a good comparison of the true physique of the boys.

The final decision of the judges awarded the coveted title to smiling Randy Watson, with 54 points. Second was Harry Brown with 51 points and third place went to husky Val Vasilieff. See complete listing of competitors and points at the end of this article.

Here are a few notes on the competitors that might interest the readers.

Randy Watson, the winner, is a very handsome young fellow, with black curly hair and always smiling. He is 21, 5'7" tall and weighs 160 lbs. He has done some lifting on the Olympics, but his favorite athletic activity is gymnastics and tumbling. He lettered in gymnastics at Hardman College, and toured the Tennessee High Schools as a member of a team. He does the Iron Cross and Olympic Cross on the still rings, does a forward flip over 10 men, and double handspring and double front flip on the trampoline. He has pressed 205 from behind his neck. He is graduating this fall and will enter the ministry of the Church of Christ. Randy is the first Mr. America we have ever had who was a minister, though one other entered the ministry some years after winning the title; this one was Dick DuBois. Randy won the Mr. Tennessee title this year. He doesn't have a large physique but it is very symmetrical and well balanced, with good definition. His excellent shape is what probably won him the title ahead of the other fellows. He stood out in this respect. Many of the others were considerably more muscular and heavier built but lacked the perfect shape of Randy. He displayed good posing ability. A few fellows take poses that actually make them look bad. When they do this they have just about lost the contest. Too little time is given to analysis of presentation and posing. Many men don't realize that grotesque, awkward poses lose them titles, no matter how impressive they may look to their untrained friends. I saw many poses in this show that should never have been taken. Your best pose, actually, is complete relaxation and an erect posture, front, side and back views. Actually, that is about all the judges need. Many men find it impossible to relax in a good position. They look at their neighbor and see him tensing up and immediately they tense up and usually look very odd and awkward. I have asked the men, repeatedly, to relax, and they absolutely will not relax. You may be sure this affects the judges unfavorably.

Do you think that the judges can't tell when you're spreading your lats and tensing your abdominals, etc? This is ridiculous. One of the worst features I observe is the very, very poor posture of most men in such a contest. They are so intent on showing their abdominals and showing big pecs and wide lats that they can't straighten up. I have never known a man who won a title because he had good abdominals, big pecs or wide lats. You must have a balanced development or you will never win a title. An unbalanced development, or posing to give the appearance of an unbalanced development will lose the best of men a title.

Every contestant should spend a lot of time in practicing good posture. When the judges ask you to turn sideways, to them it is mostly to observe your posture. The posture of most of the men this year was bad. Only about three or four had really good posture and you may be sure this does your points no good.

These comments are made for the good of the competitors and I hope they will take them to heart. I have probably officiated at more top physique contests in America than any other man and I'm telling you what the judges want to see because I've listened to them discuss the physiques.

Incidentally, I have to repeat this every year-I cannot remember any contest that I had anything to do with, where there was any so-called crookedness. Every contest I have been an official in has been democratic in the judging. I'll admit that there have been, at times, people who wanted to influence the judges, but usually they have been told to shut up and get out. By influence, I mean they discuss the men and point out what they feel are good points of their favorites. This, of course, should not be permitted, and I recall the chairman telling one man, a few years ago, to shut up.

I will admit that judges are sometimes inadequate to the task they have been given, but they do their best as they see it. Sure, they may be influenced, but then, aren't we all? We each have our opinions of what a perfect physique ought to be and these opinions are developed partly through our association with others and their influence on us.

I must again point out that a Mr. America is not picked entirely for his physique, and quite frequently (or at least I feel so) a man will be picked who does not have the best physique. I feel that has happened a good deal in recent years. A Mr. America must represent the ideal of American manhood in every way possible.

Harry Brown, who took second, has won several physique contests in the south and was an outstanding athlete in high school and college and played on the Georgia Junior College Football Championship team. We were told that Harry suffered very severe injuries in an auto accident some years ago, but he shows no signs of it now. He has an excellent physique and had the nicest tan in evidence there.

Val Vasilieff from New Jersey is 24, 5'11", and weighs 210; is a very rugged boy and has made a 900 total as a 198 pounder and has won the Mr. New Jersey, Mr. Delaware Valley, Mr. Garden State, Mr. Mid-Atlantic, among other titles.

Mike Ferraro is almost an old timer at these meets and always keeps trying. Mike is 23, 5'9", 190 pounds, and has made a 775 Olympic total. He is a former Teen Age Mr. America, among many other titles, and was placed high in past Mr. America contests. He has a very unusual physique with a very flexible shoulder and chest girdle, which permits some unusual poses.

Bill Seno was described earlier.

Ed Cook had one of the finest physiques at the meet. Ed is 32, 5'8" and 185 pounds and has excelled at football, track and boxing, and has won at least 9 or 10 leading titles in the south. Ed, who lives in Waco, Texas, had the best abdominal development at the meet. His wife operates a fine health studio in Waco. We believe Ed will do better in future contests as he has a fine physique.

Paul Wachholz, in taking 7th place, showed his fine physique to advantage. Paul is a weightlifter who likes to participate in physique contests. Paul is a bank clerk and is 26, 5'10" and weighs 196.

He was a very outstanding athlete in college, in track, football and basketball, at Colorado State. He once held the Colorado state high school discus record and has done a squat of 440, front squat with 370, dead lift of 590 and bench press of 345. He has won many lifting titles all over the central USA and won Mr. Colorado, Mr. Central USA, Mr. Great Plains and Most Muscular in Rocky Mountain region. He has a rugged type build with good proportions.

Nick Spano is 21, 5'9" and 165 and of a more slender type build, but well proportioned, and was 1959 Georgia State Shot Put Champion and Jr. College Middleweight wrestling champ.

Charles Estes of Nashville is quite tall, 6'2" and weighs 225. He has won many titles and excelled at football. Don Williams is another man of rather slender but well proportioned build. He has won several titles and is 5'6½" and 163 lbs., and has made a 720 Olympic total and 476 points in the airborne physical training test. David George of St. Louis is a rugged young man with very fine legs and only 18 years of age. He is 5'10" and 195 lbs. He has won several titles and will do better in the future. Tom Hutson, also from St. Louis, is 19, 5'11" and weighs 175. He won best legs in the Mr. Teen Age in Columbia last year. Jim Dorn, the lifting winner in the 181 lb. class, has a nice physique that is very rugged, with outstanding legs. He has a very wide back with heavy latissimus muscles. He is 5'7" and weighs 175. He has made a 910 Olympic total. He recently won the Mr. Pennsylvania title. Henderson, Unger, Barton and Washington all have nice physiques and will improve a lot if they continue to train.

Unfortunately, several men, who would have placed well, left the meet after the first night, in anger, because they had observed one of the judges' score sheets in the Most Muscular division and found themselves voted low. It is very unfortunate that this is allowed to happen, for the boys did not understand how the score is totaled. I happen to know that the judge whose sheet they observed, had his score eliminated because he was the lowest. You see, fellows, when they total the points, the high vote and the low vote for each man is scratched out. This is to keep someone from voting very high or very low for someone and thus throwing the voting out of balance. This makes the voting fair and prevents one who is prejudiced from giving someone a lot of votes and cutting someone else out of a lot. I know that sometimes it is difficult to understand how things turn out and I'll admit that quite frequently I do not agree with the other judges as to their selection, but I do feel they do their best. Just keep trying and do so for the fun of competition rather than an intense desire to win, and you will not be disappointed.

PHOTO CAPTIONS

- Don Williams, Randy Watson, and Bill Seno, line up in relaxation for the judges' study.

- Harry Brown, third in Most Muscular, Bill Seno, first, and Val Vasilieff, who was second, pose for the camera of Ralph Countryman, official photographer for the meet.

- Here is a lineup of the boys on the stage as they relaxed for the judges to study them. They stood this way for a time, then turned sideways, then showed their backs, and finally back to the front again, then they left the stage and came back for individual poses. From right to left, beginning at far right on opposite page: Bill Seno, Randy Watson, Don Williams, Dennis Barton, John Henderson, Ron Unger, David Washington, Nick Spano, Ed Cook, Paul Wachholz, Harry Brown and Mike Ferraro.

- In the photo below from right to left: George O'Mara, Larry Kocsmoros, Mike Majoris, Val Vasilieff, Jim Dorn and Tom Hutson. We did not get three or four of the fellows in.