Years ago a bodybuilder came from England. He was just an ordinary bodybuilder until Joe Weider got hold of him. Now, almost 20 years later, history is once again about to be re-written.

HISTORY REPEATS

by Dave Draper
Mr. America / Mr. Universe

THERE was this small picture in a competing magazine of the MR. BRITAIN contestants. The winner didn't look like anything special. Sure, he was the winner, but he couldn't place 10th in a nine-man contest in the U.S.A. This was where it was at...and is.

Here in America is the fountainhead of bodybuilding - Weider. No single individual, in my opinion, has done more for the sport of bodybuilding than Joe Weider. I know you hear that all the time, but it's sometimes good to have a reminder just to keep things in their proper perspective. So many men who have become famous seem to like to break away from the nest and claim they did it all on their own. They're right-in part. Without their natural potential and great desire to be a champion they would have gotten nowhere. But it takes more than that to become great. To be a champion you need the proper Supervision and training advice. You need programs so that you can get maximum results. Reg Park, the MR. BRITAIN winner I refer to above, realized this and came to America to train under Joe Weider.

Joe immediately realized Park's potential; thus began one of the historical transformations in bodybuilding. Reg started to train at the old East Side Barbell Club with some of our Weider Research experimenters, Marvin Eder, Art Zeller, and Dom Juliano. It was soon apparent that here was a man who was destined to become one of the greatest bodybuilders of all-time. Hour after hour Reg would grind out set after set under the watchful eye of Joe Weider. Soon we began to see photos of Reg Park plastered all over Weider magazines. You couldn't pick up any issue without seeing Reg's physique on the cover or splashed all over the insides. it was "Reg Park this" and "Reg Park that". Joe Weider made him immortal.

The point is this: You can be the finest bodybuilder in the world and be nothing if no one hears about you. You need publicity. Without it everything is blank. I don't care what anyone says...without Joe Weider there would be no Reg Park as we know him today. I'm sure he'd be a fine bodybuilder, but without the training information and publicity given him by Joe Weider he would not have attained the "immortality" he claims today.

Those of you reading this and saying sarcastic "Oh Yeahs!" should get out some old issues of Weider publications and those of our competitors and see just who got the buildup from whom. Unfortunately, every time Joe takes a bow for what he does, someone says he's just exploiting them for his own purpose. Bull! Sure, it's nice to be known as the trainer of champions, but who really gets the most from what Joe does? The bodybuilders he trains and publicizes, and bodybuilding in general. It's pretty galling to see some champions want to disown the man who thrusts them toward fame because their ego refuses to share any credit, or because business enterprises dictate that they proclaim themselves self-made.

Before Reg Park there were others Weider made great. One in particular was Clarence Ross. Ross had won the MR. AMERICA contest in 1945. Certainly, you wouldn't say he was spectacular, and might well have faded into oblivion like other MR. AMERICA winners whom I won't mention. Why should I? You probably wouldn't remember them anyway. Weider again saw Ross' potential and encouraged him, and gave him publicity for years as the "King of Bodybuilders." He became an immortal in the sport of bodybuilding.

In more recent years we can mention people like Don Howorth, Larry Scott, Freddy Ortiz, Sergio Oliva and many more who might never have won a major contest nor been heard of hadn't it been for Weider contests and magazines.