Muscular Development, Vol 7, No 9, Page 32 September 1970 1970 MR. AMERICA REPORT The Staff and Greg Ward THE FABULOUS 1970 MR. AMERICA CONTEST was staged in Culver City, California on Sunday June 14th at the Veteran's Memorial Auditorium at 8:00 PM. Twenty-nine muscularly impressive contestants vied for the honor of becoming the 31st Mr. America titleholder. It was the most outstanding array of talent ever. None of this outstanding group was below standard. Each could have been chosen a Mr. America and still made a great contribution to the sport. The panel of Mr. America judges was headed by able Bob Crist, a hard-working chairman. The judges spent an entire day selecting the man of their choice from this aggregation of impressive champions. The judges for the contest were: Bob Parker, Ramon Garcia, Jerome Weis, Larry Hanneman, Dave Collier, Bob Bendel and Bob Samuels. All of these men know physiques and the essential qualifications that a Mr. America must have, so there was little if any disagreement among them. 1970 MR. AMERICA RESULTS Points 1. CHRIS DICKERSON. Los Angeles 383 2. Ken Waller, Cincinnati, Ohio 368 3. Casey Viator. New Iberia, La. 354 4. Bill St. John, Glassboro. N. J. 336 5. Charles Amato, Milwakie, Ore. 333 6. Anibal Lopez, New York City 323 7. James Morris, Pasadena. Cal. 309 8. Vic Tanny, Jr., Los Angeles, Cal. 307 9. Robert Holden, Washington, D. C. 306 10. Charles Collras. Los Angeles. Cal. 302 11. Eddie Corney, Fremont, Cal. 295 12. William Grant, Orange. N. J. 294 13. Joe Tete, Florence. N. J. 286 14. Alex McNeil. Jackson, Miss. 285 15. Scott Cooper, Tampa. Fla. 274 16. Ell Darden. Tallahassee. Fla. 272 17. Wayne Anderson. Fremont. Cal. 263 18. Art Peacock, Los Angeles. Cal. 258 19. Paul Hill. Hollywood. Cal. 256 20. Joe Dodd, Trenton, N. J. 248 21. Clint Beyerle. Los Angeles. Cal. 247 22. Paul Love. Sunnyvale. Cal. 245 23. Dan Howard, Tulsa. Okla. 242 24. Gary Hill. Fresno. Cal. 236 25. Brian Marshall. Venice. Cal. 203 26. Leonard Huntley. Syracuse. N. Y. 201 27. Dennis Yaklich. Avondale. Colo. 188 28. Jaime Blancarte. Los Angeles, Cal. 178 29. Henry Jinks. East Orange. N. J. 163 MOST MUSCULAR MAN Chris Dickerson Ken Waller Casey Viator Charles Amato Chuck Collras BEST ARMS Casey Viator Ken Waller Bill Grant BEST CHEST Casey Viator Jim Morris Chris Dickerson BEST BACK Casey Viator Charles Amato Ken Waller & Chris Dickerson BEST LEGS Chris Dickerson Casey Viator Ken Waller BEST ABDOMINALS Charles Amato Charles Collras Bill St. John June MD's coverman, Chris Dickerson, continued to make 1970 "his year" as he captured the highest physique honors of the year. . . the Mr. America title. Chris "looked" improved over his 1969 appearance in Chicago last year, where he was a close runner-up. But in the early part of this year, January to be exact, Chris moved to Los Angeles to train under the watchful eye of Bill Pearl. He trained hard and long and certainly this perseverance and dedication paid off. He finally reached the goal he had set for himself just a few years ago to be a Mr. America winner. Besides winning the big title, Chris also annexed the Most Muscular Man title and the Best Legs award. His physique looked muscular and symmetrical and, being very adept at posing, was certainly able to display his muscular body to great advantage. Chris, with his pleasing and friendly personality is definitely a tremendous credit to our game, and we know he will make a very impressive and great Mr. America. Runner-up was husky Ken Waller of Cincinnati, Ohio. Ken was expected to give Chris the closest competition in this contest. . . which he did. However, Ken moved up one place this year as he placed third in Chicago. This husky specimen is impressive and, if size alone was the determining factor, Ken would undoubtedly be hard to beat. Ken was also runner-up in the Most Muscular Man contest. The big surprise of the whole contest was teen-ager Casey Viator of New Iberia, Louisiana. Casey placed fifth in last year's Teen-age Mr. America contest in Des Moines, Iowa. But his improvement has been sensational since then. Proof of this can be determined by the number of trophies he won... MORE THAN ANY OTHER CONTESTANT! He placed third in the Mr. America line-up, and third in the Most Muscular Man event, but he won the Best Arms, Best Back and Best Chest trophies. This young man trains under last year's Mr. America, Boyer Coe, and undoubtedly, Coe's influence is coming through, for Casey has terrific arms and his posing routine is patterned after Coe's. Casey, it seems, is billed for stardom. In fourth place was the perennial Bill St. John. Bill was also much improved over his 1969 appearance, but the sensational Casey prevented him from moving up the ladder this year. The Glassboro, N. J. contestant is certainly deserving of his high placing and could become a real threat for the top position anytime. Charles Amato of Milwakie, Ore. was another "relatively new face" on the scene that had some of the audience guessing. Earlier he appeared in contests, won several along the West Coast and then dropped out only to return this year and create quite an impact. He took the coveted fifth place trophy and just three points behind Bill St. John. But he did beat Bill out for the Best Abdominal award, something that Bill's been winning the past few years. Amato also placed fourth in the Most Muscular contest. So it's obvious, any of these four runners-up could come out the winner in next year's go-around. The 1971 Mr. America contest is scheduled for Muscletown York, and could be the most hotly contested yet. We can only wait and see who becomes the winner then. Plenty of time yet for improving, and you can bet that every man will be an improved edition of his California appearance in York next year. PHOTO CAPTIONS - The three finalists in the 1970 Mr. America contest. L. to R: Casey Viator, New Iberia, La., 3rd; Chris Dickerson of Los Angeles, the winner, and Ken Waller of Cincinnati, Ohio, 2nd. - Charles Amato of Milwakie, Ore., 5th. - Anibal Lopez of New York City, 6th. - Vic Tanny, Jr. pumps up on an iron rail. - Casey Viator pumps with a Chest-O-Flex. - Bill St. John of Glassboro, N. J., 4th. - Casey Viator of New Iberia, La., 3rd. - 1970 Mr. America, Chris Dickerson of Los Angeles. - Joe Tete of Florence, N. J., 13th. - R: Ken Waller of Cincinnati, Ohio, 2nd. - Vic Tanny, Jr., Joe Tete - Anibal Lopez, Chris Dickerson