This article is for those who read every muscle magazine. Some are disparaging the author, Bob Hoffman, who has done more for bodybuilding and physique contests than any man in the world!
SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT
part 2
By BOB HOFFMAN
Originator of the official Mr. Universe contest
IN "MUSCLE BUILDER," a Weider magazine, appears this uncalled for snide remark; " . . . Father of Modern Weightlifting, none other than the bodybuilder's arch foe--Mr. Bob Hoffman. . . " This is not kosher. I want to set the record straight as to who is right and who is wrong.
The first physique contest in this country was held in 1903 at Madison Square Garden by Bernarr MacFadden, publisher of Physical Culture magazine. There were a few contests after that then they languished until 1923 when MacFadden again held them at Madison Square Garden. In the 1923 contest there was much muscle posing and muscle control, then a popular sport.
It was not until 1938 that the physique contests became truly national. In that year the first Mr. America contest was staged in Amsterdam, New York. I drove to the meet with my next door neighbor, Elmer Farnham, a member of the York Barbell Club. There were a fine group of contestants and the contest was well managed by Johnny Hordines, the man behind the affair. My friend Elmer won the short men's class while Bert Goodrich, a former movie stunt man and professional handbalancer, won the tall men's class. For the big Mr. America title, four of the seven judges at first picked Elmer as the winner but then one judge changed his mind and Goodrich was the winner and thus became the first Mr. America. In World War II, Lieut. Elmer Farnham, paratrooper, was killed in action.
The AAU sanctioned a Mr. America contest in 1939 in conjunction with the National Weightlifting Championships in Chicago. After the first judging, Tony Terlazzo of the York Barbell Club was the winner but the meet director thought that Tony was too short to be Mr. America and transferred the title to Roland Essmaker of Richmond, Indiana.
These contests indicate that we had physique contests for a long time, the first really big Mr. America contest was again held at Madison Square Garden along with the AAU National Weightlifting Championships in 1940. Dan Parker, a newspaper columnist with the New York Daily Mirror, was one of the judges as was Colonel Dieges, trophy manufacturer and I.
John Grimek won this contest which was not unusual for he had rapidly gained fame as possessor of the best physique of all time. John had also taken part in the weightlifting and set a world's record in the lightheavyweight class.
The controversy started with this contest, newspaper columnists have to have something controversial to write about and I was accused of outvoting all the other judges so that Grimek could win. Favored by the New York newspaper men was Frank Leight of the New York City Police Department. Frank was second.
The next year (1941) the Mr. America contest was again held along with AAU weightlifting championships and John Grimek won again. Aside from being very well muscled with the muscles in the right places, John was one of the greatest muscle posers and muscle control experts who ever lived. He had a combination which was hard to beat (I believe impossible to beat) so after he won twice in a row, a rule was made that a Mr. America could win only once. Incidently, that contest in Philadelphia was marred, or as some thought, made more interesting, by Frank Leight's wife attacking the judges with her umbrella when Grimek of the York Barbell Club was declared the winner and Jules Bacon, a proposed member to the York Barbell Club, was second. Frank came third.
With John Grimek out of the way, Frank Leight came into his own and won the Mr. America contest in Cincinnati in 1942.
World War II was being fought at this time and York Barbell Company was operating two foundries, one doing war work and the other making barbells for those who had a certificate making it possible to purchase barbells.
My usual day began by loading a pickup truck with two tons of scrap iron, taking it to the barbell foundry and helping to "pour off." Jules Bacon was now a member of the York Barbell Club, a good machinist, and he operated the big foundry and machine shop during war work. The small barbell foundry did not have a "rumbler" so after "pouring off" I would take a load of barbell castings over to the big foundry and dump them in one of our big "rumblers." By the time I got there they were "pouring off" war work castings so I pitched in and helped. I carried molten iron in a ladle from the cupola to the mold. I have some severe scars on my right leg from the time molten iron went down inside my leggings (worn for protection) and burned me badly before I could get them off. The burn was serious enough that when I walked, sometimes my toes would curl up and I would have to walk on the side of my foot. The tendon was injured. I have often thought that if I have to give up running some day, it will because the leg tendon acts up, curling my toes so that I can't run. It's still there in spite of my years of running and polka dancing at which I won the world's championship in Warsaw, Poland.
In 1943 the National Weightlifting Championships and the Mr. America contest were held for the first time in California. In spite of our important war work at the foundry and machine, we couldn't pass up the national championships. I could not go because of the pressure of the war work so York Barbell Club sent the smallest team ever--three men--Terlazzo and Terpak, weightlifters, and Bacon for the physique contest.
Planes were few in those days and seats almost impossible to get for anything other than war work. Our little team started driving and stopped at various airports along the way trying to get a plane. Half way to California Terlazzo got a flight. There was only one seat and he had to lift first as he was our lightweight. Terpak and Bacon kept on driving all the way to Albuquerque without getting a plane. While waiting in Albuquerque they were mistaken for airplane mechanics (they had the working hands to prove it) and they were hustled on a plane although they were half asleep. I don't know what happened to the real mechanics but Terpak and Bacon got to the championships.
Our little team won. Terlazzo took the 148 pound title and Terpak the 165-pound. Bacon brought home the bacon by winning the Mr. America title.
In 1941 Steve Stanko of the York Barbell Club had started to suffer from a condition of deep phlebitis, a disease of the deep blood vessels of the legs. He had to give up lifting. He was so despondent for a time, being a famous athlete most of his life, that he felt like giving up. But he was made of the sterner stuff so he kept training but unable to use his legs. Most of his training was bench work and he built a truly magnificent upper body while his legs, which made him a famous football player in school, did not lose their muscularity. As a lifter, Steve was the first man in the world to total over 1000 pounds! Steve won the Mr. America title in Cincinnati in 1944.
The next year Clarence Ross, who was in the service but trained with a pair of heavy York dumbells, won the Mr. America crown in Los Angeles. Clarence was the only Mr. America until Chris Dickerson won, who did not train in the York Barbell Club gym. (Dickerson trained at Bill Pearl's gym in Pasadena, California.)
York left its favorable effects on all of the other Mr. Americas. They were all originally York men although much later such long-time friends as George Eiferman, '48 Mr. America, and Jack Delinger, '48 Mr. A, signed contracts with Weider. No Weider man ever won an AAU Mr. America contest! Does this long record of failures give this man the reason to blame me for York pupils lack of success?
There have been 30 AAU Mr. Americas from 1940 to 1979. With millions of bodybuilders in action during these years and only 30 winners, naturally there were many disappointments and some words about discrimination. One thing sure, the judges in all the AAU Mr. America contests were honest, capable men, who did their very best to select the very best man.
There has always been this difference of opinion in the pre-arranged Weider contests and the AAU Mr. America contests. Weider and his associates have always picked the most muscular man. From the beginning of the AAU Mr. Americas which antedate the Weider contests by a great many years, a most muscular man was always selected. He could be bald, have a face loaded with acne, no teeth and be almost unable to talk just so he had the most muscles but Mr. America was something different.
It was always the opinion of those identified with AAU physique contests and the National Weightlifting Committee, that a Mr. America should have a magnificent physique and a lot more. His general appearance must be impeccable; his skin, hair and teeth perfect. There are other intangibles such as education, ability to speak before an audience, be able to give out interviews and have patience to sign autographs for young enthusiasts.
Our contests were conducted somewhat like the Miss America contests. Just as a woman with the biggest bust measurement, with a slender waist and voluptuous hips, does not win. Personality, education, talent, poise and beauty, are all considered in selecting Miss America, consideration was always given in the Mr. America contests to what a man could do with his muscles. This came under the heading of athletic ability.
In the earlier Mr. America contests the points to determine the winner were; seven points for muscular development, five points for symmetry and two points for the combination of posture, general appearance, condition of skin, teeth and hair. One point was given for posing ability. Later athletic ability was added for it was the opinion that a Mr. America must be able to do something with his muscles.
The present method of scoring in AAU physique contests is based on a total of 15 points divided into five points for muscularity, five for symmetry and five for general appearance. This latter five included a number of intangibles such as hair, skin, teeth and at least some consideration given to morality, education and ability to speak along with good manners. These entered into the final score although there is not a definite number of points given for anyone of them.
Last year when Chris Dickerson won the Mr. America award, the first black man to win, he appeared by invitation on the Johnny Carson Tonight Show. His appearance was superb. He answered all questions like an educated gentleman, which he is. This well proves that the color of the skin does not determine a Mr. America. All around ability is required. From the millions of bodybuilders only one Mr. America can win each year so, as stated previously, there are bound to be some disappointments.
I seem to be getting into a discussion of the how and why of the Mr. America contest when actually the object of this article is to illustrate that I have always been an enthusiastic supporter of physique contests while Joe Weider calls me "Bob Hoffman, the bodybuilders arch foe."
I had more to do than anyone else in having the Mr. America contest made a part of AAU competition as well as the Junior Mr. America, the Teen-age Mr. America and the Mr. United States. I initiated the official Mr. Universe and Mr. World contests. You can see that my dedication to bodybuilding and physique contests does not merit me Weider's biased title "The bodybuilder's arch foe."
Weider and his associates are using the "big lie" technique that was so successfully employed by the late unlamented Adolph Hitler. They, and some of their readers, are actually getting to the point where they believe their own statements.
Another one of Weider's use of the "big lie" technique is the statement that "Bob Hoffman and the AA U did all in their power to discourage youth from becoming bodybuilders." Another demerit for Weider was, "The AAU and York are so afraid of losing their lifters to powerlifting they are bending over backwards in their effort to make powerlifting disappear altogether." This past year there were more AAU powerlifting contests than Olympic lifting contests in this country. They numbered into the hundreds. I have never heard of an IFBB (International Federation of Bodybuilders, Weiders organization) powerlifting contest. The little club contest held recently in Los Angeles between the Southern California Weightlifting Association and the British Amateur Weightlifting Association, was sanctioned by the AA U. It ended in a fiasco with Britain winning six classes to California's three. Admitting that England has some good powerlifters, let's have a real International Powerlifting Contest to see who wins the most classes.
We are going to do just that. We will stage the first World's Powerlifting Championships right here in Muscletown, USA, where it belongs, in 1971 around the time of my birthday (November 9) along with an official Mr. Universe contest! More later.
PHOTO CAPTIONS
- The first Mr. America, Bert Goodrich.
- The author judging an early physique contest.
- Tony Terlazzo almost became the second Mr. America.
- Elmer Farnham almost became the first Mr. America.