Strength & Health, Page 16 October 1961

1961 Mr. America Contest

AFTER being edged for U. S. Muscledom's highest award by the narrowest of margins in 1959 and 1960, Sgt. Ray Routledge, Jr., of the U. S. Air Force bounced back with a will to score a decisive win in the 1961 Mr. America event at Santa Monica, California, June 24th.

Routledge, the father of five children, flew in from his duty station in Germany for the contest. It was a do-or-die final effort for the 27-year-old bodybuilder and marked the realization of an achievement he had set as his goal when he began training with weights 11 years ago.

A crowd-pleasing runner-up was Joe Abbenda of New York City, a muscular young giant who certainly must now be considered a front runner for next year's gold medal. Abbenda received 92¾ points to 97 for the winner. Scoring in general was on the generous side compared with recent Mr. America contests. Abbenda was also runner-up in the voting for the Most Muscular award.

Place	Name	Affiliation	Points
1.	Ray Routledge, Jr.	U. S. Air Force	97
2.	Joseph Abbenda	New York, N.Y.	92¾
3.	Franklin Jones	Los Angeles Y.M.C.A.	91¾
4.	Harold Poole	Olympica H.C.	91½
5.	William Golumbick	Stern's Gym	90¼
6.	William Stathes	San Francisco Y.M.C.A.	89¾
7.	Elmo Santiago	Continental Club	88¾
8.	Gail Crick	Claypool, Ariz	88¼
9.	Hugo LaBra	Muscle Beach W.C.	88
10.	Mike Ferraro	York A.C.	87¼
11.	John Gourgott	New Orleans A.C.	87
12.	Joseph Lazzaro	York A.C.	86¾
13.	Alfred Souza	Pearl's Gym	82½
14.	John Homola	Stern's Gym	80½
15.	William Rubinski	Cal's Gym	78½
16.	Lewis Wolter, Jr.	Milwaukee H.S.	78
17.	Seymour Koening	Muscle Beach W.C.	76¼
18.	Andy Hernandez	El Paso Y.M.C.A.	75
19.	Leroy Saba	Martin's Gym	75
20.	Walter Hunt	Doyle's Ranch	73
21.	Chester Yorton	So. Milwaukee H.S.	71
22.	Arthur Fickling	7th Marine Reg.	68½
23.	Reed Phippen	Los Angeles, Calif.	66¼
24.	Stanley Noble	Vic Tanny's Gyms	61½
25.	Alfred Saladino	U. S. Marine Corps	61
26.	Charles Pranke	Conner's Gym	60½

In third place the judges placed the winner of the Western Section of this year's Junior Mr. America contest, Franklin Jones of Los Angeles. He outranked three other sectional winners in the Senior scoring, and by virtue of this will have his name entered into the record books as the over-all 1961 Junior Mr. America.

Another Junior Mr. America sectional winner, 17-year-old Harold Poole of Indianapolis, Indiana, finished fourth in the Santa Monica ballotting, a scant one-fourth point behind Jones. Poole's magnificent physique drew enthusiastic support from the packed audience. His improvement over last year, when he placed 18th, was remarkable.

Veteran bodybuilders William Golumbick, William Stathes, and Elmo Santiago were rated fifth, sixth, and seventh. Each looked better than ever but found the competition stiffer than they had contended with in the past. Following this trio was a precontest favorite, Gail Crick. Like the other shorter contestants, Crick found himself dwarfed by the taller men who finished at the top of the scoring.

Ninth place went to Hugo LaBra, who had annexed the Most Muscular honors on the first day of this two-day meet. Mike Ferraro of Buffalo, New York, rounded out the top 10, slipping a notch from last year. Farther down the list were such widely known bodybuilders as Joe Lazzaro, who finished 12th this year as against third a year ago, and Leroy Saba, who could do no better than 19th.

In all there were 26 contestants, 11 of whom hailed from outside California. Six of these eleven men finished in the top ten. For the first time in Mr. America contest history the officials did the actual scoring of the contestants on the afternoon of the contest. The results were not made public until the entrants posed before the public in the evening. This prejudging eliminated the usual annoying delay between the completion of the posing and the announcement of the winners.

PHOTO CAPTIONS

- In his fourth try for the Mr. America title, 27-year-old Sgt. Raymond Routledge, Jr., of the U.S. Air Force finally hit the jackpot. After the contest he posed for photographs with his huge trophy.

- Pretty Madeline Mack, queen of the 1961 Senior Nationals and Mr. America Contest, presents Most Muscular trophy to Hugo LaBra.

- (on one page, 12 photos) Ray Routledge, Jr., Joseph Abbenda, Franklin Jones, Harold Poole, William Golumbick, William Stathes, Gail Crick, Hugo LaBra, Mike Ferraro, Joseph Lazzaro, Alfred Souza, Leroy Saba.