Chris Dickerson-The Forgotten Mr Olympia?

[JOHN GARGANI]

had to resurrect this to make a few comments about Chris: I've mentioned before on here, that I was in a contest in 1979 and that AAU ran amateur bodybuilding in those days, and it was untested...

anyway: Chris Dickerson was the head judge for that contest, and I have to tell you: do not be fooled by the pictures on here, when he is cut down and standing alone posing: in street clothes, he was ENORMOUS! Wide as all hell, and impossibly big.....

Chris did a unique thing at the pre-judging where he actually got on stage and walked around us, viewing us 360 degrees, instead of just sitting with the judges in front of us ( below the stage )....

he was helpful and encouraging with advice for everyone, but dead serious about judging the competition correctly...

by time he won in 82', he was well deserving for all the work he put into his career....like many bodybuilders of his day, he was very short, as I was shy of 5 foot 8, and found myself looking down on him....

but as I said, he was way bigger than you might imagine....

[BOUNTYHUNTERMK2]

had to resurrect this to make a few comments about Chris: I've mentioned before on here, that I was in a contest in 1979 and that AAU ran amateur bodybuilding in those days, and it was untested...

anyway: Chris Dickerson was the head judge for that contest, and I have to tell you: do not be fooled by the pictures on here, when he is cut down and standing alone posing: in street clothes, he was ENORMOUS! Wide as all hell, and impossibly big.....

Chris did a unique thing at the pre-judging where he actually got on stage and walked around us, viewing us 360 degrees, instead of just sitting with the judges in front of us ( below the stage )....

he was helpful and encouraging with advice for everyone, but dead serious about judging the competition correctly...

by time he won in 82', he was well deserving for all the work he put into his career....like many bodybuilders of his day, he was very short, as I was shy of 5 foot 8, and found myself looking down on him....

but as I said, he was way bigger than you might imagine....

That's awesome that you were judged by an actual pro John, and not just any pro but (at that time) a future Mr O!! Thank you for your inputs mate-very informative to have someone who's actually seen a pro from the 70s/80s posting up!

Don't happen to have any pics from that show do you with Chris in them?

[umustsacrifice]

had to resurrect this to make a few comments about Chris: I've mentioned before on here, that I was in a contest in 1979 and that AAU ran amateur bodybuilding in those days, and it was untested...

anyway: Chris Dickerson was the head judge for that contest, and I have to tell you: do not be fooled by the pictures on here, when he is cut down and standing alone posing: in street clothes, he was ENORMOUS! Wide as all hell, and impossibly big.....

Chris did a unique thing at the pre-judging where he actually got on stage and walked around us, viewing us 360 degrees, instead of just sitting with the judges in front of us ( below the stage )....

he was helpful and encouraging with advice for everyone, but dead serious about judging the competition correctly...

by time he won in 82', he was well deserving for all the work he put into his career....like many bodybuilders of his day, he was very short, as I was shy of 5 foot 8, and found myself looking down on him....

but as I said, he was way bigger than you might imagine....

Very well said John. I have a few stories like that myself... these guys are way bigger in person than the younger guys realize.

[JOHN GARGANI]

sorry, Bounty, no quality pics at all, unfortunately....only thing I still have is the old original program, listing my name..lol.....

we were all kind of awed at Chris at that time....

it was a weird contest though, because as I said, it wasn't tested, so you had naturals standing next to geared up guys....

of course, what guys those days were taking was bare minimal compared to now, but it still made a big difference: the most noticeable was in vascularity and strength increases.....

life is all about choices, and friends of mine made certain choices then, where I didn't want to go...I didn't care what they did, and we all remained good lifting friends, however, it was a bitch to compete against them! LOL...