Dick says, “I can remember it like it was yesterday. Leo Stern’s gym was in a very good part of town and not what I had been accustomed to the past months in the military. The gym was located upstairs in a building. It was a Saturday afternoon in San Diego, and the gym was not being used much as that time. As I made my way up the stairs, I studied the walls which had pictures of guys who lifted there.”
As he landed at the top of the stairs, he gazed at what he saw - the best gym in the world. And nobody was in it. Then to the young man’s surprise, a guy descended a ladder from the roof where he had been sun tanning. His name was Bill Golumbic, as Dick recalls, a man who had just finished 5th place at the Mr. America Contest. The Mr. America Contest was number one in the world at that time in history and a Mr. America winner was without rival. Bill’s abdominal muscle was probably the best in the world at that time in history, in Dick’s opinion.
Conner carefully inspected the gym, said nothing, and soon later joined the now iconic gym.
Leo Stern was a Mr. California, however, the athlete was not allowed to enter the Mr. America Contest as he was considered a professional because he owned a gym. Leo created a workout plan for Conner however, it was not to his liking. At this time Dick had begun reading Joe Weider’s magazines – and worse than that, he believed the lies that he read.
With 13 months left in the Navy, Dick received orders to embark on the Marshall Islands. When he arrived at the island in the sun, the first thing he did was look for a gym. Within minutes of arrival, he found a gym in an open building that some Sailors, Marines, Sea Beas, and Air Force had put together on their own, as the military had no interest in offering a gym.
Dick recalls that he was able to train as often as he wanted, and that meant almost every day. As wonderful as this was, this was not a good thing. He proceeded to work out multiple times doing as many as 10 sets of an exercise, when one exercise performed correctly would have been much better. As Dick will tell you now, “over time you will wear out the joints.” He would soon understand the possibility, “But that was the last thing I was thinking about in 1957,” says Dick.
The island where he was stationed was Kwajalein, one of the Marshall Islands, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. It is about ½ mile wide and three miles long. It is between Hawaii and Australia, located in the middle of the ocean. If you could “think at all,” or had intelligence, a person could have enjoyed some of the best fishing and swimming anywhere. But not Dick Conner. Again, all he could think about was the gym.
It did not take long for Dick to cross paths with some of the greatest characters he would ever meet in his life. Even after all the years, he can still remember their names: Larry Goodman (aka “Uncle Larry”), an Indian named “Teafateller,” and Bill Johnson.
Conner’s introduction to Larry Goodman came when he found himself face-to-face with a big bad dude. Dick had been on North Island with Larry and frequently witnessed Larry pushing everybody around on the basketball court. His last memory was that Larry had been cut up with a knife right outside the gym on North Island. He was a very intimidating man, very big for that day and age, but he now seemed different. Dick heard from someone that he had gotten into a fight with “Uncle Larry” and had received a beating.
“Larry was only about 185 pounds in weight, but I soon found out no one wanted to get on his bad side,” says Conner.
Stayed tuned for Part 5 of “In The Pit with Dick Conner”
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