10/12/2016
Oct. 12, 1974: Schwarzenegger Wins his Third Mr. Olympia
Bill Grant wins IFBB Mr. World and Bob Birdsong wins AABA Mr. America
Those that follow the current contests will find it hard to imagine a Mr. Olympia with just five competitors...but, keep in mind, the award money has grown from $1,000 to $400,000. The contest was held in Madison Square Garden's Felt Forum and (as was common back at this time) a variety of other high-level contests were included. Also, this was one of the first big shows to have a pre-judging that fans could attend, but you had to fork out $4 for a ticket!
At the 1974 Mr. Olympia the contest was split into two classes, an under 200 and an over 200-pound class. This was the first of six times this division was included. With just five competitors overall it doesn't seem like this was needed. The lighter weight class was Frank Zane versus Franco Columbu, with Columbu winning. Schwarzenegger, Ferrigno and Nubret fought for the bigger class. Of course the Austrian Oak won, the soon-to-be Hulk was in second, with Serge Nubret rounding things out in third.
“The Columbu/Zane battle was more a study of contrasts to comparisons,” says Al Antuck's in his MTI article. “It was like comparing apples to oranges. Ask most men whom thy would prefer to look like and Zane's name comes up most often.”
In reference to the over-200 class, George Kaye wrote the following for Muscle Builder, “For an instant at pre-judging I thought Ferrigno might surprise but a closer inspection showed the wunderkind's longer arms had nowhere as much meat as Arnold's more compact hams, and at the Most Muscular posedown, Arnie ground Lou's hopes into a squeegie of baby oil. For this year...”
History tells us that this was a year before the rematch between the Schwarzenegger/Ferrigno/Nubret trio that took place in Pretoria, South African (which was filmed in Pumping Iron).
If you ever wondered how much the female side of the sport has advanced, the coverage of the Miss Americana contest (run in conjunction with the three male bodybuilding categories) is shockingly harsh in its seventies-style sexism. In the Weider article, George Kaye writes: “Miss Americana 1974 is a dollie named April Davis with two nifties, Sandra Milstead and Natalie Rebozo runners-up.”
Kaye goes on to mention that the fourth-placer Kellie Everts should have won for obvious reasons. “Kelly is a Vargas Pl***oy drawing of a fantastic super-bunny in reality. Aside from a super face she possesses the biggest knockers outside of a barnyard, great legs and everything else - yessir, the works! At no point did the audience spend a moment looking at another chick when Kelly was onstage, and several entrants would not return after pre-judging due to the one-sided adulation. The judges gave her only Most Shapely but at 4 in the morning I know who they wish they were sacked out with. Hypocrites, you guys. Next year, vote for sex...not Miss Americana apple pie.”
Since Everts placed well in a number of the East Coast-based WBBG competitions this may have worked against her on the judges' sheets. She was a stripper that went on to found her own church with an unusual “I strip for God” motto. Thankfully, the female aspects of the sport (and respectability of the judging and coverage) has greatly improved.
The IFBB Mr. World contest was the first major IFBB title for Bill Grant. He had another 14 years in pro competitions and also competed in the Masters Olympia in 1994. Grant won the overall and the tall class. Franklyn Greene won the medium class and Ed Corney won the short class.
The AABA Mr. America was the title of the IFBB affiliated National title at that time (prior to the launch of the NPC). In the short class, the placings were 1st Eddie Giuliani, 2nd Leon Brown, and 3rd David Mastorakis. In the medium class, it was 1st Bob Birdsong, 2nd Kent Kuehn, and 3rd Roger Callard. The tall class was 1st Bill Howard, 2nd Don Peters, and 3rd Don Modzelewski. Bob Birdsong won the overall title.
REFERENCES:
- Antuck, Al. Muscle Training Illustrated (Jan-Mar 1975) pg 29
- Kaye, George. Muscle Builder (Mar 1975) Pg 28
