Larry Scott (bodybuilder) - History

History

Before claiming the Mr. Olympia title, Scott took Mr. America in 1962, the Mr. Universe title in 1964, and had a minor role in the 1964 movie Muscle Beach Party. Scott is said to have possessed little apparent genetic potential when he started training with weights in 1956, his narrow shoulders having been a particular weak spot. He trained with Vince Gironda, another well-known bodybuilder of the golden age. Scott is best known for his arm development - and perhaps most for his impressive biceps which were unusually long, allowing for good development and shape. Scott attributes his football-shaped biceps to an exercise invented by Gironda, "The Preacher Curl," which became standard repertoire among many bodybuilders, and is often called the Scott Curl due to the association with Scott. Nowadays Scott lives in Salt Lake City, Utah where he runs his own personal training company. He was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 1999.

Scott was also a popular physique model during the early-to-mid 1960s, working for such famous photographers as Bruce of LA and Don Whitman, of Western Photography Guild. His "posing strap" material for Pat Milo (known professionally as simply "Milo") is today considered fine art. It was Milo who introduced Scott to a wide, appreciative audience and helped him hone his posing and photographic persona: that of the "boy next door." Larry regularly appeared in all of Joe Weider's bodybuilding magazines, including Mr. America and Muscle Builder, and he also figured prominently in Demi Gods, Muscleboy, and The Young Physique.

From 1960 until his retirement from competition in 1966, Scott was bodybuilding's top superstar. Bodybuilding magazines soon began capitalizing on his image, but Larry - an IFBB athlete - wrote exclusively for Joe Weider's publications. Larry's popularity completely eclipsed all other bodybuilders of his time, including such famous personalities as Freddy Ortiz, Chuck Sipes, Dave Draper, Leo Robert, Harold Poole, and Sergio Oliva. The phenomenon has since become known as "Larry fever" and reached its apex at the 1966 Mr. Olympia competition, where Larry defended his title and once again took home the crown (literally, since the prize was $1,000 and an actual crown).

Scott's retirement at the age of 28 sent shock waves throughout the sport. But Scott had other priorities (a second marriage), and after two Olympia wins, he'd done all he could do in competitive bodybuilding.

One fan, Rod Labbe, (a freelance writer) collaborated with Scott on four major published articles (a two-part interview in Flex magazine; two articles in Ironman; and an article in MuscleMag International). According to Labbe, "Larry is my childhood hero, a true American success story. It's an honor for me to work with him." Their last interview, entitled "The Golden Man," appeared in two consecutive issues of Ironman magazine in 2006. They are, according to Labbe, currently working on a new article for Fangoria magazine about American International's Muscle Beach Party, released in 1964 where Scott played the role of "Rock," a bodybuilder who was part of "Jack Fanny's" (Don Rickles) exercise group (Scott's character name is listed incorrectly on the Internet Movie Database as "Riff" - the shirts he wears in the film all read "Rock").