The time was August, 1980. The place was Chicago, Illinois. The event was the annual AAU Central USA Bodybuilding Championships. This regional level contest was famous for attracting the biggest names in bodybuilding in the Midwest because the Mr. America contest was only weeks away and many of the top national contenders from the area would be using this show as a warm-up for the Big One.
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The 1980 Mr. Central USA was creating more excitement than usual because one of the legends of Midwest Bodybuilding was rumored to be stepping onstage that night. Lance Dreher, a lifelong Chicago resident and the Windy City's greatest hope of bringing home the coveted Mr. America crown, was planning to easily win this contest before entering the America in only a few short weeks in Las Vegas.
An article in IronMan Magazine several years earlier had hinted that Lance may be the next superstar in the sport of bodybuilding. With his blond hair, blue eyes, square jaw, massive 21-inch arms and a lat spread that would knock Franco Columbu off the stage, Lance was the one bodybuilder in the Midwest who had the greatest chance of winning the Mr. America title.
I was competing in the teenage contest that night and I had my work cut out for me. At only 17 years of age, I was entering my third bodybuilding contest and the competition was stiff! Teenage bodybuilding contests in the 1980's were packed with big and ripped competitors. There were at least a dozen very well-developed teens in each of the three height classes and it was a struggle just to make the top five in each class.
At the evening show, all the competitors in my height class anxiously waited (off stage) for our chance to perform our 60 second posing routine. Back then, we couldn't choose our own posing music and had to pose to whatever background music was being played onstage. However, if we would have had our choice of music, most of us would have picked Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust", a song that was tearing up the airwaves during the summer of 1980.
As we watched one of the short class competitors posing onstage, an amazing thing happened. Sergio Oliva, 3x Mr. Olympia and a true legend in the sport, entered the auditorium. Wearing a crimson colored short sleeve shirt with the sleeves literally cut open to allow his massive 21 inch arms to fit, Sergio made a grand entrance fit for a King.
With innumerable gold chains, including a massive gold medallion, hanging around his neck, Sergio waved to the audience as everyone turned to look in awe and applaud Chicago's King of Bodybuilding. Ask anyone in Chicago who was around at the time Sergio was competing in the Mr. Olympia and they will tell you that Weider fixed the contest so Arnold could win. "There is no way that Arnold had a better body than Sergio", they ‘ll exclaim. "Sergio was the BEST!"
Sergio looked magnificent that night! He was on a recent hot streak, winning all of the competitions that he was entering in Serge Nubret's new WABBA organization. Displaying his mythic physique, Sergio had recently made short work of Bertil Fox, Robby Robinson, Kal Szkalak, Dave Johns and Tony Pearson in recent weeks. His gigantic chest threatened to pop the buttons from his shirt as his massive arm waved to the crowd. Sergio wore high-waist white bell-bottom pants and fancy platform shoes as he slowly walked up the aisle of the auditorium, smiling at the crowd and making his way to the stage.
To the utter amazement of everyone in the audience, Sergio walked up the steps and slowly walked across the stage as he continued to wave to the wildly applauding crowd. The poor teenage bodybuilder who was posing onstage watched along with everyone else as Sergio stole the spotlight. And while no one was looking, he quietly walked off stage.
Sergio kept walking until he ran into my height class who was waiting offstage and applauding The Myth along with the rest of the audience. Sergio shook all of our hands asking, "How are the big boys doing? How are the big boys doing?"
After this Mythic Appearance, the contest resumed. The rest of the teenage competitors performed their posing routines and the awards were handed out. A huge beast named Terry from Iowa ended up winning the short class and the overall in the Teenage division. With gargantuan quads and massive arms, Terry didn't look anything like a teenager and he would have done some serious damage in the Men's Open division had he entered.
During the Jr. Men's class, the audience got a quick glance at the one and only Lance Dreher. Lance was backstage and he needed to cross from one end of the backstage area to the other side. The curtain onstage was open behind the posing platform (yes, we used an actual platform back in the day) and Lance walked quickly from one end of the curtain to the other. Although it only took a few seconds and Lance was fully clothed in his warm-up suit, his sudden appearance energized the .jpg)
audience. A buzz went through the crowd and someone screamed "Lance!".
It would be a good 45 minutes later until the audience finally got a good look at the massive Golden Boy from Chicago. As he slowly took the stage, Lance received a shocked silence from the audience until they finally burst into rousing applause. He confidently glided from pose to pose, moving his massive physique with a grace that is normally reserved for smaller men.
When Lance raised his gigantic arms up and spread them wide in a half-cocked version of the front double biceps, the audience went ballistic. His 21 inch arms defied belief with the thickest biceps since Larry Scott and garden hose veins running down the inside of his arms. His rear lat spread pose and the crab most muscular sealed the deal. Only Arnold or Sergio at their best could have wrested the trophy away from Lance that night.
After Lance posed for pictures with his massive overall trophy, the crowd spilled into the lobby. Sergio was loudly talking to a group of friends and admirers, waving his massive arms in the air as he talked. As I walked outside with my brother and training partner, we were sure that Lance would win the Mr. America that year. He seemed like a God among men tonight and surely those National level judges would see how magnificent he was when he stepped onstage at the Mr. America that year.
Note: Lance Dreher ended up taking third place at the 1980 AAU Mr. America behind winner Gary Leonard and second place Greg DeFerro. However, Lance would win the Heavyweight Class the following year in 1981 but he was upset for the overall by the 4-3 vote. The overall winner of the Mr. America in 1981 was Lance's former training partner and fellow resident of Rockford, Illinois, Tim Belknap. But that's another story!
John Hansen
Natural Olympia winner 1998
2x Natural Mr. Universe winner
www.naturalolympia.com
