Unrealized Potential: Before Quadzilla, There was Jeff King!
It was still the era of Frank Zane, where the beauty if symmetry dominated over competitors possessing beastly mass. To those that felt uninspired by the beach-bodies in vogue, Casey Viator, Tim Belknap and Tom Platz were exalted as unredeemed heroes ¾ always placing well but forced to look on as the likes of Dickerson, Makkawy and Bannout pranced off with the big checks. It was almost as if the meek truly had inherited the Earth.
The connoisseurs of mass felt that nothing could be more inspirational than photos of Bertil grunting out inclines with 180-pound dumbbells or Plants tensing his ponderous thighs between sets. We thrilled to tales of the Barbarian Brothers; throwing Olympic plates like Frisbees, kicking each other in the face for last rep motivation. Although this type of hardcore attitude was downplayed so that "the sport could reach a wider audience," we were just waiting for another big man to reclaim the Olympia crown and, in so doing, bring our doctrines back into prominence.
