A Star Profile: Dave Draper - The Blonde Bomber Part 2

There are only a handful of true living legends in the sport of bodybuilding. It doesn’t take long to rattle off the short list: Arnold, Lou, Sergio, and Larry Scott would certainly be on it. Another is Dave Draper, “The Blonde Bomber.” No man was a more ideal embodiment of the Southern California bodybuilder in the 1960’s and into the early 70’s, as his image graced the covers of over thirty magazines in that span of time. Draper also inspired through his acting career, appearing on TV shows like The Monkees and The Beverly Hillbillies as well as in the film Don’t Make Waves with Tony Curtis and the late Sharon Tate. In his relatively brief competitive career, Dave nabbed the prestigious titles of Mr. America, Mr. Universe, and Mr. World. Standing six foot and 220 pounds, Dave’s was a physique many aspired to then and still do today. At 66 years old, Dave is still involved in the industry, contributing regularly to several magazines, operating a popular web site, and the author of three best-selling books. It is my honor to bring to you the following interview with the one and only Blonde Bomber, Dave Draper.

Interview conducted in 2008

If you had been born in 1972 instead of 1942, do you think you still would have become a bodybuilder?

DD: I don’t think so. The appeal of muscles in the 1950s when I started was real. Thirty years later and I’m growing up in the ‘80s. Hmmm... Not as alluring to my temperament: too common and diluted and bombastic and crowded and showy. To continue the fantasy, I would have trained for rugged muscle, conditioning and health and lived happily ever after.

Do you ever imagine what you would look like with today’s equipment, supplements, and the wide array of pharmaceuticals that today’s men use?

DD: Never occurred to me.

Did you and the others from the ‘60s and early ‘70s ever imagine the drugs would get so out of hand in bodybuilding?

DD: I was certain drugs would play a significant role in the growing world of bodybuilding, but I neither expected the bodybuilding world to grow so large in number and industry-magnitude, nor the individuals to grow to such cartoonish proportions as we see today. Got a second? I see three stages of development -- three separate bodybuilding cultures: The pre-‘50s and original Muscle Beach era, when bodybuilding was fresh and refreshing. The genuine physical-fitness culture. Then the muscle scene was captured by the magazine media in the ‘60s and bolted like a barbed stallion. The crowds amassed around the world, lats spread, coconut deltoids grew. The pro bodybuilding culture. By 2000 muscles that were once a sketched representation of an artist’s wild imagination were now being displayed in lineups at pro bodybuilding contest across the nations. “They” had arrived. The extreme muscular development culture. Subcultures, in reality. Don’t know where we’re going - rather, where they’re going.

Does it bother you to hear about the deaths and major health problems in fairly young men over recent years in our sport?

DD: Sure it does. The sacrifice to become a major player in any pro sport is huge. But the compromises are being made on the streets and in high schools. This is particularly sad and disappointing. A shame. Easy come, easy go. No real growth... the opposite, in fact.

Something that really comes across in all your writing is your passion for training. Even today, it sounds like you enjoy your time with the iron just as much as you did forty years ago. How can you explain this lifelong passion and how you have kept it burning so strong?

DD: When I got my little mound of weights at 10, the first thing I thought was big arms. There’s more, I learned. There are chest and shoulders, arms and back. Why, lifting weights is a sport, a diversion, a hobby and it’s good for you and nobody bothers you. I soon noticed that little mound of weights had a mountain to offer. Lifting the iron physically enables the participant, strengthening his or her muscles and bones, improving function and ability, energy and endurance, resistance and speed. Lift right and you feel good and look good. It doesn’t stop there. Lifting sensibly requires, and, thus, builds character qualities to be applied to the rest of your life: discipline, patience, perseverance, devotion. I’m rich, we’re rich. The list goes on – resistance exercise improves mental acuity, enhances the entire system, de-stresses, controls obesity and diabetes...And there’s a bond between the iron-minded mob that cannot be outweighed (puny pun). Nobody said it was easy. Ironically, that’s another appeal of the weight room. It’s tough. And you quickly learn that which the iron provides surely fades unless you continue the good deed. In that you’ve come to like the good things of life, now you’re hooked. And unlike other aggressive or active sports – football, basketball, baseball, hockey – you can keep the iron moving the rest of your life. Love it, hate, need it, want it – the iron has a way of getting under your skin and into your blood. And when it doesn’t hurt, it feels great. Come to think of it, it feels great even when it does hurt. Oh, the fact that my wife Laree and I have developed a faithful band of iron-hoisting Internet bombers at davedraper.com over the past decade is no small encouragement to my spirit of training. We dare not let each other down. Finally, there’s nothing like the feeling when the workout is done. I hope the answer is in there somewhere.

When did you first begin writing for the magazines, and how did your writing career develop as the years went by?

DD: I squeezed out an article or two for IronMan, Muscle and Fitness and Muscle Mag, long after I left the competitive scene in 1970. But I began writing regularly for our local newspaper when I opened a gym in Santa Cruz. We needed advertising copy and I wrote a short weekly column on exercise. That morphed into an email newsletter that goes out weekly for our webpage, davedraper.com, now nine years old. Since the advent of the webpage in ’99, I’ve written three books devoted to strength and health, Brother Iron Sister Steel, Your Body Revival and Iron on My Mind.

You still work out regularly. How is your training different now from when you were in your twenties and thirties?

DD: It has remained the same - volume in sets and reps, supersets and the basic exercises, cables and some machines, power when achievable - only modified to suit the day and age. My training boomed in my forties as I settled into gym ownership. Five days a week suited me, two hours a workout, heavy squatting and deadlifting a part of the regimen. I carried on vigorously through my 50s, cutting back to four days a week as I ventured into my 60s. Three days a week suits me fine today, a spin on the Spin bike in between. I’m 66 on the outside, 13-going-on-17 on the inside.

Most bodybuilders dream of owning their own gym. As a man that has been there and done that, what were the best and worst parts of running a gym?

DD: Building a gym is the best part. Owning and operating a gym is the worst part. This is what usually transpires when one daring and committed soul opens a cool gym in a decent neighborhood: A jerk with money opens one across the street and you slave or go out of business. Was that not the typical case, owning a cool gym can be a blast.

A lot of us these days have had our troubles with drugs and/or alcohol. I know you went through your issues years ago and got through them. Do you think bodybuilders are particularly susceptible to addiction, as it could be argued that bodybuilding in itself is a form of addiction?

DD: You could be right. Muscleheads – a term of endearment – are some of the best nut jobs I’ve ever met. And we do have issues, no doubt about it. Thank God for the iron or we’d be a real mess. Draper’s in Isolation B, medicated and in restraints. They took his dumbbells away. Cruel and unusual punishment. I’m one of those characters who has been clean and sober for 25 years. No wine, no beer or any of that other stuff.

Good for you, that’s a true achievement. All in all, are you satisfied with how prevalent the concepts of weight training and good nutrition have become in America today as opposed to forty or fifty years ago, or do you think we still have a long way to go?

DD: Muscles and exercise and good nutrition are everywhere. Health and fitness are in the news every hour and at the magazine rack as you check out your groceries. Health and fitness have become big business. However, we need a whole lot more people buying into it, that is, making it a lifestyle. And the promise of a healthy and long life begins at youth. We need a lot more health and fitness education and exercise in schools and proper nutrition in the cafeterias and a ban on killer junk food in the hallways. Educate and encourage now, and the next generation might have it right. The more we are responsible to our physical strength and health, the more we are responsible to one another. And so grows our morals and spiritual might. Drink your milk, be nice to your mom.

Contest History

1963

Mr New Jersey - IFBB, Overall Winner
Mr New Jersey - IFBB, Tall, 1st

1965

Mr America - IFBB, Tall, 1st
Mr America - IFBB, Overall Winner

1966

Universe - IFBB, Tall, 1st
Universe - IFBB, Overall Winner

1967

Olympia - IFBB, 4th

1970

          Universe - Pro - NABBA, Tall, 3rd
          Mr World - AAU, Pro Tall, 3rd
          Mr World - IFBB, Overall Winner
          Mr World - IFBB, Tall, 1st

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