Featuring 2002 hall of fame inductee: Roland Essmaker - Factoids

BEGINNINGS

Roland Joseph Essmaker was born on March 24, 1916, in Richmond, Indiana. It was a time when bodybuildinq contests were as rare as personal trainers. Still, as a teenager, circa 1933, Roland subscribed to Strength & Health magazine and began a systematic weight-training program. Within six years, he was ready for competition.

NO 98-POUND WEAKLING

When he joined the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933, Essmaker weighed a mere 129 pounds. He added about a pound and a half per month, however, so that he was up to 148 upon his discharge 13 months later. Recalling that transitional period, he said, "I was convinced that weight training was the answer for gaining weight and becoming more muscular." Although accepted as common knowledge today, that "theory" was pretty radical in 1934.

SASHAYING HIS WAY TO A GREAT BUILD

Until he could save the requisite 10 bucks for a new barbell set, Essmaker had to make do with window-sash weights, a chinup bar and one-leg squats.

GETTING BENT INTO SHAPE

Roland's dad was a chiropractor whose office reading material included Strength & Health, as well as Bernarr Macfadden's Physical Culture magazine. Roland and his like-minded pals quickly absorbed all the printed advice and began stockpiling the necessary bodybuilding gear at the Richmond YMCA.

HOLD THAT POSE!

Early on, Roland helped make ends meet as an artist's model at several schools, including Yale, Columbia University and the University of Illinois. He also sat for students at the John Herron Art Institute in Indianapolis, Indiana. While in Indiana, he trained at Fred Hofmeister's gym, and it was Hofmeister who urged Roland to enter the Mr. America contest in Chicago.

BLOWN ASIDE IN THE WINDY CITY

After his Mr. America victory in Chicago, Essmaker offered to pose for Strenqth & Health magazine, but he was turned down. In years to come, the publication would generally claim that Grimek was the first Mr. America, although it slipped up a couple of times, including the following occasions.

February 1959: "Too few bodybuilder (sic) fans are acquainted with the fact that Roland Essmaker won the very first AAU Mr. America contest back in 1939."

September 1962: "By his own admission, the first AAU Mr. America is the 'least photographed of all the Mr. Americas,' Roland Essmaker, who won the title in 1939 in Chicago and now resides in Paramount, California."

In 1982, however, Muscular Development (which shared the same publisher as Strenqth & Health) echoed the view that Grimek was the first AAU Mr. America. More letters of protest from Essmaker to Grimek, to the editor of MD and to writer Bob Crist went unacknowledged.

THE MR. AMERICA CONTROVERSY

Question: Who was the first man to win the AAU Mr. America?

A. Bert Goodrich on June 10, 1939.

B. Roland Essmaker, on July 4, 1939.

C. John Grimek, on May 25, 1940.

The answer is all of the above. Sort of.

The contest Goodrich won allowed amateurs to compete against professionals; thus, It was not, strictly speaking, an Amateur Athletic Union event. When 23-year-old Essmaker won a month later, the AAU sanctioned the contest, and for many years Roland was referred to in magazines as the first AAU Mr. America. However, a few years after Grimek's 1940 win, history was rewritten, and Grimek was cited as the first Mr. America. Roland's letters of protest went unanswered by revisionist AAU officials.

LOVE AND MARRIAGE AND KIDS AND GYMS

Roland met Virginia Stanley in 1942 and married her on Halloween that year in Medford, Oregon. Daughters Mary Ann and Virginia Sue expanded the family by 1945. The Essmakers later moved to Hollywood, California, and on October 1, 1946, Roland opened his own gym on Melrose Avenue. (Window-sash weights were not Included among the equipment.) Nine months later, Roland sold the gym to George Redpath. Roland and Virginia are still happily married.

THE NEXT VOICE YOU HEAR...

In 1951, after his competitive days were over, Roland attended the Dan Martin School of Radio and TV in Hollywood for a year. He subsequently worked for several radio stations throughout California. He also worked for a time in the printing business and now calls San Marcos, California, home.

CONTEST HISTORY


July 4, 1939       Won AAU Mr. America
November 18, 1939  Did not place in York
                   Perfect Man contest
May 24, 1941       Placed out of the
                   top six at Mr. America
March 26, 1949     Placed out of the
                   top five at Mr. U.S.A.
June 25, 1949      Placed seventh at
                   Mr. 1949

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