Despite continuing to lift weights even a year before his death, at the age of 79, Dave Draper was a bodybuilder who was not too fascinated with competitive bodybuilding. Although when taking part in the small number of competitions that he finally did, he acquired many titles, including Mr. World, Mr. Universe, and Mr. America.

Known as The Blond Bomber, Drape initially hated the title he was given. But as time went on, the bodybuilder and actor started to accept it along with his popularity. The welder from New Jersey who started to work for Weider Barbell Company became the man with one of the most well-sculpted figures of his time.

Who was Dave Draper?

Draper started weight training when he was at the tender age of 10, keeping weights under his bed. Two years later, fitness regimes became a habit for him. As Draper grew up, he found himself mastering gymnastics, wrestling, and swimming alongside bodybuilding, but he never considered that as a profession. Allegedly, Draper had shown his concern about the social perception of bodybuilding as a sport. He had talked about how people would never inspire one to become a bodybuilder and that it was always considered a sport for “sissies.”

Once when Dave Draper went to pick up 45-pound plates from the Weider Barbell Company, he ran into one of the most prominent and influential people in the bodybuilding field: Joe Weider. As the latter offered him a job in the same company after getting impressed by his physique, Draper moved to California and later got featured in Weider’s Muscle Magazine.

After moving to California, the legend found himself training at the Dungeon Gym, before shifting to the world-famous Gold’s Gym. The bodybuilder was known to have shared his training at the gym with some of the most famous and accomplished bodybuilders from back then, including, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Frank Zane. However, Draper never liked the idea of competitive bodybuilding where he was needed to pose. According to The New York Times, “He loved lifting weights for its physical and spiritual benefits. But he disliked the preening and posing required of bodybuilders at competitions and exhibitions.”

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Even though Dave Draper retired way early in his career, only at the age of 28, he still managed to participate and win several prestigious titles. After he won the Mr. America in 1965 and Mr. Universe in 1966, Draper took a three-year gap and again appeared in 1970, winning the Mr. World title. In an interview, he once revealed why he disliked competition. He said, “For a reasonable season of my life, it seemed like the thing to do,” then he further added, “But competition stood between me and the relief of hoisting the iron — the private exertion, the pure delight and the daily fulfillment of building muscle and strength.”

A reluctant bodybuilder according to himself, Draper, however, did have a good standing among the other legends that graced the sport. One such legend gave him his nickname as well.

Frank Zane and Arnold Schwarzenegger were Draper ‘fans’

The Canadian bodybuilder and entrepreneur, Joe Weider gave Dave Draper the nickname, The Blond Bomber. It was given to him when Weider was trying to promote intense weight training through his Muscle Magazine back in the 1960s. Draper was not only well appreciated by Weider but also by Frank Zane and Arnold Schwarzenegger. While Zane recalled how Draper used to train harder than anyone else and wore jeans at all times, Schwarzenegger kept his photo from the Muscle Magazine over his bed as a source of motivation.

Outside of his fitness career, Dave Draper was also an author and an actor. As an author, Dave received immense popularity through his fitness book, “Brother Iron, Sister Steel”. While his acting career included appearances in movies like, “Lord Love a Duck”, “Don’t Make Waves”. He also appeared as a host in “Sword and Sandal”, and made several cameos in some TV sitcoms.

Dave Draper certainly did not have the obsessive drive to compete. For him, bodybuilding and fitness had always been a field of interest that he wanted to enjoy at his own pace. Maybe that is why, even after his retirement, he was still seen working out and training with weights even in his late 70s. This love for fitness ensures that stories of his legacy are told in the bodybuilding community as someone from the Golden Era who could influence so many people with his skills at sculpting his physique.

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