Boyer Coe has carved his name into the bodybuilding history books in more ways than one. Along with being one of bodybuilding's top champions of the 70's and 80's, he also achieved recognition as one of its most consistent and preserving.

Having competed in four separate eras (the '60's, '70's, '80's and '90's), Boyer, who turns 61 in August, has posed-off against most major champions and has himself won a good haul of titles (15 professional and 11 amateur).

Born on August 18, 1946, in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Boyer's first introduction to weights came at age 14, where, undecided as to what he would do with his sporting future, decided to see how far the iron game would take him. After five years of training he won the 1965 AAU Mr. Texas, followed in 1966 by winning the AAU Teen Mr. America title. He had found his calling.

One man who was to have an enduring influence on Boyer's life is Red Lerille, owner of the first serious gym Boyer trained at and a past Mr. America winner himself. Under Red's guidance, Boyer, from his early college days through to his peak as an IFBB champion, became one of the better-known and most popular competitors of his time.

Ever since he lifted is first weight Boyer has maintained a bond with the sport that would form a major part of his life. From owning a health food store and running a gym (in New Orleans) to prototyping exercise equipment and co-hosting a fitness program on ESPN, Boyer has, in one way or another, maintained links with the fitness community.

In 1994 Boyer competed at his all time best bodyweight of 224 pounds, at 5'9", to place third in the Masters Mr. Olympia. Today he is in the gym every morning at 5.00, and maintains good conditioning and size. For anyone interested in bodybuilding's history, one man we should all know of is Boyer Coe, one of its hardest working pioneers.

In the following interview Boyer discusses his life in bodybuilding and gives his insightful and accurate thoughts on many of its major events, from the controversial 1980 and 1981 Mr. Olympia's through to the ill-fated WBBF.

[ Q ] When did you first begin bodybuilding and why did you choose it initially as a sport and eventually a career?

• • I suppose I became interested in bodybuilding as a way to prove myself to my family and certainly to myself. I came from a family that was outstanding in boxing and football, especially my father and my uncle. My father was good enough to turn professional, but then I came along and he had to earn a living for his family.

  • My uncle was an extremely gifted athlete, good at every sport. He was the only true ambidextrous person I have ever known. He could destroy you with either hand in boxing, and as quarterback in football he could easily throw the ball accurately with either hand to totally confuse the opposing team.

  • I was never very good at either sport so I was looking for something that I could potentially be good at. Once I discovered bodybuilding, it became my life-long quest to see how good I could become. I never really looked at bodybuilding as a career, as I was never lucky enough to have any kind of contract. As such, I always maintained a full time job in addition to competing.

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Boyer Coe.

[ Q ] What are you doing today, both training and career-wise?

• • For the past several years I have been in the insurance business, insuring classic and exotic cars. My brother-in-law started this business. When he became ill, I began helping him. When he passed away three-years-ago, I took over to keep his business going.

  • Prior to that I have always been involved in the fitness industry: everything from owning a health food store to prototyping exercise equipment to co-hosting a fitness show on ESPN.

[ Q ] You had a very long bodybuilding career, from the mid-sixties through to the mid-nineties. What kept you in the sport so long?

• • Bodybuilding has always been a personal journey for me, I was simply interested in seeing how hard I could push myself, challenge myself, to see how much I was able to improve. The contests were nothing more to me than a goal to attempt to measure my progress - sometimes I was able to make really good progress, other times it was not as good as I would have liked.

[ Q ] You have also won your share of pro contests. What was it about your look that the judges liked?

• • I do not have a clue; honestly I never thought my physique was all that good. Bodybuilding is purely subjective by nature. Judges will always have their bias. I trained hard, did my best to be in top condition; always did what I could to improve. After that it was out of my hands.

  • What I counted on the most were several people who were always honest with me about my condition. A couple of times I was fortunate enough to win a contest, but if they told me I did not look as good compared to last time out, then I knew I had not really done my job and had to be better the next time out. The judge's opinion never really mattered to me.

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Boyer Coe.

[ Q ] But clearly you were one of the best in your era and you did make a great contribution to bodybuilding.

• • The funny thing is, the contests, as I said, were never a motivating factor for me. I never cared that much, but naturally, at the same time, wanted to win and do well. I was never fortunate to have a contract and I am very happy that the guys today are getting these big contracts, but I would like to think that I was one of the pioneers that led to that.

  • As a competitor I always had a full-time job so going to the contests and winning was not all that important to me because at least I had a job to fall back on. And to be quite honest I never had any respect for any of the judges. If they placed me first, fine. If they didn't I just took it and went about my business because I figured those guys did not know what it was like.

  • It kind of reminds me of a movie I always liked called The Natural, starring Robert Redford. There is a scene with Robert Duvall, who acted the part of a sportswriter who wanted to control baseball. I always remember Robert Redford asking Robert Duvall's character, "You know, did you ever play baseball?" And he said no, he never did.

  • So if you never participated in bodybuilding, if you never went through the effort of working out and dieting, how the h*ll would you know what it is like to be up onstage? Those guys sit there in judgement of you. I remember standing there and looking down offstage and the judges are laughing and joking and looking around.

  • They are not paying attention to you. And way back in the IFBB, the way you got to be a judge was to first be distributor for Weider food supplements. Then all of a sudden you showed up as an official. Well many of those guys didn't know anything about judging.

  • The thing that mattered to me was what a few of my close friends said. They would be brutally honest and tell me if I looked good or not. It didn't matter if I won a contest or not. Sometimes when I actually won a contest they would say, "You know you looked like sh!t, you didn't look anywhere near as good as you did last time."

  • And I knew that they were telling me the truth. I remember back in 1967, a guy who helped me tremendously and who has been my inspiration in life, Red Lerille, the 1960 Mr. America, tried to teach me how to hit a side chest pose. And after two or three weeks he said, "Forget it, just don't hit the chest pose, it just don't look worth a d@mn, you just don't know how to do it."

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Boyer Coe Age 17, At Red Lerille's gym .

• • So I went to the 1967 Mr. America and I decided to take his advice and did not do a chest pose. Finally they tell me that I have to hit the side chest pose. I said, "Well, I don't know how to do it." The guy said, "You have to hit the chest pose anyway." So I hit the chest pose.

  • In those days you won best body parts. Well I was always fortunate enough to win best arms but on this occasion I also won best chest (laughs). But Red still didn't think my chest pose was right. It probably wasn't right but it was good enough to win the best chest award (laughs). And I had other guys like that who would tell me the truth. If they told me I had made improvements from the last contest that was all the satisfaction needed.

[ Q ] So you did after all have a good chest to go with your good arms?

• • Yes (laughs). To tell you the truth Dave I was never that satisfied. I would always look at Sergio Oliva's physique and think that that is what I wanted to look like, but I also had enough intelligence to know that I just didn't have his genetics.

[ Q ] Having competed in the A.A.U. NABBA, IFBB and WBBG federations, what are your thoughts on each? What did each have to offer you as a bodybuilder?

• • I actually started with the AAU, then NABBA, WBBG, and then lastly IFBB. The one thing that I will always remember about NABBA was the great integrity with which they conducted themselves. Oscar Heidenstam (sp) and George Greenwood were so fantastic. They really loved bodybuilding.

  • 1969 was the first time I went to London for the Mr. Universe and they made you feel welcome. They really appreciated the bodybuilders and I never forgot that.

Boyer Reads!