Here's short article, courtesy of our friend from afar Liam Tweed . . . it was originally in a Muscle Training Illustrated mag, the Dan Lurie publication, May/June '67 issue, and I find it very inspiring as well as grounding me where I want to be.
It's a fact . . . I knew big Dave Draper when he was so average you wouldn't have noticed him if he walked past you alone.
We attended the same high school, in Weehawken, New Jersey. We both trained at the famous Swiss Gymnastic Club where my father was the chief instructor.
Dave was a big overgrown kid. I was smaller, more compact and more muscular. Although I did a fair amount of bodybuilding my sport was gymnastics. Dave was also interested in bodybuilding.
At that time our Gymnastic Club was tops in the entire country and boasted more national champions than all of the others in the U.S.A. put together. I had the good fortune to get started in this sport at an early age and was already a "star" when I was at high school.
Poor Dave tried so hard that I felt sorry for him. Actually, he wasn't a bad gymnast but he was surrounded by such a host of champions that he got lost in the shuffle . . .
But there was one thing Dave had plenty of, and that was quiet determination. He never gave up once he made his mind up to achieve something. He kept plugging with no fanfare until success was his.
Another thing Dave had was plenty of intelligence. He had his head as well as his muscles. He knew what he wanted, where he was going, and he kept striving until he ultimately achieved his goal.
He listened to others but the final decision was always his own. He knew himself better than anyone else and he developed his own bodybuilding program.
He trained and trained and trained.
He had a good frame even as a boy but tended to be soft and flabby no matter how hard he trained. Others would have given up long ago but not Dave . . .
He kept on training . . . he had GUTS.
Only one man is responsible for Dave's phenomenal success and his name is Dave Draper. He made it BIG and he did it entirely on his own.
It took him twice as long as others but he never faltered. He left them all behind including me, and I had a good head-start on him.
He didn't do it overnight regardless of what anyone tries to tell you.
It took him years of hard, concentrated, endless effort.
He didn't use any magic foods, or magic systems either. He always ate well balanced meals because he had a good head on his shoulders and knew something about proper nutrition.
As for exercise, he worked out his own personal system of training after a great deal of experimentation.
The real secret behind his success was sheer, unadulterated, iron-willed, bulldog perseverance. He KNEW what he wanted to accomplish and set out to do it. He planned his program carefully and knew that it would take him five years to reach the top after his body was fully grown. It took him three years to build the massive bulk he wanted and then two more years of concentrated effort to get the "cuts" that he needed.
Not one lifter in 10,000 looks that far ahead.
Most give up after a few months of effort if they don't get the unbelievable results which are promised in some magazines.
Dave Draper knew better. He didn't believe what he read. He was too intelligent. He was prepared to spend 10 years and more reaching the top if necessary.
His efforts paid off, and he build one of the finest physiques of all time.
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