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The world marveled at the size of his gargantuan arms and chest.
At the peak of his physical prowess, Bill Pettis was known for having the biggest biceps in the world - bigger than Arnold Schwarzenegger's.
Pettis, like the future film star and governor, was a bodybuilding fixture on California's Venice Beach, an attraction of sorts to the 16 million people who visit the Pacific Ocean stretch.
There, thousands of miles away from his Harrisburg home, Pettis belonged to a fraternity of men obsessed with pumping iron and fame. People asked him for his autograph and snapped photos of him posing with his ripped muscles.
But if Pettis' fame and fortune star twinkled it did so only imperceptibly before its trajectory spiraled towards the abyss of failed sports narratives.
On Tuesday, Pettis' journey came full circle – ending in Harrisburg, where it had started, his days on the football team at Central Dauphin High School helping to stoke his obsession with fitness.
His body was found along Spring Creek near the Greenbelt Parking area in Swatara Township by someone taking a walk.
No foul play was involved, police said, and a few hours later, they identified the body as that of William Pettis, 69, of Venice Beach, Calif.
In the late 1970s, Pettis – who a few years earlier left Harrisburg on a Greyhound bus bound for California – had achieved a measure of fame in the bodybuilding world.
Pettis never amassed titles nor endorsement contracts, but he was well known in the bodybuilding circles for his Incredible Hulk physique.
In the late 1970s, the man with the largest arms in the world – 23 1/4 inches – was featured in a small advertisement in the back of muscle magazines that said he would share his bodybuilding secrets to just $4.95.
In 1984, Pettis – his barrel chest bursting from a skimpy tank top – was photographed for a promotional campaign for the U.S. Olympics, which were held in Los Angeles that year.
As David Davis, a Los Angeles-based sports writer, noted in his 2015 expose on Pettis, the bodybuilder – who had unlike most of the other giants on Venice Beach eschewed steroids – collected a mere $1 for posing for the photo. The photo, however, became iconic.
That photo, taken by the legendary, late photographer Garry Winogrand, prompted Davis to do a story on Pettis, forever preserved in the image with his massive biceps and pecs.
But by the time Davis tracked Pettis down on Venice Beach several years ago to begin research on his story for Los Angeles Magazine, the passage of time had transformed the ripped hulk into an oddity.
Davis painted a painfully clear picture of him:
"He was standing in the middle of the boardwalk wearing a faded fluorescent Speedo that covered his butt — barely — and a pair of well-worn high-top sneakers that were unlaced. He held a battered radio to his ear and occasionally dipped his knees to the music. Around his neck were black beads and a key on a string. The muscles of his once taut, gargantuan chest ... sagged from his shoulders like a turkey's wattle."
For five decades, Pettis had managed to eek out an existence, teetering always on the edge of homelessness, living at times on the good graces of friends and other times from the money tourists on the beach gave him after he allowed them to take a picture of the aging, toothless man in the skimpy bathing suit.
Footnotes to a name
A few years ago former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, according to his publicist, was making an appearance at an event on Venice Beach.
Schwarzenegger's security detail had been given the heads up to be on the lookout for an older gentleman dressed only in a skimpy bathing suit who was milling about close to the cordoned-off area.
Full Article: Bigger than Schwarzenegger: Bodybuilding legend's life ends in Harrisburg creek | PennLive.com
At the peak of his physical prowess, Bill Pettis was known for having the biggest biceps in the world - bigger than Arnold Schwarzenegger's.
Pettis, like the future film star and governor, was a bodybuilding fixture on California's Venice Beach, an attraction of sorts to the 16 million people who visit the Pacific Ocean stretch.
There, thousands of miles away from his Harrisburg home, Pettis belonged to a fraternity of men obsessed with pumping iron and fame. People asked him for his autograph and snapped photos of him posing with his ripped muscles.
But if Pettis' fame and fortune star twinkled it did so only imperceptibly before its trajectory spiraled towards the abyss of failed sports narratives.
On Tuesday, Pettis' journey came full circle – ending in Harrisburg, where it had started, his days on the football team at Central Dauphin High School helping to stoke his obsession with fitness.
His body was found along Spring Creek near the Greenbelt Parking area in Swatara Township by someone taking a walk.
No foul play was involved, police said, and a few hours later, they identified the body as that of William Pettis, 69, of Venice Beach, Calif.
In the late 1970s, Pettis – who a few years earlier left Harrisburg on a Greyhound bus bound for California – had achieved a measure of fame in the bodybuilding world.
Pettis never amassed titles nor endorsement contracts, but he was well known in the bodybuilding circles for his Incredible Hulk physique.
In the late 1970s, the man with the largest arms in the world – 23 1/4 inches – was featured in a small advertisement in the back of muscle magazines that said he would share his bodybuilding secrets to just $4.95.
In 1984, Pettis – his barrel chest bursting from a skimpy tank top – was photographed for a promotional campaign for the U.S. Olympics, which were held in Los Angeles that year.
As David Davis, a Los Angeles-based sports writer, noted in his 2015 expose on Pettis, the bodybuilder – who had unlike most of the other giants on Venice Beach eschewed steroids – collected a mere $1 for posing for the photo. The photo, however, became iconic.
That photo, taken by the legendary, late photographer Garry Winogrand, prompted Davis to do a story on Pettis, forever preserved in the image with his massive biceps and pecs.
But by the time Davis tracked Pettis down on Venice Beach several years ago to begin research on his story for Los Angeles Magazine, the passage of time had transformed the ripped hulk into an oddity.
Davis painted a painfully clear picture of him:
"He was standing in the middle of the boardwalk wearing a faded fluorescent Speedo that covered his butt — barely — and a pair of well-worn high-top sneakers that were unlaced. He held a battered radio to his ear and occasionally dipped his knees to the music. Around his neck were black beads and a key on a string. The muscles of his once taut, gargantuan chest ... sagged from his shoulders like a turkey's wattle."
For five decades, Pettis had managed to eek out an existence, teetering always on the edge of homelessness, living at times on the good graces of friends and other times from the money tourists on the beach gave him after he allowed them to take a picture of the aging, toothless man in the skimpy bathing suit.
Footnotes to a name
A few years ago former California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, according to his publicist, was making an appearance at an event on Venice Beach.
Schwarzenegger's security detail had been given the heads up to be on the lookout for an older gentleman dressed only in a skimpy bathing suit who was milling about close to the cordoned-off area.
Full Article: Bigger than Schwarzenegger: Bodybuilding legend's life ends in Harrisburg creek | PennLive.com
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