On the Way to the USA
Heading out Friday morn for the USA blockbuster, with more than 525 competitors set to hit the Artemus Ham Auditorium stage on the campus of the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. If you listened to me on Dave Palumbo’s Heavy Muscle radio show on Monday, you know I’ve gone WAY out on the limb this time around, picking Al Auguste not only to win the Light Heavyweight class, but to nab the Overall as well! Jumbo was so stunned by my selection, he decided to go with the chisled Floridan too.
I’ll stick with slick Al for the crown, but there are several other dudes who are more than capable of winning it all: SHW’s Robert Burneika, Keith Williams, Steve Kucko and Jason Huh to name a few. Will Fred “Biggie” Smalls finally nail the HW class and win his pro card? Whoever takes the class will, of course, since four–count ‘em four–pro cards are now being given out to the men.
There will be many great class battles in ‘Vegas, including the Ron Torres versus Danny Hester clash in the MW division. Have you seen the September issue of this mag yet? Great cover shot of Hester the Jester. And, the in-depth interview ain’t chopped liver either, if I say so myself.
Anyway, check out the men’s list in my previous blog to see who’ll be flexing it out on stage this weekend. Men’s judging is Friday night, with the finals set for 6:30 pm on Saturday. See some of you there?
Gotta pack. Over, under and out.
Chuck Ray, Sr, RIP
Condolences to Shawn Ray and his family on the passing of Shawn’s father, Chuck Ray, Sr. Chuck, who had been ill for some time, died at his daughter Chatter’s home in Chino, CA, on Tuesday evening, surrounded by his children, ex-wife Yvonne and Cherie Arnold, his girlfriend of 29 years.
Chuck, who was born in Sandy Point, Texas, was a member of the United States Air Force and, in 1947 became the first African American appointed to the Planning Commission in Placentia, CA. He was the father of eight children, Shawn being the youngest.
Memorial services will be held at 11 am on Friday, August 6, at Lifeway Church, 7474 Vineyard Avenue, Rancho Cucamonga, CA 91730. Shawn told me the family is still in the process of scheduling his father’s burial service at Rose Hills, in Whittiter, Ca.
2010 NPC USA competitor List
Bantamweight
Jonathon Bareng
Magellan Damaso
John Fama
Ron Hackaspker
Paul Howe
Albert Lalonde
John Ligsay
Jimmy Nguyen
Kimo Sevillo
James Shumpert
Henry Urango
Lightweight
Fernando Abaco
Roland Allen
Santiago Aragon
Marc Bennett
Tony Boone
Tony Botelho
John Caruso
Dickens Fenelon
Delfin Ignacio
Rob Kailany
Nhon Ly
Cody Mack
Drew Malate
Leonardo Pacheco
Art Shahazarian
Carlo Villesenda
Alan Watari
Welterweight
Jacob Auzenne
Bret Bradshaw
Joe Bustamante
Craig Jones
Steve Karnya
Joshua Katz
Morris Pruett
Pete Rayner
Bryan Renshaw
Daniel Rocha
Jesse Sabater
Luis Santa
Tim Ward
Brandon Williams
Duane Williams
Middleweight
Thomas Arnone
Kelly Bautista
Brandon Burrows
Sylvester Cain
Carlito Camat
Matt Christianer
Michael Cotton
Brien Dawson
Guillermo Escalante
James Gipson
Danny Hester
Andry Israel
Jason Joseph
Edgar Petrosian
Vincent Que
Andrew Rasmussen
Jose Rivera
Neko Roberson
Julius Rumingan
Stoil Stoilov
Ronald Torres
Scott Turner
Malachi Walker
Light-Heavyweight
Al Auguste
Mike Best
William Blair
Frank Castillega
Pete Ciccone
Brad Davis
Joshua Fred
Yano Garcia
Michael Gritti
Vince Gumataotao
Vincent “VJ” Hils
Tom Jimenez
Daniel Koyama
John Lopez
Matthew Lowden
Landley Mannery
Edwin Menor
Raymond McLeod
An Nguyen
C. Kevin Ofurum
John Peshia
Chris Przybyla
Justin Rayner
Tim Rice
Michael Sausedo
Mark Smith
Mark Teti
Manuel Torres
Bryan Vander Ploeg
Kyle Witherspoon
Heavyweight
Joshua Bergeron
Kenyatta Booth
Matt Burzacott
Juan Calderon
Brian Copeland
Zinjun Croon
Jason David
Jonathan Delarosa
PD Devers
Shaun Devoy
John Duginski
Mark Erpelding
Ruben Escobar
Les Galloway
Chulsey Graham
Will Hamilton
Sean Harris
Ransford Jackson
Johnathan Johnson
Chase Jones
Chad Martin
Kali Muscle
Frank Nezdoba
Bryan Pazdzierz
Casey Richards
Vladimir Sizov
Fred Smalls
Kaden Vu
Josh Wade
Mike Yablon
Super-Heavyweight
Sean Allan
Joe Barker
Zebulon Beatty
Robert Burneika
Daniel Decker
Ryan Foxx
Craig Golias
Dusty Hanshaw
Jason Huh
Stephen Kuclo
Chad LaCount
Gabriel Latifi
DeCarlo Lewis
Johnny McCarver
Gabe Moen
Blair Mone
Kalani Nelson
Korbie Nitiforo
Mario Possemato
Rudy Richards
Rowdy Rusconi
Ronald Sargeant
Keith Williams
Brian Yersky
Swami Stuns Again; Hollywood Turns Pro
Like the headline on one of my blogs last week said, loud and clear, Nunn could get in done in Hartford. Translation for those a bit slow: Easy Ed Nunn, regulated to a fourth place finish at the Tampa Pro a week earlier, has the physique to move up all the way up into the winner’s circle at the Europa in Hartford, Connecticut, despite defending champ Ben White’s prediction that he would make it two in a row.
Once again, the Swami comes through with a stunning revelation: Nunn wins it, with Troy Alves in second and White moving down to third. Of course, there are folks out there, raging with jealously, who were condescending. No big thing, they say. An easy selection. Say what? Going from fourth to first is an easy prediction? Then how come THEY didn’t make that easy choice? Especially those hosting internet radio shows, who just MIGHT make their sessions a lot less boring with some fun stuff like bold predictions instead of just giving a run down of the field.
Shoot, even Bob Cicherillo, the leading candidate for my “Bonehead Pick of the Year” after tabbing Darrem Charles to win Tampa on Pro Bodybuilding Weekly (Charles landed in 10th, if you’ve been asleep the past 9 days), at least had the courage to go out on a limb and give his opinion. And didn’t go with the favorite, either. So, for those not yet willing to bow to the Swami—again—you can stuff it.
Now, back to more pleasant thoughts: congrats to Jerome “Hollywood” Ferguson for finally getting that long sought after pro card with his Super-Heavyweight and Overall victories at the Masters Nationals this weekend in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Kudos to Dave Watson, too, for earing pro status by taking the second pro card.
Oh, the Swami had suggested to Jerome in the past he might want to make the trek to the ‘Burgh, where becoming a pro would be a lot easier than to continue the yearly battles at the USA and the Nationals. Now that one, for the jealous soles, was an easy one to pick.
Thumbs up also to James “Broadway” Bivens, my former student who placed right behind Ferguson in the SHW class, and to Tad Inoue, the local competitor/diet coach/West Coast Classic Official Spray Tan vendor, on his third place finish in the Heavyweight division. And, on the subject of someone named Inoue, wife Bern flew home to Temecula, California with a trophy of her own after finishing second in the Masters 35+ Bikini division.
Now we move on to the USA this weekend; my contest preview video has been up on this site for over a week now, although I didn’t have any idea who was in, who wasn’t, at the time of the taping on July 4. And, my current News and Views column (August issue) takes a long, hard look into the show. Additionally, Dave “Jumbo” Palumbo and I dug deep into the potential line-ups on his radio show, Heavy Muscle Radio, which airs tonight (check out RxMuscle.com). Make sure to listen to our bold predictions. And, right or wrong, at least we had the guts to make ‘em!
Over, under and out!