RICHARD BALDWIN
Written by
Irene L. Hause
Muscle Digest, September/October 1978Richard Baldwin, the winner of the hotly contested 1978 Greater Mr. Florida competition, speaks with conviction, not braggadocio. A highly intelligent man with diverse interests, Baldwin holds two masters degrees, one in theology, the other in Greek and Latin. In his early 30’s, the former college teacher is the most popular bodybuilder in Florida. He now owns a gym and plans to “stick with competitive bodybuilding for a couple of years and see what I can do. After that, I’ll probably go back and do some more studies in Greek.”
Although he grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, it was a family vacation in Canada that sparked his interest in bodybuilding. “I saw a copy of Strength and Health with some pictures of John Grimek in it. Then and there I decided that I didn’t want to be a pip-squeak all my life. I was already involved in physical fitness, and when I saw what was possible with weight training, I gradually worked it into my fitness program. Soon it was my program!”
As the son of devout Baptist parents, Richard’s interest in religion paralleled his interest in physical fitness. “I started taking Greek when I was a freshman at Baylor University because the New Testament had been written in Greek. Then I took up theology because I wanted to be able to interpret the Bible for myself and not have to listen to someone else.”
The demands of bodybuilding versus those of the difficult and complex subjects of Greek, Latin, and theology made Richard feel that he had to make a choice. “I tried to stop training once when I was in grad school because I thought it was taking up too much time. But every time I train, I feel better and my grades are straight A’s.”
Again it was a magazine, this time Muscular Development, that led to his first contest. “I saw a picture of this guy who had won a contest in 1969. I thought, ‘Heck, if he can win one, then I can win one!’ So I entered the Mr. South Texas and won it and have been competing ever since.” Another important contest was the 1977 AAU Mr. USA held in Atlanta, Georgia. Of the 29 contestants, Richard placed third Overall and won both the Best Poser and Best Arms awards.
He enjoys defeating “certain unnamed individuals,” but much of the pleasure he derives from the sport is “meeting all the people I wouldn’t have met if I hadn’t gone into it. After the contest I enjoy just talking to people and sharing things with them.”
Cautious in predicting the future of bodybuilding, he says, “I can’t tell how the trend will go. Right now it’s on the upswing. But a lot of things could just totally destroy it. It depends on the way that bodybuilders deal with the press, I think.” Conversely, he thinks it could also be affected by the way the press deals with bodybuilders. “I don’t like commercialism when it interferes with the truth. I like the straightforward, honest approach.”
He foresees the day that Florida will challenge California. “More and more guys are getting good in Florida. Tampa is the biggest center, but the best audiences are in Miami. The bodybuilders there tend to be smooth and big, yet the crowds go wild and really turn out for those contests.”
It isn’t always only the crowd that goes wild. “In one contest I was in, another man was named ‘Most Muscular.’ A judge went berserk and said he wanted to give the award to me. Then he ran on stage, grabbed the trophy girl, and tried to make me take the award she was holding. The audience was in an uproar, and the judge ran out, clutching the trophy and screaming, '‘If you're not going to take it, then nobody’s going to take it!’”
And, if Richard Baldwin has his way, a lot more trophies, rightfully earned, are going to be handed to him in the very near future.
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