Champion bodybuilder and first Black Mr. America
Chris Dickerson, who rose from a childhood in the Jim Crow-era South to become one of the world’s greatest bodybuilders, breaking barriers as the first Black Mr. America and the first openly gay Mr. Olympia, died Dec. 23 at a hospital in Fort Lauderdale. He was 82.
The cause was a heart ailment, said his friend Bill Neylon, a gym owner and retired amateur bodybuilder who had trained with Dickerson. He added that Dickerson had lived at a Fort Lauderdale rehab center in recent years, after being hospitalized for a broken hip in 2020 and having a heart attack and COVID-19.
In a career that spanned more than three decades and 50 titles, Dickerson was known for his diamond-shaped calves, dense and symmetrical physique, and graceful posing style, in which he seemed to transform into living works of classical sculpture. His friend and rival Samir Bannout, the 1983 Mr. Olympia champion, recalled pinning pictures of Dickerson on his wall as a teenager, and being blown away years later when he saw him pose in person. The difference, he said, was like that of seeing a Ferrari or Lamborghini on the racetrack rather than in a photo.
“He was masterful,” Bannout said in a phone interview. “He had more confidence than anyone out there.”
Dickerson was overshadowed at times — literally, as he stood only 5-foot-6 — by rivals such as Lou Ferrigno, who appeared on “The Incredible Hulk” TV show, and Arnold Schwarzenegger, who appeared in the documentary “Pumping Iron” decades before he was elected governor of California. “I’m somewhat used to being overlooked,” Dickerson joked in a 2007 interview with Flex magazine. “At least it’s happened enough in my career that I’m not shocked by it anymore.”
But in his own way, he helped broaden the sport of bodybuilding, showing that Black and gay men belonged on the pedestal no less than straight White ones. His sexuality was widely known in the bodybuilding world by the late 1970s, although he rarely spoke about it in interviews, preferring instead to focus on dispelling stereotypes about the sport. “Some people like flashy cars, some like flashy hairdos; we like healthy bodies,” he once said. “Everybody’s got their own thing, and ours is no funnier than anybody else’s.”
Dickerson trained in opera and dance, and dreamed of performing at the Met long after he started competing at bodybuilding events. He began lifting weights in an effort to build up his chest and expand his vocal range, and in 1970 won the Amateur Athletic Union’s Mr. America title, becoming one of the competition’s shortest champions, in addition to its first Black winner.
Unlike earlier Mr. America winners such as Steve Reeves, who went on to star in Hercules movies, Dickerson said he fielded few offers for movies or endorsements. “I’m ready if anybody calls,” he said. He did write a monthly column for Strength & Health magazine, while also appearing on “What’s My Line” and “The Tonight Show” and speaking to student groups about the importance of maintaining a healthy body.
“I would like for people to feel that if man is made in the image of God, then the human body is a thing of power and beauty,” he told the Associated Press.
By 1979, he was also participating in international competitions such as Mr. Olympia, the sport’s most prestigious event. He finished fourth but seemed poised for victory at the next year’s competition in Sydney, where he faced Schwarzenegger, who had come out of retirement and was training for his starring role in “Conan the Barbarian.”
Miami, Florida - Anna Augusta McCleskey Wyche, 84, Retired College Assistance Program (CAP) Advisor for MDCPS-Miami Northwestern SHS, transitioned peacefully at home.
She is survived by her husband of 66 years - Minister Emeritus, Dr. Freeman T. Wyche, Sr. of the Liberty City Church of Christ, Children: Freeman T. Wyche II (Alicia), Zoe T. Wyche Madison (Davie), and Kermit T. Wyche (Bridgette).
The competition ended in controversy, with Dickerson coming in second and Schwarzenegger in first, despite many spectators believing that the “Austrian Oak” was nowhere near top form. Some audience members booed the results, although Dickerson said nothing at the time. “Believe it or not, I was elated to have finished second in 1980,” he told
Flex magazine. “I said, ‘Wow! Second place!’ After all, Arnold is Arnold. He wasn’t at his best, but with Arnold Schwarzenegger, what can you do?”
The third of three triplets, Henri Christophe Dickerson was born in Montgomery, Ala., on Aug. 25, 1939. His father, Henry, was a bellhop who later became head of transportation for Cleveland Trust, one of Ohio’s largest banks; his mother, Mahala Ashley Dickerson, was a longtime friend of civil rights activist Rosa Parks.
Dickerson started training with Bill Pearl, a Mr. Universe champion, in 1963, moving to Los Angeles and supporting himself as a hospital orderly. Two years later, he entered his first competition, placing third at the Mr. Long Beach event. He won the amateur Mr. Universe title in 1973 and the professional Mr. Universe competition in 1974, and lived for a time in a loft above Gold’s Gym in Venice, where he worked as a personal trainer.
Dickerson was inducted into the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Muscle Beach Venice Hall of Fame in 2014. He leaves no immediate survivors.