John Carroll Grimek

John Carroll Grimek was born on June 17, 1910 (or June 18, 1911, as given by the Social Security Death Index) in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, son of Slovak immigrants George and Maria Grimek. Besides his bodybuilding exploits, he represented the United States in weightlifting at the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. In 1948, at 38 years of age, Grimek defeated Steve Reeves in a hotly disputed (till this day) decision at the NABBA Mr. Universe contest in London. It seems that with a tie on the scorecards, good-friend and a judge of the contest, Bob Hoffman decided that the winner would be decided by a feat of gymnastics. Since Grimek was a very good gymnast, Reeves took second place gracefully. The following year he won his last contest, the AAU Mr. USA, against a field that included a sun-burned Reeves, Clarence Ross, George Eiferman, and Armand Tanny. He retired from bodybuilding undefeated.

John has been featured in many bodybuilding articles and magazines, as well as being featured on the cover of Muscular Development magazine. Despite his retirement, Grimek continued serious training for many years, and was still able to squat with over 400 pounds for reps in his late 60s. Grimek died on November 20, 1998 in York, Pennsylvania. He was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 1999