Johnny Gibson

Johnny Gibson was Mr. Tuscon. He was Mr. Arizona. He fought The Battle of the Bulge and the Invasion of Normany. He fought cancer and won. He served as consultant For "Saving Private Ryan" and "Band of Brothers." He is 82 and still competing. He is The Father of the Arizona Irongame.
Johnny Gibson's career in the sport began in July 1939 when, like many young men inspired by Bernard McFadden magazines, Johnny saved earnings from his newspaper route money bought him a US$3.00 summer membership at the Tucson YMCA.

Johnny Gibson had a weightlifting platform in his backyard where he worked out and put on mini-shows to the children in the neighborhood.

Like many other men of the Depression era, a family problems followed by World War II sidetracked his full immersion into the world of what was then known as Physical Culture.

During the War it was impossible to purchase weights because the foundries had been commissioned by the government. Johnny got lucky when he was befriended by British lifter William Pullum who presented the Yankee GI with a whopping 240-pound weight set. During the Normandy invasion, however, his "gym" was stolen by personnel of the Army's Air Force.

Gibson was wounded in combat and sent to Los Angeles for rehab. Sneaking into the physical therapy part of the military hospital, he resumed training. Shortly after that he entered his first novice contest.

Johnny returned to Tucson in January 1946 and in 1947 began promoting contests. By February of 1947, Gibson had also set the first Arizona AAU (American Athletic Union) official records for his weight class in open competition. He reigned as Arizona champion for 8 of the 16 years he competed, as well as winning the 1958 California State Championship for his weight class. In the 1952 Junior National Championships he finished second in the nation.

During the Irongame's Golden Age, there was no major dividing line between weightlifting and bodybuilding. Gibson exemplifies the ideal of all around physical culture as Mr. Tucson of 1951 and Mr. Arizona of 1950.

In the 1950's, so-called "prison meets," featuring both Olympic and powerlifting competitions held within state prisons between inmates and teams from "outside" became popular. Gibson played an active role in organizing events at the Arizona State Prison facility in Florence.

Johnny with
George Eiferman,
Mr. America 1948,
Mr. Universe 1962

The original Muscle Beach of the 1940s and 50s was world famous as much for its hand balancers and gymnasts as its bodybuilders. Early in his career, Gibson met Jim Drinkward with whom he developed hand balancing acts rivaling the best of Muscle Beach.

Through the 1950s Johnny organized monthly family-oriented fitness picnics at Tucson's Himmel Park that included weightlifting, hand balancing and gymnastics, touch football, and other events along with a picnic for a family event.

The four Gibson children became accomplished hand balancers as well.

As a dedicated family man, Gibson's vision of fitness included the whole family, starting with his own.

In the 1950s, Gibson opened Johnny Gibson Fitness Equipment in Tucson. At that time there were a only handful of gym equipment manufacturers in the USA. He managed to locate a foundry that would cast his own line of weights for him. On a national scale, he began buying and reselling used equipment, becoming one of the first national resale brokers. Throughout that time he also ran a barber shop, a trade he'd learned early in life, brokering the buying and selling of equipment, literally often between haircuts. Only in recent months has the Johnny Gibson Equipment company closed its doors thus ending an era.

Johnny's first competitive athletic career ended in 1962 due to neck and shoulder injuries all too common in the sport. His second competitive career began at the 1987 Senior Olympics, and he's kept on competing to this very day, winning a battle with cancer some years ago as well.

On a national level, Johnny Gibson is counted among the pioneering Irongame old timers who meet from time to time around the country. Fitness, health, and athletic excellence have been at the core of his life. He's never been a professional, and his life story emphasizes the natural virtue inherent in the amateur love of sport. Rather than being a poster boy benefiting commercial interests, Gibson's life itself revalorizes the Irongame. If readers can learn anything from Johnny Gibson, it's that a true fitness lifestyle will see you through.

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This material has been collected by Ken O'Neill whose goal is to promote the stories and philosophies of the early fitness pioneers to enhance the image of health and fitiness among today's youth. Published thanks to the cooperation and permission of Mr. Gibson. Copyright Ken O'Neill, 2004. Ken resides in Wimberley, Texas, and is available for personal consultation and workshops. kayoneill@earthlink.net.