Bodybuilders - Part 9

Roy Hilligenn

Roy Hilligenn won the Mr. America contest in 1951.  Above, being handed the trophy, he is shorter than all the other contestants.  At 5 feet 6 inches tall, he was the shortest Mr. America ever.

Above, Hilligenn did a clean and jerk of 405 pounds, setting a world record, but it wasn't at an official event so it didn't count.  By the way, for those not familiar with weightlifting terminology, clean and jerk does not refer to jerking you-know-what and then cleaning up.

Hilligenn posed naked for California physique photographer Russ Warner, resulting in the rest of the images in this post.  

Hilligenn's life story is remarkable.  He was born in California in 1922, but soon after his birth, his family moved to South Africa. 

When he was 4 years old, his father died.  His mother could not take care of her five children, and she placed them in a South African orphanage.  Roy frequently ran away from the orphanage and often scrounged for food from garbage cans.

At age 15 he was sent to trade school to become an apprentice electrician.  At age 18 he fell from a four story building and broke his ribs, wrist and fingers and sustained internal injuries.

After a two-year convalescence, he began working out with homemade weights.  He had been the proverbial 98 pound weakling, literally weighing less than 100 pounds.  His body weight climbed as he added muscle.  He became a weightlifting champion in South Africa, and he won the Mr. South Africa title in 1943, 1944 and 1946.  During the war years, he worked underground in a gold mine.

In 1949, Roy moved to the United States.  Since he was born in the U.S., he was a U.S. citizen.  He started winning bodybuilding contests in California.

In 1951 he won the Mr. America title, as we have seen.

Later in life, Hilligenn's story was not so positive.  He served time in prison from 1987 to 1989 for two counts of sexual battery and three counts of assault.  Soon after release he was back in prison in Florida to serve a 17 year sentence for grand theft and attempted sexual battery.  He was released in 2008.  Later that year he died at age 85.

While there's no excuse for his later conduct, I like to think of him as he was in these photos, when he was in his twenties.  How about a roll in the hay?

I got these last two photos of Roy Hilligenn from Vintage Muscle Men.  Thanks, Jerry!