WESTERN PHOTOGRAPHY GUILD
Box 2801
Denver l, Colorado

SERIES 36: DICK KIEFER

Newspaper reporters and photographers covering the annual Mr. Colorado contest last September got the facts straight, but they missed the human interest story behind them. The facts told of Dick Kiefer becoming the new "Mr. Colorado" in a clean-cut victory over 17 other young stalwarts, taking not only the handsome first-place trophy labeling him the state's best-built man, but also two out of five subdivision trophies -- best chest and best abdominals.

Dick Kiefer by Don Whitman / Western Photography Guild

What the newspaper stories didn't tell because the reporters had not dug beneath the surface was that the good-looking, beautifully built young man who had received the vociferous acclaim of a packed auditorium for his physical excellence had only a few years before come to Colorado as a teen-ager desperately searching for good health, with an asthmatic condition so serious that it impelled his family to pull up roots from Minnesota and move a thousand miles west to the salubrious climate of mile-high Denver.

Many thousands of health-seekers have emigrated to Denver and found a new life of health and strength in the process, but nothing points up the miraculous change possible so dramatically as Dick's climb from precarious health to the pinnacle of physical achievement. Not that bright sunshine and clear air did the job alone. When Dick's family headed west to give him every chance for recovery, he determined that he would justify their endeavors, and unwavering determination was an indispensable element in his victory.

Dick was born Richard Marshall Kiefer 21 years ago in Minneapolis, the youngest of three boys. Although a sturdy youngster like his middle brother, Yale, and his older brother, Manley, Dick began to show increasingly severe signs of an asthmatic condition early in school. A natural athlete and apt student, Dick nevertheless had to contend with periodic seizures that left him racked and gasping.

A happy, bright youngster except for his attacks of asthma, Dick made friends easily at school, and had the advantage of an exceptionally warm and close family relationship. His mother and father were never too busy to work and play with their three athletically inclined sons. Dick's older brothers were great pals to him, and he in turn thought they were the greatest ever. Dick's father, a textile salesman, was sometimes away from home, but there was plenty of time for picnics and games.

In school Dick's academic progress was good, but his asthma grew no better, and in his last year of junior high school, his doctor advised a move to Denver. Pulling up stakes was a big project for the family, and to Dick's father it meant continuing to work out of Minneapolis and longer periods away from his family; but they willingly did it to give Dick his chance.

In Denver the "magic ingredient”, Colorado climate, made an immediate difference in Dick's condition. It steadily improved, and he found himself able to do many things he couldn't before. For example, at East high school Dick began studying modern dancing, and this aided his muscular coordination and development. Dick was interested in gymnastics, and modern dance helped him excel in the free exercise event. Tumbling, trampoline, high and parallel bars, the horse and flying rings all paid big dividends in a ripening physique, and Dick undertook to keep up with his brothers in working out in the basement of their home with weights. Impressed by his vigorous tumbling routine one summer Sunday afternoon at Washington Park, we asked him if he would be interested in posing for our cameras. Dick was delighted with the prospect, and his excellent development, obvious enthusiasm, and a large natural chunk of photogeneity resulted in excellent physique studies from the very beginning.

Soon after, sadness touched the family group when Dick's brother Yale, who had enlisted in the Marines, was killed in Korea, leaving only two-thirds of the exceptionally close brother combination remaining.

But with all sorts of new activities open to him as a result of his new-found health, Dick found his teenage hours filled with a variety of undertakings. Though not so footloose as his brother Manley (who is a former "Mr. Minnesota," and may be lolling on Muscle Beach one month and on his way to Spain on a tramp steamer the next), Dick is seldom without a full schedule, through which he eases like a bigger and better-built Perry Como, easy-going, soft-spoken, never rushing about, but accomplishing a great deal. For example, he starts sun-bathing in February (ordinarily one of the coldest months of the year in Denver) on the roof of the family garage, and usually has a deep copper tan before most other body builders have ever begun to shed winter paleness. He is an eager tennis player in the summer and an avid skier in the winter. His tennis prowess has led to work as an instructor in City Park, and he is a good enough swimmer to serve as a lifeguard. He also serves as a play and gym instructor at the Jewish Community Center, where he is an excellent instructor on the trampoline, and has started many youngsters in this rapidly growing sport.

Following high school, Dick enrolled at the University of Denver, where he is majoring in education and compiling one of the school's top records in varsity gymnastics, so good that he has been asked to serve as gymnastics coach following his competitive days. He is popular on the campus, and seldom has to call twice for a date,

His bodybuilding with weights is sporadic but intense, and his specific training for the Mr. Colorado contest he won required only a fraction of the time of some of the other entrants. It was all done in his basement, which Dick prefers to a gym because it allows him to concentrate better and work out whenever the spirit moves him, and that may be at ll o'clock at night. Although he is an earnest advocate of weight training and believes it can accomplish wonders for anyone if done properly, he took winning the coveted Mr. Colorado trophy right in stride, with no signs of a burgeoning ego. He believes the physical results of bodybuilding are reward enough, and while physique contests can be pleasant and a joy to win, they seldom justify the big role a few bodybuilders give them in their lives.

Stripped down or in clothes, Dick's physical presence is exceptionally impressive. He stands a good six feet, weighs in at 200 pounds, and has an almost unbelievably broad set of shoulders. His good-looking face harbors hazel eyes, and is topped by a curly, close-cropped head of brown hair. His body type is an interesting blend of the classic, with a midsection worthy of Greek sculpture, and the modern with beautifully chiseled pectorals and wide shoulders tapering to a narrow waist in a magnificent "V". His measurements include: neck 16, chest normal 46 ½, expanded 49, waist 30, hips 37, thigh 24, calf 16 ½, bicep 16, and forearm 14 ½. Dick possesses a body to inspire a modern Michelangelo, the result of a shining personal victory against heavy odds!

Model Profile: Dick Kiefer

SERIES 36: DICK KIEFER