At 1 oclock, a program will begin that will culminate with one of the strongest men of the 20th and 21st centuries being inducted into the Muscle Beach Hall of Fame.
Dont worry about the time, promoter Joe Wheatley said this afternoon. Franco will be with us all day.
Dr. Columbus actual induction is scheduled for 1:40.
If you are tapping your fingers, trying to remember where you know the name from, think Sacramento.
Tracing to Arnold
A beefy chunk of Dr. Columbus early celebrity is attributable to his friendship abroad, then here with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
One month before his 66th birthday, Dr. Columbu, a chiropractor, operates a thriving business on Westwood Boulevard just north of the venerable Juniors Deli.
In the world of celebrated personalities, he remains a giant.
Attaining the Heights
Overcoming what some would regard as a height handicap he is 5-foot-5, two pounds under 200 Dr. Columbu owns 15 bodybuilding titles, three for powerlifting, three world records in powerlifting and three weightlifting records.
He has been a prizefighter, an actor, worked in more fields than titles he has accumulated, and 21 years ago became a best man.
The occasion was the Scharwzenegger-Maria Shriver wedding.
Hardly Ever Repeated
So many stories are in circulation about the unlikely and unbelievable exploits of the bodybuilding pals that few ever are repeated.
Near misses and eyewitnessed miracles that story-spinners swear are true.
As prospective bodybuilders in Germany, where both financially starving young men found themselves in 1965, they made melodious muscular music together.
Over the Decades
Austrian-born Arnold and native Sardinian Franco formed professional and personal bonds that remain cemented today, proving, say friends, what authentic strongmen they really are.
In Europe and later in the United States, they awed crowds, and perhaps even more importantly, they awed promoters. They performed physical feats of skill that elude all but the rarest of ordinary men.
He Is a Yankee
When better than the Fourth of July to honor Dr. Columbu, a patriotic American who brought the American dream to life in ways that tend to cool down the steamy debate over immigration.
