Chris
Dickerson’s career spanned 30 years and included
approximately 50 contests. Over the decades, he built a dense
and symmetrical physique augmented by a dramatic style of
posing. Dickerson earned third place at the 1965 Mr.
Long Beach (California), his first contest; he placed fourth
at the 1994 IFBB Masters Olympia, his last contest.
Two
particular achievements stand out in Dickerson’s long
career: in 1970, he became the first black AAU Mr. America,
and by winning the IFBB Mr. Olympia in 1982, at age 43, he
became the most senior winner of the sport’s most
prestigious contest.Aiding
Dickerson throughout his career was 1999 Hall of Famer Bill
Pearl. In addition to the 1982 IFBB Mr. Olympia, Dickerson won
nine other IFBB pro shows in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s,
making him one of the most successful competitors of all time.
Something
of a Renaissance man, Dickerson studied music and is an
accomplished opera singer – no wonder, then, that his posing
routines were always pure theater. Dickerson lives in
Manhatten, where he has a thriving personal-training business.
