This morning I went back to the gym for the first time since I got covid. The covid wasn’t really bad, just moderate head cold symptoms accompanied by serious fatigue. Still, I’m worn out from it and so I’m particularly glad I didn’t have to work out with any of this equipment photographed somewhere deep inside the old gym.
First, this contraption was installed sometime in the mid-1960s. The models looks rather sheepish, don’t they, with one in stocking feet and another in dress pants and shoes. I don’t know who any of them are:
But as goofy as that one is, this next one is . . . well, I don’t really know where to begin. Speaking of dress pants and shoes (we won’t mention the tie) I’m pretty sure that’s Frank Bearden, then head of the physical education department, and his outfit ever so subtly suggests it was taken during the mid-1970s. I believe he’s demonstrating some type of squat machine:
There are easier ways to do this.
Bonus: A barbell and some plates should do the job.
Man, every coach I grew up with looked exactly like Coach Bearden. They usually carried a paddle and a whistle though.
Yes, it’s definitely Frank Bearden.
That first machine doesn’t look especially different from the one that I used in the late 80s. I assume that it wasn’t but it was in the old gym. Who knows how long things hung around there?
Glad to hear you’re feeling better!
Can anyone identify the students using the equipment?
Jerry — I didn’t know him personally, but when I saw this photo, I wondered if the fellow in the center-front (wearing white socks) might be L.V. Benningfield.
I concur about the era of Frank Bearden’s outfit. The glasses fit in too. I could be nostalgic for the height of plaid polyester pants and loud wide ties. But I am not!