Dazed and confused? Not me. I’m just Lost in the Cheese Aisle.

Monday, January 24, 2011

FAREWELL, MIGHTY JACK

LaLanne Barbell
Mighty Jack LaLanne, 1914-2011. Requiescat in pace. (Photo ©2010 CBS News.)

I was saddened to hear of the passing of one of America’s original Fitness Gurus: François Henri “Jack” LaLanne, who died last Sunday at the age of 96.

LaLanne was a lifelong proponent of vigorous physical activity and good nutrition, healthy practices for which he proselytized with a hyperevangelical fervor. The analogy with religion is deliberate and one with which LaLanne himself wholeheartedly concurred. ”Billy Graham was for the hereafter. I’m for the here and now,” he once said.

Just how tough was Jack?

One time in San Francisco, he swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman’s Wharf. That would have been impressive enough - he was 60 years old at the time - but to make it more interesting, he was handcuffed, shackled, and towing a 1,000-pound boat. That was one of his minor feats of strength.

LaLanne Tows 70 at 70
Jack LaLanne celebrates his 70th birthday by towing 70 boats with 70 people from the Queen’s Way Bridge in Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary, a total of 70 kilometers. Nuckin’ futz much?

When he first met Arnold Schwarzenegger - then an up-and-coming young bodybuilder, soon to take the Mr. Universe crown - on Venice Beach, the two of them got into a contest to see which one could do the most pushups. LaLanne did 750 pushups with one hand; with the other hand, he handed Arnie’s ass to him, finishing the contest by slapping him silly. Reportedly, Schwarzenegger was so morose at being humiliated in front of his friends that he refused to eat or shit for a fortnight.

Then there was the time LaLanne pulled an entire freight train a full two miles, using a chain and bit that he held between his massive teeth. Despite warnings to impressionable children not to try similar stunts, dentists reported a rash of teenage athletes with mouths full of teeth ripped out by the roots. Unlike LaLanne, they had not trained for the feat by eating an entire Boeing 707, bolt by bolt, over the course of thirty-eight months. Iron-poor blood? Not Jackie.

Jack LaLanne was the one person on the planet who could kick Chuck Norris’s ass. In fact, he frequently did - at least, until he was in his mid-eighties.

There were many who thought that LaLanne would never die, that he was mighty enough to beat the crap out of the Unexpected Visitor. But they were wrong, alas. A final, fatal bout of pneumonia carried him off, after first allowing ninety-six trips around the sun to soften him up a little.

Even in death, however, LaLanne - like John Barleycorn - proved the strongest man at last, acting as the sole pallbearer at his own funeral. Tough guy, that Jack! They sure as hell don’t make ’em like that anymore.

2 comments:

Joan of Argghh! said...

He always said he couldn't die, as it would be bad for his reputation.

I had lunch with him once, many years ago. At Wendys!

He had a baked potato. Plain, of course.

What a sweet and gentle gentleman. We've lost a treasure.

Houston Steve said...

At least death came gently. Pneumonia is often called the Old Man's Friend because it allows us to slip away with the least of discomfort. After all his amazing physical demonstrations (including, allegedly, hammering home the Golden Spike using only his right middle finger - which he held up for all the fat railroad execs to see), and his enthusiastic promotion of fitness without ever being really weird about it (except for the ballet slippers) - it's nice to know that he and the Reaper could embrace as he exited the stage rather than have to fight it out.