Danny Padilla

Dennis "Danny" Padilla (born April 3, 1951) is an American bodybuilder nicknamed "The Giant Killer" because of his short 5'2 stature and amazing ability to defeat much taller competitors.

Padilla started training when he was seven years old in Rochester, New York. He had been watching his older brother and cousin lift weights together in order to become stronger for their wrestling competitions. He acquired a rusty York barbell, as a hand-me-down from his brother Ray, and quickly set about to become Mr. America. It wasn’t long before he was absolutely smitten with the iron game and training a full seven days a week.

By the time Padilla was eighteen, he was ready to compete. He won the Mr. Rochester contest in 1970 while still in high school. It was his first show, and he took home the first place trophy. The only question in Padilla's mind after that was,”When is the next show?”

He entered a lot of other smaller competitions in the upstate New York area - Mr. Buffalo and Mr. Syracuse. After establishing himself in the local arena, he progressed to participating in both the Junior Mr. America and the Mr. America contests. He finished in the top twenty of both competitions.

Padilla then entered the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) World Championships in the lightweight division. He recalled, "I lost to a guy who didn’t even shave his legs!" This defeat was a turning point. After the show, the judges were “kind” enough to inform him that, in their studied opinion, he had a great physique but, at 5' 2" tall, was much too short to compete.

After that AAU show, Padilla decided to compete in the International Federation of Bodybuilders (IFBB) instead. His first contest was the 1975 IFBB Mr. USA. It was held at the old Madison Square Garden in New York City. It was the first time that the 23-year-old had ever seen bodybuilders from the West Coast. They included Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu, Robby Robinson and many others. To his great surprise, he not only won his lightweight division, but also took the overall title.

...
Wikipedia