Glenn Sundby

Glenn Marlin Sundby (November 4, 1921 – March 18, 2009) was the founder of Modern Gymnast magazine (the forerunner to International Gymnast magazine) and the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. First intrigued by the gymnasts and bodybuilders performing and practicing on the beach in Santa Monica, he went on to perform nationally and on nationwide television shows such The Ed Sullivan Show. He was a co-founder of the USA Gymnastics (United States Gymnastics Federation).

Sundby was born in Minneapolis on November 4, 1921 and grew up in South Dakota before moving with his family to Los Angeles in 1932 when he was in junior high school. 5 feet 5 inches tall, he attended University High School in Los Angeles, where he described himself as "an asthmatic, weak little kid" who was "the smallest kid in school" until he joined the school's newly formed gymnastics team. There he trained under coach Van Dixon, and specialized in the parallel bars.

He started hanging out at the original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica where he met former wrestler George Wayne Long. The two formed an act in which Sundby would balance on top of Long, who played the strongman role. The duo traveled around the country appearing at clubs, as well as performances at Radio City Music Hall and in Star and Garter, a revue that appeared on Broadway in 1942 with Gypsy Rose Lee as star.

In 1945, Sundby's sister Dolores was added to the act, which was named the Wayne-Marlin Trio after the middle names of the two men. A 1949 stunt in which Sundby walked down the Washington Monument's 898 steps on his hands was included as an item illustrated in the pages of Ripley's Believe It or Not!. The group traveled with Spike Jones before breaking up in 1955, following his sister's marriage. Sundby moved on to the real estate business.

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