Ken Sprague

Ken Sprague, 1970

Kenneth Ken Ray Sprague (born July 14, 1945 in Cincinnati , Ohio , United States ) is an American bodybuilder , teacher , author , model , porn actor and entrepreneur .

Life

Sprague was born in Cincinnati, Ohio. During his school days he was involved in athletics, American football, boxing, weightlifting and bodybuilding. He took part in various competitions of the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) and in 1967 won the title of "Mr Cincinnati Bodybuilder". In 1964 he married Melrose Thrower, with whom he was married until 1969 and had a son. Sprague began studying at the University of Cincinnati , where he was hired by a friend to model at COLT pornography studio in New York City. Sprague posed naked for various publications of a homosexual readership and moved to California, where he turned porn movies under the pseudonym Dakota from the late 1960s. Together with Rick Cassidy , he was known as " Nelson Eddy " and " Jeanette MacDonald " of gay pornography in the early 1970s during the period of porn chic . With the financial proceeds from his work as a model and porn film actor Sprague acquired its own independent film studio and in 1972 was owner of bodybuilding gyms Gold's Gym in the district of Venice in Los Angeles . He married Maryon Riesenfeld in 1971, who died in 1978. In the following years he held various bodybuilding competitions in his gym, including the AAU Mr. America . These events aroused media interest and so Gold's Gym in Venice became a “Mecca of bodybuilding”. Well-known bodybuilders of the time such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Dave Draper used his studio. In 1977 the film Pumping Iron appeared on the bodybuilder scene in Venice. After the death of his second wife, he married Donna Wong in 1978. In 1979, Sprague sold the bodybuilding studio and his family moved to Eugene , Oregon , where he placed more emphasis on his family life. He wrote and published several books on bodybuilding and worked as a math and science teacher. In 1999, he and his third wife moved to Marietta , Georgia , where he taught at Marietta High School until he retired in 2010.

Works (selection)

Books (selection)

• 1978: The Gold's Gym Weight Training Book
• 1981: The Gold's Gym Book of Strength Training
• 1983: The Gold's Gym Book of Bodybuilding
• 1982: The Athlete's Body
• 1981: Weight and Strength Training for Kids and Teenagers
• 1993: Sports Strength
• 1996: More Muscle

Filmography (selection)

• Beater's Digest (Video) (as Dakota )
• 1972: All About Alice , Mike (as Dakota )
• 1970: Drilled Deep (Short) (as Dakota )
• 1977: Pumping Iron (documentary)

Literature (selection)

• Randy Roach: Muscle, Smoke and Mirrors , Volume 2. AuthorHouse; 2011. ISBN 978-1-4670-3840-9 .
• John D. Fair: Mr. America: The Tragic History of a Bodybuilding Icon . University of Texas Press; 2015. ISBN 978-0-292-76750-8 .

Web links

• Internet Movie Database: Ken Sprague
• MensJournal: The Dawn of Bodybuilding
• The Atlanta Journal: Marching on August 17, 2013

Individual evidence

1. ↑ MensJournal: The Dawn of Bodybuilding ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
2. ↑ MensJournal: The Dawn of Bodybuilding ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
3. ^ Internet Movie Database: Ken Sprague
4. ↑ MensJournal: The Dawn of Bodybuilding ( Memento of the original from March 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ^ Internet Movie Database: Ken Sprague