| Joe Meeko |
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Joe Meeko Born: Oct 25, 1961 Contest weigh in weight at my best Mr. Universe: 235 lbs. 5' 7-3/4" tall Contests won: Teenage Mr. Lehigh Valley plus won all body parts and best poser. Teenage Mr. Atlantic Coast 1 st place medium height class winner and overall winner. Mr Atlantic coast - novice division 1st place medium height class and overall winner. Mr. Eastern USA 1st place medium class winner plus overall winner. Mr Atlantic coast - medium height class 1st place and overall winner. Mr. North America - medium height 1st place and overall winner and also all body parts and best poser. Mr. America - 1st place medium height class winner plus overall winner. Mr. USA 1st place medium height class winner and overall winner. Mr. Pan-American 1st place Heavyweight class winner plus overall winner. Mr. Universe 1st place Heavyweight class winner plus overall winner. Mr. World 2nd place |
| 1) What's your favorite Scripture? That would be Matthew 12:30 - "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad." You can't be in the middle of the road where God is concerned. Also I think 2 Corinthians 5:10 - "For we must all appear before the judgement of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad." The reason I like those is because all the bad in the world and the people and all, what it comes down to is that we all eventually pass on and you have no choice, you either accept Christ or you don't and those that don't will have to stand before Him one day and sometimes you have to shock people like that right to their face to get them to believe. I mean I don't push Scripture on anybody but you know, sometimes a verse like that can really make somebody think. As you get older you realize that you aren't going to live forever, you have to go somewhere and your soul never dies. 2)Who were your childhood heroes? My childhood heroes were...oh boy. I don't think I really had any. I just had a normal childhood. Oh, Superman. I used to watch the old original black and white Superman with George Reeves. I would rush home from grade school and turn the TV on at 3-3:30and watch Superman. 3)If you could meet anyone from the Bible, who would it be and why? You can't say Jesus, we all want to and we prayerfully will one day! I would problably have to say, well everybody would be awesome to meet, but I would have to say Moses because he kinda had the personality I had. I was quiet and introverted, didn't speak well in public. That was before bodybuilding, now I can't keep quiet once you get me going. I didn't realize at the time that God was preparing the path that He chosen for me. 4)What is a typical day in your life like? Well, right now I get up and the first thing I do is grab my Bible, I just feel I have to read at least a chapter in the Bible each day. If I don't do that I feel horrible all day long. Then I get on the computer and answer emails, get on Iron Age and answer questions that they may have for me and that's about it because God has been very good to me where business is concerned after bodybuilding. I retired when I was 40 years old and tried to sit around but I just couldn't do that. I moved to the mountains and built my own house. I tried all my hobbies like flying, fishing, target shooting. After I did that for like two years, I got bored. You don't realize that when you get the time to do all the things you wanted to do over and over, there becomes no meaning to them. So, I got onto the computer and started the old Power Grip business up again, got involved with helping people with training, diet and exercise. Not just bodybuilding, but everybody on line. I would send out tracts with each pair of Power Grips titled "This is Your Life" and I personally autograph each one and this is one of the ways I try to spread God's word. I got the idea from a company that used to supply me with shipping bottles for a complany I had. With each shipment they would send a tract. That's how I got saved so I figured if it worked for me it's gotta work for somebody else! It doesn't matter if I send out 10,000 tracts, if I hit one person then that's one soul saved. 5)What Biblical figure do you most identify with & why? Hmm. That's a tough question. I don't think I identify with anybody... because...I'm...me. That's about the best answer I can give. MCBB: Well, I can understand about some of these questions being difficult. I had to sit in my own interview seat a while back when we couldn't get an interview for the month. It was difficult finding Christian bodybuilders. But not now, now it seems they are standing up and being counted. JM: Yeah, it's funny that you say that. I was watching TBN the other day and I saw Dennis Tinerino with his wife on there and I thought, "wow! I didn't know that he was a Christian!" And that was a long time ago, about 10 years ago. When I was finished with bodybuilding, I really didn't follow it anymore. I didn't know where any of the guys were or what they were doing. I devoted my energy to my business. I feel that if you want to succeed, you have to have that focus. I happened to scroll through the channels on T.V. looking for something on the Christian stations because I can't watch regular T.V. anymore. Hearing people cursing and whatnot rips me up inside. You don't realize that you were like that at one time too. Then when you go out in public and you hear them cursing Christ's name, it makes you cringe. It makes you realize that what happened to you (getting saved) was the real thing. So I was scrolling through the channels and came upon a Mr. Olympia and thought, "Whoa! What are these guys doing to themselves?" I just recently talked to my former manager after about 20 years and he told me, "Joe, there is so much growth hormone, insulin and ugh!" MCBB: Yeah, I know what you mean. The guys of today have lost the classic lines of what made the physique what it was. The small waist, the big back and shoudlers; that V-taper. JM: Yeah, that's it. They all look the same now. A guy just emailed me and said that if you put a sack on everybodies head, you couldn't tell the difference. They all look the same, it's over-done. All the growth hormone and insulin and stuff has destroyed the sport. One guy found out by accident. He was diabetic and one of the overly-thick guys back then and everybody was thinking he was just a freak but he wasn't. It was the insulin that did it to him. Now these guys take that stuff and they don't realize that when stop, they will have to take that drug for the rest of their life because their pancreas is burned out. Growth hormone enlarges all their organs, did you ever see their stomachs? What is this with there guts? They have abs, but their stomachs stick out! I never heard the term "GH belly" before and asked what that was and somebody explained to me. It's all your internal organs overgrown because not only does the GH cause your muscles to grow, so do all your organs and that can't be good for you. I used to tell people that steroids and stuff only cause amplifications of the stuff that you have naturally. It doesn't make you produce any more muscle cells. But now, I was proven wrong. I didn't know that these guys are taking stuff that they give cancer patients called interstitial growth hormones that causes the cells to divide. That's why these guys are so huge. That's what guys are taking now and that's why there is such a difference between my generation and this one. BUT, not only does it double the muscle cells, but the cancer cells as well. It's a shame because I don't think it will ever change. People want to see the biggest, the ugliest. But it isn't only bodybuilding. It's in all sports and that's horrible. The public wants to see the biggest, the fastest etc. It's like I said on-line that if you took all drugs out of sports, the guys who are number one now would still be number one but they just wouldn't be jumping as high, or running as fast or as big or strong. They would still be in that number one spot because of their God-given potential and that's the truth. And here's a thought. If noone would have ever known what a steroid-enhanced athlete looked like then the guy with the God-given potential would have looked freaky anyway! MCBB: I know what you mean. We've had discussions with others on different threads about this and that all these drugs lead to death to no avail. We've even cited medical studies and they still say "it wasn't all that stuff!" JM: It seems like once their hearts are hardened, once they are set in their ways, no matter what evidence you show them, they aren't going to belive any of it. And it's a shame because these drugs have ruined bodybuilding and well, all sports and I don't ever see it going back. In the 70s and 80s we trained hard and we dieted hard. Now I have heard that the guys don't even diet! They eat anything they want, they rely on thyroid stuff, growth hormone, skin thinners everything to cut themselves up. They don't diet at all. I mean, we struggled. We really dieted hard and strict for our shows. Like I said, it's a shame. These guys figure if I take ten times more drugs than the next guy I should win and when they don't, they scratch their heads wondering why; it's genetics. I mean if I took all these drugs woud that make me a 7 foot tall basketball player? No, that is not in my genetics. There are certain sites I won't visit because all the kids want to know is "What sort of cycle should I do?" It's ridiculous! There are even guys in ther 50s doing this stuff! I mean, why? 6)What trait do you like most about yourself? The personality that God gave me through bodybuilding. To talk and interact with people and when I was Mr. America I tried to be open to people and talk with them. Bodybuilders have a reputation for keeping their secrets to themselves, you know, their training methods and everything, being conceited and all. And there are no secrets to training. You have to have the genetics, the will power and desire to get in the gym and train. I tried to change that. When I went around people would appreciate it when I took time to help them out with their routines and all. 7)What trait do you least like about yourself? I don't really dislike anything about myslef right now. I'm very happy, especially with God in my life. 8)How have you been able to represent God in your sport? Right now, just through meeting people on-line through these talk groups. Sending out the tracts too. I've never had anybody say anything bad about the tracts. The worst thing anyone has said was "I'm already saved so I'll give this to someone who needs it." God is just brining us all together! 9)If you could change one thing in your sport, what would it be? MCBB: (laughing) I think we covered this one pretty well in question number five. 10)If you were to die today and go to heaven, what would you like to hear God say? Well done Joe! |
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| Thank you Joe for sharing with us! This was a truly enjoyable interview, without a doubt! We pray for your success in all that you do, bringing glory to God! | |
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