Dan Lurie and Steve Michalik brought instant credibility to the show when it first took place in August of 2008. “The idea for this started when I was living out in Los Angeles and training with Arnold Schwarzenegger,” recalled Michalik. “I said to Dan, ‘this would be a great idea to do over here.’ And he said, ‘let’s do it.’”
 
The scene in southern California then, was what is now considered the ‘golden age of bodybuilding.’ Muscle Beach, which was first christened decades before in Santa Monica, was thriving in Venice and the public displays and outdoor shows were commonplace. Bringing some of that magic to Long Island was what Michailk and Lurie had in mind and even went as far as calling it ‘Muscle Beach East.’
 
“I think it was great,” said Leon Brown, one of the judges and another former training partner of Schwarzenegger. “It reminded me of the old Muscle Beach days with the contests right on the beach.” What made this even better was that all the money raised went to two charities – the United Cerebral Palsy Foundation and Long Island Two-Day Walk for Breast Cancer.
 
The crowd gathered to observe a collection of men and women, old and young, put their bodies on display. The diversity ranged from a teen division to 91-yer-old Harry Reiter, who still goes to the gym four days a week to add to the 75 years that he has been exercising. A Long Beach resident, Reiter became somewhat of a celebrity during last year’s show.
 
“I just happened to be here with my grandson,” he recalled. “He talked me into it (signing up as a walk-on). I knew that I would come back this year.” Reiter received quite an ovation when he was given the Longevity Award and it would be no surprise if he were up there again next summer. 
 
Rusty Russo may be 29 years Reiter’s junior but his being on stage was as much of an accomplishment, if not more. A three-time cancer survivor, he has fought a battle over the last 16 years that, at times, seemed like a lost cause. “This was a tough ordeal but each and every time I kept going back to the gym, kept exercising as much as possible and I wasn’t going to take it lying down.”
 
Having that kind of mentality made Russo want to get on the bodybuilding stage and he did so in Manhattan in 2007. “I actually started training for [that] show the day I began chemotherapy,” he said. Twenty-three months removed from his surgery, Russo experienced his first competition at the NPC Eastern USA.
 
Heading into Jones Beach, Russo knew that this was his last time up there, win or lose. “I’ve worked very hard for this show,” he said that morning. “I’ve trained a year for it and dieted down for four months. I’m going on stage to do my very best.”
 
Russo, who has been clean from any trace of cancer for nearly five years, did not win either the Masters 50-plus or 60-plus divisions that he competed in, but did take home the Survivor Award.
 
Another unlikely entrant was Jim Caruso, a 50-year-old retired member of the New York City Police Department. Less than two years ago, the resident of Youngsville, New York weighed 328 pounds and bodybuilding was the furthest thing from his mind. “I worked out before that and even competed before but not in 22 years,” he said. “I was always in shape until I just lost it a few years ago.”
 
Caruso reignited his passion after corresponding with a number of former bodybuilders in an online forum. “It was unbelievable what I had been missing, that connection,” he said. “And I knew if I was going to do this right I had to find the master, and that was Steve (Michalik).”
 
The 1972 Mr. America welcomed Caruso with open arms. “He was tired of being fat and overweight and feeling sorry for himself,” Michalik said. “That’s the hurdle that he had to get over – being a victim.”
 
For the last 14 weeks leading up to the contest, Caruso drove 140 miles each way to train with Michalik on Long Island. “You have to be willing to do what it takes,” the former officer commented. “If you’re not then you won’t. It’s as simple as that.”
 
Not only did Caruso get himself in ‘game shape,’ but he also captured the Masters 50-plus and men’s overall titles. “This is the ending of a huge journey for me and the beginning of another,” he said.
 
Before leaving with his trophies in tow, Caruso made it clear that he would not defend his title at Jones Beach in 2010. “If I come back next year it will be as a judge or guest poser,” similar to what 2008 men’s overall winner Steve Pecora did, performing both at this year’s event. “I want to go above and beyond this and I don’t want to steal someone else’s thunder.” Glenda Bozett, who repeated as the overall women’s champion, did not state if she would compete again or not.
 
The wheels are already in motion for 2010 and with Michalik and Lurie - the 86-year-old former three-time AAU Most Muscular Man in America – at the reins, the sky’s the limit.
 
There were many stories within the story that was the 2009 Mr. And Mrs. Jones Beach contest. And the saying ‘age before beauty’ was met on both ends.