1992_03 Insight March 1992

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Gladiatormania hits Fresno
By Susan Goad       	
Staff Wriler	
The crowd of 6,000 went
wild as the music blared and
the stars made their way to center
stage, their muscles bulging beneath their spandex costumes of
red, white and blue stars and
stripes.
The stars of this show are
America's latest fad and newest
heroes of the young children,
teenagers and older folks who
came to see them. They are the
American Gladiators and they
were in Fresno Feb. 25 as part of
their live 100-city cross country
tour.
The Selland Arena was temporarily transformed into a portable
version of the television hit, but
with some colorful additions.
Vendors roamed theaisles with
their wares: programs, glossy
prints of the gladiators, neon
swords (a necessity for would-be
gladiators), cotton candy and soft
drinks.
Two local "gladiator girls'*
dressed in short, tight, strapless
white dresses, courtesy of rock ra-
diostationKRZRand Beethoven's
nightclub, carried the score board
around the arena between events.
Gladiator "groupies" with their
perfectly coiffed hair and short
skirts adorned the audience. They
were teen-aged girls who periodically jumped from their scats in an
attempt to get closer to Nitro, who
seemed to be the crowd's favorite.
During a break in events, the
screaming fans converged upon
theponytailed6-foot-2,225-pound
Nitro when he walked up the aisles
to the tune of Queen's "We will
rock you."
The local contenders, four men
and four women plus two female
and two male alternates, were
chosen from a field of 400based on
physical performance results and
videotaped interviews that took
place two weeks earlier. They were
from Fresno with the exception of
three who had travelled from
Dinuba, Hartford and Bakersfield.
The eight contenders participated in three events — the Assault, the Wall and Powerball, be-
forethe field wascuttofour. CSUF
senior Shannon Pool was eliminated after the first round.
The top two men and women
then moved to the second and final phase of the competition. Following the Joust, Atlasphere, and
Eliminator, the local champions
were awarded their Olympic-like
medals: Jay Elza, a 25-year-old
sales representative and Brook
Knight, a 21-year-old Fresno Pacific College student
Elza turned in the fourth fastest
time on the tour, scaling the wall
in 32 seconds. He entered the final
event, an obstacle course called
the Eliminator, trailing point-
leader Kevin Duffy. Duffy, 30-
year-old owner of Kevin Duffy's
Landscaping, lost the first place
position when he fell off the balance beam.
Knight entered the final round
against Correena Grizof fi, a recent
police academy graduate who celebrated her21 st birthday that day.
Knight, 5-foot-7, 135-pounds,
seized thechampionshipby jousting to a draw with gladiator Jazz,
who appeared to be of similar
height and weight, and finishing
just ahead of Grizof fi in the Eliminator.
TheGladiatorsurged the crowd
on throughout the event, eliciting
cheers for the contenders and
themselves. Between events, as
the roadies set up equipment for
the next event, theGladiators kept
busy setting up "spirit" contests
between members of the aud ience
to the blare of rock music.
During one such break, Nitro
appealed to the children by having them respond with either "oh
yeah" or "no way" to such statements as: "Do we do our homework?" "Do we listen to our parents?" and "What do we say to
drugs?"Immediately after encouraging the kids to do their
homework, listen to their parents
and to "just say no to drugs," Nitro split the arena into two groups
and had one half scream "tastes
great" and the other half "less filling." Maybe Nitro doesn't know
alcohol is a drug.
At the end of the live tour, the
top 10 point winners will- meet in
Atlantic City in May to compete
for$50,000 in prizes. Although Elza
said he hopes he will qualify for
Atlantic City, he said he thought
his chances were better of being
chosen to appear on the televised
show in Los Angeles.
Elza and Knight won't know
until April if they will advance to
Atlantic City. In addition to their
medals, they also received workout gear and supplemental merchandise from Gold's Gym.      3
Contender Kevin Duffy, 5-foot-10,175-pounds, Is dwarfed by 6-foot-4,255-pound Gemini during the Joust event.
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Men's champion Jay Elza, left, Is congratulated by Tower.
A contender does a "Splderman" Impression on the Wall.
▲ Women's contender
Cathie Harris tries to
muscle past Jazz during the
Powerball portion of the
contest.
► Men's finalists Kevin
Duffy (center) and Jay Elza
(right) attempt to
outmaneuver the Gladiators
In their atlaspheres.
Photos   By:
Steve Skibbie
No pain, no fame
By Susan Goad	
Staff Writer
f f ^^v nly theStrongSurvive"
V_-/ is the motto on their t-
shirts, but for the eight local
contenders who battled a field
of 400 to qualify for the
American Gladiators live show,
it took more than mere muscle
to win a position.
Ray Arnold, an alternate for
the event, said, he did very well
on the physical tests during the
tryoutbutthoughteitherhissize
or his videotaped interview may
have knocked him out of a contending spot.
"I don't know, maybe I'm too
big," he said. "I'm not really
"I'm in it for the
money."
— contender
Darren Sandusky
sure what (the promoters] were
looking for."
Arnold, a 6-foot-l, 198-
pound aerobics instructor, said
he breezed through thequai/y-
ingeventsduringthetryout. He
was one of only two men who
completed the targeted 18 be-
hind-the-head pull-ups in one
minute during the tryout. The
other, Kevin Kopinski, was
eliminated after the videotaped
interview.
After completing the physical tests during the tryout, the
men's field was narrowed to 11
for the video interviews. Four
contenders and two alternates
were announced after the interviews.
Jay Elza, the men's champion for the event, said he
thought the producers were
looking for contenders who
had a background in contact
sports and a good television
presence.
Elza, dubbed "Mr. Gorgeous" by women's alternate
Rhonda Murphy, is a 6-foot-0,
200-pound former defensive
back for Oklahoma State.
Murphy, a 28-year-old
health club supervisor, said
Jw videotaped interview determined her statusasan alternate.
Murphy, a 5-foot-l, 115-
pound competitive bodybuilder and power lifter, said
she holds a 1991 world record
for arm curls (80 lbs.) and Had a
state record in 1984 or 1985 for
the bench press (180 lbs.)
"The contenders are not
picked based on total athletic
abili ty," she said. "I understand.
It's show business."
Contender Darren Sandusky,
a 1989state wrestling champion
from Clovis West High School,
said the promoters told him he
had "a look."
"I'm in it for the money," the
22-year-old Mountain View Elementary School wrestling
coach said on the night of the
event. "Hopefully there's an
agent or someone here that will
get a look at me."
The promoters told thecon-
tenders and alternates'that regardless of their performance
against theGladiators Feb. 25,
they all have an opportunity
to be chosen for the televised
show. n