 |
This biography of a living person relies too much on referencestoprimary sources. Please help by adding secondary or tertiary sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful.
Find sources: "Rich Gaspari" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2007) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Richard Gaspari | |
|---|---|
| Bodybuilder | |
 | |
| Personal info | |
| Nickname | The Itch The Dragon Slayer Rich Gaspari |
| Born | (1963-05-16) 16 May 1963 (age 61) New Brunswick, New Jersey, United States |
| Professional career | |
| Pro-debut |
|
| Best win |
|
| Active | 1985-1996 |
Richard Gaspari (born May 16, 1963) is an American retired professional bodybuilder, and a former member of the IFBB. He came in second place at the 1986, 1987, and 1988 Mr. Olympia competitions.[1]
Gaspari grew up in Edison, New Jersey; as a teenager he would sneak into Rutgers University weight room to take advantage of the exercise equipment.[2] He became a professional bodybuilder in 1984, entered the 1985 IFBB Night of Champions and placed 2nd, then placed 3rd for his first participation at Mr. Olympia that same year. Richard was a three-time runner-up at the Mr. Olympia contest (the most important in the professional circuit) during the long reign of Lee Haney at the top. He also won several secondary IFBB Grand Prix competitions during the same period. He was particularly praised for his hitherto-unseen level of conditioning and definition, being the first athlete to exhibit striations on the gluteal muscles.[3][4]
Richard Gaspari was inducted into the IFBB Hall of Fame in 2004. In 2011, he was awarded with the Muscle Beach Hall of Fame Award.[5] He was featured on the cover of the October, 2011 issue of Iron Man, 23 years after he last appeared on the cover of the magazine.[6] In 2013 he was presented with the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award.[7]
In 1997, Gaspari started his own supplement company, Gaspari Nutrition. In 2005, the company became the subject of controversy after a client’s investigation implicated Gaspari Nutrition in a ring of supplement companies engaged in covertly spiking some of their products with a variety of steroids and/or their derivatives while deceptively mislabeling their ingredients, FDA violations which resulted in a lawsuit upheld in 2017. Shortly after, Gaspari filed for bankruptcy and sold the company.[8]
Gaspari resides in Toms River, New Jersey.[9]
