1999 NPC Texas State (Celebrities)
By -jabber



In my intro I spent a bit of time talking about the venue, the Majestic
Theatre, and in my previous review, I talked a bit about the friendliness of
some folks encountered in Texas.  To continue with this trend (but not
totally), the MC for the evening show was Brian Krull, Debra's former
trainer (but hardly a celebrity).

The reason I mention this is, as I was listening to him introducing the many
competitors (there was a good turnout in the Men's classes), with each one,
Brian introduced that the competitor would like to give thanks to so-and-so.
Not a big deal, but I thought a nice touch worth mentioning.

The guest posers worth mentioning were none other than the DFW Metroplex's
own Universal Funk, which consists of one fbb, Sheilahe Brown, and other
women a bit less muscular, of fitness level.  All the women were of either
black, Oriental, or Hispanic descent in the troupe.  No arguments from me
with that. :-)  I took plenty of pics of the individual women, who with the
exception of Ms. Brown, their faces were more attractive than their bodies.
Ms. Brown, who I'd seen as a bottom-placer at the NPC USA's almost a month
ago, I didn't realize still competed.

Interestingly, during Universal Funk's number on stage, they looked into the
audience to get audience members to come on stage to show their stuff
(basically sexy dancing, not posing).  They chose one dark Oriental girl
(yes I have pictures) who literally outdid all the current dancers on stage
in terms of looks.  I found this great to watch, and set the stage for quite
the enjoyable show.

Physiquewise (wish we saw more), Ms. Sheilahe Brown is quite impressive.
But she's not quite as impressive as her better known Texan "sister", none
other than Vickie Gates.  This show, more than many, she awarded the
trophies for many of the Men's classes.  Since this show alternated between
men and women for the majority of the show, I got a chance to take many
pictures of seeing Vickie Gates giving out trophies to male bodybuilders who
were smaller and shorter (because she was wearing heels) than her.  It
would've been nice to see her flex her biceps next to the men though, as her
arms indeed looked huge.

Then, what I thought was a masterstroke of genius, for the heavier (and
obviously taller) classes of men, they brought out Kim Robinson, a large
blonde off-season fbb (who I believe retired years ago but is quite large
still).  It was funny how even the larger men were somewhat dwarfed by an
fbb.  Unfortunately for the Heavyweights and Superheavyweights, they went to
a male trophy presenter.  

Okay, also in a list of celebrities at a Texas show, I'd be remiss to not
mention seeing the staple at these shows, Deshay Ebert, long ago fbb who
looks bigger than she ever has, and was the promoter of this year's Jr.
Nationals and will promote next year's to the best of my knowledge (didn't
hear what city - San Antonio again? - someone was whispering in my ear at
the most inopportune time :-) ).  

Also a notable trophy presenter was the very thick blonde fbb, Mary Ellen
Jerumbo.  She looked like she was busting out of her black and white striped
blouse (yes I got pics, too).  

Also in the audience was a lesser known female (who I'm hoping to change
that in the near future) named Lisa Seligman.  She's a waitress at an
establishment in the Dallas area.  What was interesting is she's a Natural
Competitor who last competed over the Mother's Day weekend.  I'm kicking
myself for being out of town that weekend.  I'd never seen a natural
competitor that thick (thicker than Kathy Unger, but shorter).  It was
interesting watching her arm muscles as she recognized me and waved. :-)

Perhaps a bit more well-known (a helluva lot more actually) was Bedford,
TX's own Betty Pariso.  Wearing a sleeveless sweater and no contest tan, her
off-season arms are indeed a sight.  I'd erroneously thought she was passing
out the competitor roster for this show, when she was milling around the
audience.  She was instead shamelessly plugging her own show, the NPC
Southwest USA/North Texas Championship (May 13th, 2000 - be there!), now a
National Qualifier.  I told her, she doesn't need to advertise it to me,
I'll be there anyway. :-)

But the sheet of paper came in handy as that's where the -jabber notes
went...

Last but not least was the pseudo-celebrity in these there parts, Debra
D'Andrea.  She'd gotten 4th at the Jr. Nationals (retaining some mass then),
but in '98 tore up the Amateur scene at Betty's show in May '98, then the
Ronnie Coleman Classic in June '98, with her calling card of conditioning
but less mass.  Her winning streak was only slightly detoured with this very
show last year when a slightly better Bonny Priest got 1st over Ms.
D'Andrea.

Anyway, the post-Jr. Nationals Debra is now looking like a large off-season
fbb.  Straighter reddish hair than seen before, the 5'7" Ms. D'Andrea indeed
looks large with her heels and large implants to boot.  Her abs were pretty
much hidden so her best feature became her thick upper back (not wide just
thick) and very defined glutes (easily viewed from her skin-tight white long
slacks).

Until next review, I remain...

-jabber