Ric Drasin (1944-2020): Remembering An Old School Legend
Ric Drasin was a staple in the old school bodybuilding scene. In that Golden Era, you could commonly find him pumping iron at Venice beach or Gold’s Gym with all of the biggest names. On top of that, he was a former wrestler, actor, artist, author, and the host of Ric’s Corner YouTube show.
Sadly, he unexpectedly passed away on August 30th, 2020 at the age of 76. Many of us throughout the bodybuilding community remember him for preaching the values of hard training and good nutrition.
To honor his career and contributions to the world of fitness & bodybuilding, we wanted to give our summary of his life.
Ric’s Early Life
Ric was born in Bakersfield, California in 1944. His parents owned a children’s furniture and clothing store called Drasin’s Little Folks Shop. Ric always had an artistic aptitude and he even formed a rock band while in high school.
The band was called The Epics and they took second place out of 200 bands in a contest called The Battle of the Bands held at the Hollywood Palladium. One of the prizes for taking second place was a recording contest with Capitol Records. The Epics (now called The Hollywood Vines) went on to make two singles released in 1961.
The band broke up the way many young bands do – adulthood causes people to drift apart. Ric was always a man of many talents and interests. At this point in his life, he felt inspired to join the army reserves, where he actively served for 6 months soon after. He obtained the rank of Sergeant and filled the roles of clerk and driver.
Drasin’s Many Careers
Like many teenagers, Ric developed an interest in professional wrestling, often attending professional wrestling shows with his father. When Ric was 18, his dad passed away during surgery for a heart condition. Unknown to his father, Ric had decided that he would become a professional wrestler one day.
Ric started working in the fitness industry in 1962 when he taught fitness and nutrition classes at the local YMCA in Bakersfield. He also managed a couple of local gyms before moving on to the professional wrestling business.
Ric was assigned to train with professional women’s wrestling champion Johnnie May Young when he started his pro wrestling career. After wrestling for many years, he started his own business called West Coast Wrestling Promotions. However, because of intense competition from the National Wrestling Alliance, his business shut down after only a few shows.
Ric also went into the acting business. In 1972, he got his first role playing a gym manager who is attacked by rats in the film “Ben”.
He also played an Olympic weightlifter in the Mae West film “Sextette” (1978). One of Ric’s biggest roles in Hollywood was playing the part of the “Demi Hulk” for the popular television show “The Incredible Hulk” in 1980. The Demi Hulk was the half transformed version of the Hulk from Bruce Banner.
In 1985, Ric went back into the wrestling business by reorganizing his old West Coast Wrestling Promotions into the American Wrestling Federation (AWF), promoting wrestling shows in the Los Angeles and Bakersfield areas. His son Shane became a wrestler and wrestled with the organization from 1996 to 2001.
Ric wrote a book So, You Want to be a Wrestling Promoter in March 2004 with co-author Bruce Dwight Collins. He also invented the personal security device, the Security Kat, in 2002. Later he was hired as a spokesperson for Gold’s Gym, speaking at conventions and appearing at special events.
Then he started his own show called “Ric’s Corner” in 2007. Ric spoke with guests that included famous bodybuilders from his generation as well as actors, wrestlers, and fitness celebrities. The show was a popular hit on YouTube.
Ric Drasin and Bodybuilding
One of Ric’s greatest contributions to the bodybuilding world was designing the logo for the original Gold’s Gym in the 1970s. The now-legendary story is that Ric drew the iconic caricature of the muscular bald man holding a bent barbell on a restaurant napkin while eating a meal with Gold’s Gym manager Ken Waller.
When the owner of Gold’s Gym, Ken Sprague, decided to use the Gold’s Gym t-shirts to promote the gym around the country, they eventually ended up selling millions of shirts.
Ric also designed the logo for World’s Gym for owner Joe Gold in 1978. Similar to the Gold’s Gym design, the World’s Gym logo featured a muscular gorilla holding a barbell.
In 2012, Ric Drasin was awarded the first Joe Gold Lifetime Achievement Award, presented at the World Gym International Convention in Las Vegas. He was recognized for his many contributions to the fitness industry as a bodybuilder, professional wrestler, actor, and artist.
He was also recognized for his preservation of bodybuilding history through his internet show Ric’s Corner.
Old School Labs was proud to work with Ric Drasin across several on and offscreen projects and promotions. He was a fitness expert with a keen eye and sharp mind that made every project he touched better for him being a part of it.
We, along with the rest of the bodybuilding community, recognize the great contributions he gave to the sport and we will miss his unique presence in our world.
Ric became an Old School Labs Ambassador in 2017, and over his time with us, he became a dear friend. He believed in us and what we were doing from very early on. He leaves this world as a Bodybuilding and Old School Labs Icon. We love you, Ric.
If you have any stories or memories of our late friend, Ric Drasin, please share in the comments below.