25 Years of Fitness: Vintage photos — people

SNEWS is celebrating its 25th anniversary and we’re including the fitness industry in the party. What better way to celebrate 25 years of an industry than to talk to those futurists who opened stores, built gyms in their garages and tinkered with ergonomics in 1984 — or even before in some cases — to showcase what has been accomplished and what is on the horizon.

Photos? You betcha. We gathered up photos from the past 20 to 30 years of stores, people and equipment, as well as promotional brochures and even a couple of newspaper clippings.

See, below, a few of the faces that have been a part of the industry…. Then look in the SNEWS Magazine Extras section (www.outsidebusinessjournal.com/magextras) in the 25 Years of Fitness section for all the photo spreads of manufacturers, retailers, people and equipment.

Do you have more you’d like to add? Drop us any photos you’d like us to upload to snewsbox@snewsnet.com, with IDs please and the year, and we’ll add them. Meanwhile, got comments? Share your thoughts with the industry in the SNEWS Chat at the bottom of the page.

SPRI Products

SPRI Products instructors Sara Kooperman and David Essel in a promotional photo, 1988. Note the tubes tied to the handles.

Nautilus

Nautilus founder, Arthur Jones, inspecting the weight stack on an original piece, 1970s

Flex Fitness

Larry “LD” Brown, Flex Fitness co-founder, on a LifeCycle, 1985

Lifeline Fitness

Bobby Hinds, founder of Lifeline Fitness, in a promotional poster, 1977

Exercise Equipment Center

Leo Rubstello, founder Exercise Equipment Center, testing equipment at a fitness show, 1980s

Johnson Health Tech

Johnson Health Tech founding family, 1975: May Lo, marketing and sales; Cindy Lo, co-founder; Teresa Lo, Jason Lo, president.

If you liked this supplemental material to the SNEWS 2009 Fitness magazine’s article celebrating 25 years of fitness, then you’ll like all the rest too. Be sure not to miss additional commentary from retailer long-timers, more from manufacturer long-timers and some insights from those who are retired, out of the industry or from other related groups.

In addition to the photos in the magazine we have more, with full IDs and other information. Don’t miss vintage photos from manufacturers, vintage photos from retailers, vintage photos of people, and classic photos of old and original equipment.

Then, if you are wondering who is in and what is pictured in each photo on the grid on the Table of Contents page of the magazine, you can find those IDs by clicking here.