As I pay tribute to Richard Simmon's I have to admit that I really didn't care for him most of my life. Only in the past 20 years, as he moved from fitness guru to comedy and late-night guest appearances did I appreciate his talents. He was born about 5 years before me and as I migrated to LA in 1971, he was just about to open his first fitness gymnasium in my neck of the wood's, Beverly Hill's California. He was not particularly athletic, nor knowledgable in nutrition, and his "stick", a Vaudeville term for an act, was not at all appealing to me. Mostly, I just paid no attention to him over the decades.
From where he came, I can believe that Richard came close to being the most he could be. A life well-lived. His caring and empathy was an outcome of his own trauma's as a child, mostly dealing with obesity and ridicule. While working in an exclusive restaurant in Beverly Hill's, he saved his monies, while taking a steep, self-created path to over 120 pounds of weight loss. His niche would be middle-aged, overweight women, and he had a fun, rocking to the oldie's system, that blended well with his silliness and unique personality. He helped a great many people enjoy their lives more, and he helped some people become more physically fit. Only the principle of exercising with fun activities and music has any significant staying power, now that he has passed.
In 1962, I was in 3rd grade, Richard in 8th, when President Kennedy's national fitness program emerged. In Mrs. McMillan's class, every morning, she would place a 45 rpm record on the player, and "Go, you chicken fat, go" would start and we would all stand up and run through a fun, 3 minute exercise program. It would only be recently that I would discover that the singer was Robert Preston. Richard probably followed this same routine in the 8th grade. High school progressed into the punt, pass and kick activities with 100 yard dashes and other measurements of fitness.
His exercise stick was so similar to the go you chicken fat go routine, that it must have been his teacher, and for him, this silliness worked like a charm. He was not only not an athlete, but didn't take too long to gain a belly, and be anything other than a role model of physical fitness. It was this very quality that led to his gifts and greatness. So many people with low self-esteem saw him being happy with himself, regardless of what other's might think. We thank you for being a pioneer in the movement to quit shaming people, especially women for being overweight.
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