Danny "The Giant Killer" Padilla was born Dennis Padilla on April 3, 1951. He was the sixth child for Ramon and Frances Padilla. When Danny was only seven years old he hatched his plan to make the Padilla family name famous.While out with his father, Danny came across a copy of his first ever Muscle magazine. To him the equation seemed simple: these bodybuilders in the magazine looked great, everyone wanted to have their autographs and get their pictures taken with them . . . what was not to like? Danny decided right then, this is it; this is what I'm going do with my life.He sent away for bodybuilding courses that he found advertised in the back of the physique magazines and soon realized that he'd be in need of some good training equipment and supplements to achieve his goals. Unable to afford the weights, supplements and protein powders that the courses instructed him to use, he began to get creative and to "improvise", in order to reach his objectives. Using water pipes in his basement as a chin-up bar; a rusty old weight set discarded by his older brother to perform the prescribed exercises in the courses; other "weights" that he constructed out of sewer cap covers and old pipes; and a wooden bench that he also built himself,
Danny was on his way to victory.Danny was a great athlete in high school. He showed a natural talent for basketball, wrestling, football and gymnastics. High school coaches implored him to join their teams. Danny responded that he couldn't because he was "training to be Mr. America". He threw himself into this effort, all the while falling in love with the feeling and the results that he got from his workouts.On January 29, 1970 he entered the "Mr. Rochester" bodybuilding competition and, at the age of 18, he was the youngest person ever to win that title.The "Giant Killer" went on to win the 1975 IFBB Mr. USA, The 1977 IFBB Mr. America and to finish in the "top ten" at the IFBB Night of the Champions and the IFBB Mr. Olympia (including the Masters Olympia) nine separate times.
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