36
FLEX | FEBRUARY 2018
How to make sense of a 26-year-old
struck down in his prime so
suddenly and so wretchedly?
I spoke at length the next day
with Matt Jansen. Given the
trauma he was going through,
it tells you all you want to know
about Matt’s character and
loyalty that he wanted to go
on the record about his friend,
although at times, quite
understandably, he became
emotional. Through Matt, I gained
a deeper understanding of the
young man we had lost.
Instead of the normal format
of an article, I will tell the story
of Dallas McCarver interspersed
with Matt’s thoughts on his
best friend.
DALLAS THE
WUNDERKIND
In an era of bodybuilders usually not
turning pro until they’re in their late
20s, Dallas McCarver bucked the
norm. Originally from Jackson, TN,
he won his pro card at age 21 by
As the pace of the story went into
overdrive, we learned that this was
no hoax. This was fact. Dallas
McCarver, one of the most promising
bodybuilders on the planet, had
passed away at age 26. Twenty-six?
Late on Monday evening,
Aug. 21, Dallas returned to his Boca
Raton home after a workout. Just
before midnight, Australian
bodybuilder Josh Lenartowicz, who
was staying with Dallas to complete
the last three weeks of his Olympia
prep, returned from the gym. What
he found was shocking. Dallas was
facedown on the floor, his face was
blue, and it seemed he had choked to
death on something.
Josh heroically performed CPR on
his host and then handed that over to
the paramedics when they arrived.
Dallas was transported to the
hospital and pronounced dead
shortly after arriving.
The bodybuilding world went into
almost universal shock, which was
pretty unusual in my experience.
(See “The Dallas Wowboy,” opposite).