make up for lack of size or poor
body image or because anyone
made fun of him. That was never
part of his inner workings, never
drove him to be a bodybuilder. He
used to say that the only time he
wished he was a normal size was
when he was around kids, because
he didn’t want them to be scared of
his look. He wanted to be normal so
the kids felt comfortable. He had a
great affinity with kids, and one of
his goals was to open a home for
disadvantaged inner-city kids. If you
wanted to see Dallas really light up,
put him among a bunch of kids: He
was a 300-pound teddy bear.
“We would talk about the future
and what we would be doing 10 years
down the road. [At this point Matt
breaks down] Aside from my wife,
Dallas was the only other person
I talked to about such things.I believed
in my heart that we would win
multiple Olympias together and travel
the world, and he would fulfill his
ambition of opening that home.
“I spent a week in Boca with Dallas
during his last days, and I went home
the day before he died. We had a
blast of a week.
“We had so much fun doing things
other than bodybuilding—that’s how
we really bonded. Bodybuilding was
our life and passion, but we had fun
joking and discussing about football.
It was important for Dallas to give
bodybuilding a mental break because
there was so much pressure on him
at such a young age. He had to have
someone in his life that he could shut
off with, and I was that guy. And he
was that guy for me.”
into something you love, it brings a
lot of joy. Some guys are really hard
on themselves. I think if they took a
minute to enjoy it, it might actually
have a positive influence for them
in the long run. At the end of the day
my goal is to do the best I can and
to be the best I can.”
Matt: “We went to Barcelona for
the 2016 Arnold Classic Europe.
[Dallas was ninth.] We were
supposed to have a room each, but
when we checked into the hotel we
had only one room with a small bed
that wouldn’t have held Dallas’ left leg.
But he was undeterred; all he wanted
to do was ride round Barcelona on
a mountain bike. So the general
population was treated to this
mountain of a man with a big smile
on his face riding around on a
mountain bike.
“We did not work together
for the early 2017 contests, and our
relationship became a little strained.
But we finally got back together, and
as I sit here today with him gone, it
drives home to me that if you’ve got
an issue in life with someone you love,
make sure you reach out and resolve
it. If I hadn’t reached out to Dallas and
gotten our close relationship back on
track, his passing would have been
even more difficult to process.”
THE LAST ROUNDUP
One sentence of my 2016 interview
with Dallas resonates with me even
more after his passing. He told me,
“As with most things in life, if I can’t
do it and enjoy it, I don’t want to
do it.” Take a deep breath before
digesting the next sentence: “My life
is too short and everybody’s life is
too short to live an unhappy or
DALLAS THE FUNSTER
unfilled life.”
Dallas had a fun-loving nature,
Well, Dallas’ 26 years were too
as exemplified in a video interview
short. Some say that when you pass
I did with him in 2016. He started off
away, your whole life flashes in front
by instructing me playfully how to
of you. If Dallas experienced that
conduct interviews. I mimicked
sensation, he would have observed a
nervousness and started biting
young man universally loved, one who
my nails. He asked, “You got it?” I
was larger than life and admired and
nodded, and then I began, “So I’m
who will forever be remembered as a
here with Justin Compton.” Dallas
clapped his hands and let out a bellow shining example of how a life should
be lived, no matter how short.
of a laugh that would have woken
On Sept. 12, 2017, Jordan Jansen
Congress.
In that same interview, he told me, gave birth to her and Matt’s first
child, a son. His name is Dallas. And
“I work out hard and diet hard, but I
so the circle of life and Dallas’ legacy
refuse to be miserable about it all.
goes on.
When you put everything you’ve got
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FLEX | FEBRUARY 2018