BIG
COUNTRY
GROWS
The evolution of Dallas McCarver’s
physique from his pro card win
at the 2012 North American
Championships to the 2017 Arnold.
124
FLEX | JANUARY ’18
was quickly dubbed “Big
Country.” He waited two years
and eight months to make his
pro debut before winning the
2015 California State Pro
Championships, weighing 261
quality pounds. A few months
later and a few pounds heavier,
he finished 13th in his Olympia
debut. In 2016 he won the
Chicago Pro and rose to eighth
at the Olympia. His star was
shining brightly, but it turns out
that the orbital energy he was
generating was to be more akin
to resembling a shooting star
going at warp speed through
the firmament to rapid demise,
rather than a permanent entity.
Matt: “We first hooked
up to work together for the
2015 Olympia. And we connected
with each other completely
immediately. I can’t believe he’s
gone. On Monday night everything
seemed so clear-cut for the year
ahead. Today [Tuesday] I’m
looking at pics and can’t believe
he’s gone, that he’s lost such a
great future, and that I lost my
best friend. In our relationship,
I had to wear a few hats, like being
his older brother and even at
times his dad by telling him, ‘Hey,
get your shit together.’
“But what I remember most
is not the training and competing
but how much fun we had
together. He stayed with my
wife, Jordan, and me for four
weeks to prepare for the 2015
Olympia. We had a 90-minute
drive to the airport to catch our
Vegas flight. For the first 30