Salt Lake , egged on by a friend . They had to ride their bikes downtown to compete . His dare paid off - he took second place in the great Salt Lake area . Once he received his first minor title , he was hooked .
His first official title won was Mr . Utah in 1982 when his mother encouraged him to follow his dream . When other boys were turning to football , D ’ Marko turned to body building . It was not in his nature to follow the pack , and this continues to be true today .
He knew if he was ever going to go anywhere in the body building world he would have to leave Utah and go to the west coast . In an old 1960 VW Beatle , he packed a few belongings and took off towards California . Without enough money to make it all the way , D ’ Marko took a year-long pit stop in Las Vegas , where he worked as a bouncer in local bars . After a year , he packed his things back into the bug and headed towards Los Angeles . This was in 1986 .
When he got to LA , his car got stolen after only one month . This happened while he was getting ready for the Mr . Los Angeles contest . He was homeless for about three months . But his friend and owner of the 24 hour Golds Gym let D ’ Marko use the shower and hang out at the gym . There he met Jermaine Jackson . Jermaine was so impressed he contracted D ’ Marko to be a bodyguard for himself and two of his friends , Dominick Wilkins , and soul singer Issack Hayes , during a weekend trip to Atlantic City . D ’ Marko made $ 3200 for the weekend , which was just enough to buy him an old station wagon . Jermaine helped D ’ Marko along the way by contracting him a few more times , during which he had the resources to prepare for the Mr . Los Angeles contest . In between working at the gym and side jobs as a bouncer , D ’ Marko would audition and act for roles in shows as a body builder . If you look closely you can see him in the Munsters and the movie Con Air .
Right before the competition , he was burned with melodena oil , but even with burns on his body he competed in Mr . Los Angeles and took first place . He accomplished all of this during a time when he was living out of his car and a small gym where his friend let him shower and train clients . He decided to compete at the last minute , a decision he made at 3 am . This was in 1988 , six years after his first Mr . Utah competition . In 1989 he entered the USA competition and took sixth place .
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