Jack LaLanne....

Ha, Ha, We have a personalized, autographed picture of Jack LaLanne and you probably don't! I know you're jealous!

I remember seeing the original Jack LaLanne Show on black and white TeeVee when I was a kid. Quite honestly, at the time, I thought "what a hokey bunch of hooey", or something to that effect. Here's a guy in a black ballet outfit doing exercises with a chair for a prop accompanied by cheesy organ music of the type that you used to find on Sunday at the original Furr's cafeteria in Midland. Needless to say I didn't watch the show, but perhaps I should have because Jack and his lovely wife/assistant Elaine LaLanne were the originators of much of the fitness business as we know it today.

In fact Jack invented many of the machines which are now common place in modern fitness centers. And he made it OK for ordinary men and especially women to go to such places. He transformed the old boxing style "gyms" into accepted establishments that showed the common man how to exercise, eat right and make fitness a lifelong process. And he hasn't let his age [89 y.o.] slow him down.

For those to young to remember Jack, go to his website linked above. His accomplishments and some of his antics are amazing. Like the time he towed 6 rowboats from Alcatraz to Fishermans wharf, swimming while handcuffed. At the age of 60. The signed photo reads, "To my new friends Wallace and Julie, you two are the greatest! Stay in shape always". As Julie mentioned, I wish he would have quit writing after the first sentence. The second one makes me feel guilty, compared to him!