Albert Treloar

Al Treloar (May 11, 1873 – February 28, 1960) was an American bodybuilder, athletic trainer, author and artist's model. He won the first international bodybuilding contest in 1904, appeared in early silent films, and toured the United States as a vaudeville performer. He was physical director at the Los Angeles Athletic Club from 1907 to 1949. Treloar was born Alfred Toof Jennings, the only child of Albert and Frances Toof Jennings of Allegan, Michigan. His father was a lawyer and educator, and served as superintendent of schools for Allegan until 1874. Treloar attended high school in Manistee, Michigan, where his father was superintendent of schools until 1897.

Chicago hosted the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, a six-month world's fair that attracted tens of millions of visitors. Showman Florenz Ziegfeld created an evening vaudeville production at the city's Trocadero nightclub, centered around German bodybuilder Eugen Sandow. Twenty-year-old bodybuilder Treloar was hired to be one of Sandow's onstage assistants. The production opened on August 1, 1893, and consisted of a series of athletic acts—acrobats, cyclists, trapeze artists—interspersed with musical interludes (during which food and drink were served). Sandow appeared in the third hour, flexing and striking the poses of famous statues. After various demonstrations of feats of strength, the show's climax was Sandow lifting a barbell with a large wicker basket attached to each end. While held in the air by Sandow, the baskets opened to reveal a man inside each. At the end of the Fair, Treloar toured with the production to the West Coast and elsewhere.

Treloar enrolled in the Lawrence Scientific School of Harvard College in 1894. He studied independently under lecturer Dudley Allen Sargent, director of the Hemenway Gymnasium, and perhaps the foremost American expert on physical education. His first year, Treloar rowed on both the varsity and freshmen crew teams. "His rowing was crude, but he was a man of remarkable physique." He set University strength records—lifting 520 kg (1,150 lb) with his legs, and 355 kg (783 lb) with his back.

He met his future wife while at Harvard. Georgia Edna Knowlton (1875–1946) was two years younger, originally from Maine, and also a fitness enthusiast. They were married in Boston on October 5, 1895. She was his partner in multiple areas—under the pseudonym "Edna Tempest," she appeared as a fitness model on the cover of Physical Culture magazine, she was his onstage assistant in their vaudeville act, and she contributed a chapter to his book on muscular development.

Treloar graduated from Harvard in 1896 with a special degree in physical education, and remained in Cambridge for a year to coach the freshman crew team. He continued his career as a trainer at an athletic club in St. Paul, Minnesota, and later offered private lessons in New York City.