Timmy Leong

Timmy Leong, a self-taught bodybuilder who was one of Hawaii's most prominent musclemen and owner of Timmy's Health Gym, died of natural causes May 16 at the Queen's Medical Center. He was 83.

Leong, of Kaimuki, represented Hawaii in Mr. America and Mr. USA competitions on the mainland in the 1950s. His ripped body, photographed on Hawaii's beaches, also appeared on national magazine covers.

For more than 40 years, Leong ran Timmy's Health Gym, where clients trained for local physique contests and beauty pageants.

Leong's gym became an informal headquarters for visiting professional wrestlers and local and international bodybuilders, including Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Born in Honolulu on Jan. 11, 1927, Leong graduated from McKinley High School as a shy and skinny youth too frail to play football.

Inspired by pro wrestlers, he took up weight training and used magazine articles as references for training, spending hours working out with homemade weights.

"I used to use sand -- anything that was heavy," Leong told the Star-Bulletin in 1995.

In the Army he served as a physical instructor and became a lifeguard at Fort DeRussy.

Leong eventually won all the physique contests in Hawaii and entered the Mr. America contest in 1953, finishing in seventh place and winning the "best back" award.

He entered the Mr. USA contest in 1956, placing fourth, and coming in sixth in 1957, according to the website musclememory.com.

In the early '50s Leong opened Timmy's Health Gym on King Street across from McKinley High School. When King Street was widened, he moved his gym downtown and moved at least two more times, said Tommy Kono, a friend and three-time weightlifting Olympic medalist.

Kono admired Leong for participating in national competitions. "He wasn't afraid to get defeated," Kono said. "He wanted to see how he would do against the best."

In the 1950s and '60s, Leong visited the neighbor islands to put on physique exhibitions, sometimes with Kono, who demonstrated weightlifting.

His nephew Darryl Lee said Leong continued working out and coaching friends on their health until his death.

Leong is survived by sister Audrey N.L. Lee and numerous nieces and nephews.

Family and friends may call at the Diamond Head Mortuary Chapel from 9:30 a.m. Friday. Service begins at 11:15 a.m. with graveside services at Diamond Head Memorial Park from 12:25 p.m. Aloha attire.

***

My dad sent me to Timmy's Gym when I was in the ninth or tenth grade. Nice man.