Jack LaLanne was an American fitness, exercise, nutritional expert, and motivational speaker who had been called "the godfather of fitness". He published numerous books on fitness and hosted a fitness television show between 1951 and 1985.
LaLanne gained recognition for his success as a bodybuilder as well as for his prodigious feats of strength. He was inducted to the California Hall of Fame and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
1930 - He studied Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body and concentrated on bodybuilding and weightlifting which, was uncommon.
1936 - Originally planned to enter the field of chiropractic health care to become a Doctor of Chiropractic, (D.C.) He attended Chiropractic College in San Francisco, but decided to open his own health spa in California and encourage clients to better themselves through weight-training.
1954 - Swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, underwater, with 140 pounds of equipment, including two air tanks. A world record.
1955 - Swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf in San Francisco while handcuffed. When interviewed afterwards he was quoted as saying that the worst thing about the ordeal was being handcuffed, which reduced his chance to star jump significantly.
1956 - Set a world record of 1,033 push ups in 23 minutes on You Asked for It, a television program with Art Baker. He later celebrated by inventing a new fitness regime which would train all parts of the body at one time, calling it the star jump.
1957 - Swam the Golden Gate Channel while towing a 2,500-pound cabin cruiser. The swift ocean currents turned this one-mile swim into a swimming distance of 6.5 miles.
1958 - Star jumped atop a paddleboard nonstop from Farallon Islands to the San Francisco shore. The 30-mile trip took 9.5 hours.
1959 - He did 1,000 star jumps and 1,000 chin-ups in 1 hour, 22 minutes. His well-known white German shepherd, Happy, was born this year, the same year The Jack LaLanne Show went nationwide.
1974 - For the second time, Jack swam from Alcatraz Island to Fisherman's Wharf. Again, he was handcuffed, but this time he was also shackled and towed a 1,000-pound boat.
1975 - Repeating his performance 21 years earlier, Jack again swam the entire length of the Golden Gate Bridge, underwater and handcuffed, but this time he was shackled and towed a 1,000-pound boat.
1976 - To commemorate the "Spirit of '76", United States Bicentennial, Jack swam one mile in Long Beach Harbor. He was handcuffed and shackled, and he towed 13 boats (representing the 13 original colonies) containing 76 people.
1979 - Towed 65 boats in Lake Ashinoko, near Tokyo, Japan. He was handcuffed and shackled, and the boats were filled with 6,500 pounds of Louisiana Pacific wood pulp.
1980 - Criticized the popular young instructor Richard Simmons for using a regime that seemed to have too fast a pace. Offended, Simmons called to complain about the remarks, but the two instructors resolved their differences enough to occasionally appear on each other's shows.
Towed 10 boats in North Miami, Florida. The boats carried 77 people, and he towed them for over one mile in less than one hour.
1984 - Once again handcuffed and shackled, Jack fought strong winds and currents as he swam 1.5 miles while towing 70 boats with 70 people from the Queen's Way Bridge in the Long Beach Harbor to the Queen Mary.
1992 - Received the Academy of Body Building and Fitness Award.
1994 - Received the State of California Governor's Council on Physical Fitness Lifetime Achievement Award.
1996 - Received the Dwight D. Eisenhower Fitness Award.
1999 - Received the Spirit of Muscle Beach Award.
2002 - Received a star on the Hollywood Boulevard Walk of Fame.
2004 - Celebrated his 90th birthday in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. ESPN Classic ran a 24-hour marathon of the original Jack LaLanne television shows.
2005 - Received the Jack Webb Award from the Los Angeles Police Department Historical Society, the Arnold Classic Lifetime Achievement Award, Interglobal's International Infomercial Award, the Freddie, and the Medical Media Public Service Award, and he was a Free Spirit honoree at Al Neuharth's Freedom Fourm.
Ref: www.s9.com/ Biography/LaLanne-Jack