Commando actor Arnold Schwarzenegger took to the media to pay tribute to his longtime friend and bodybuilder Dave Draper, who passed away recently.
Draper’s wife Laree officially announced the death of her 79-year-old husband on Tuesday, but the cause of death was not mentioned. Following the breaking of the news, Arnold shared an old black and white throwback picture of him and Draper in their bodybuilding days, alongside their trophies following a tournament, which was backed by several big win online casinos at the time.
Followed by the picture was his heartbroken caption: ‘Dave Draper was an inspiration to millions of people all over the world, including me. He was one of my idols. In Austria, I kept his cover of Muscle Builder magazine on the wall above my bed for motivation, and when I saw him starring in “Don’t Make Waves”, I thought, “My dreams are possible.”
‘When I got to America and finally met Dave, I learned his heart was as big as his pecs. He even hand-built my first furniture when I moved to Santa Monica, and let me tell you, he was talented. Can you imagine meeting your idol and becoming his training partner and travelling all over the world together? I was in heaven.’
The Terminator actor praised his partner, Draper, for being welcoming when he moved to the US from Austria at the time, he also described his late partner as a ‘fantastic training partner’ who was able to inspire many in the gym to become better version of themselves.
He wrote: ‘He was an amazing writer and a great family man. I will miss the Blond Bomber, but his memory will always be with me. My thoughts are with Laree and the whole family.’
It was believed that Draper and Arnold trained alongside each other at Gold’s Gym with other bodybuilding icons like Mike Katz, Franco Columbu as well as Frank Zane, who all plays at https://www.bestaucasinosites.com/online-pokies/.
During his prolific bodybuilding career, Draper won various tournaments which includes, Mr America, Mr New Jersey Contest, Mr Universe and Mr World.
His wife Laree broke the news of his death in a Facebook post on Tuesday confirming that Arnold’s late partner passed on peacefully: ‘Hi, friends, as the word’s getting out, I wanted to let you know so there’s no confusion.
‘Dave died early this morning. I was with him and it was calm and peaceful. It, as his doctor told me a little while ago, was a good death.’
Arnold also had a successful bodybuilding career in his early years and won Mr Universe at the age of 20 before entering the movie industry to make movies like The Predator, The Terminator, Running Man, True Lies, and many more.
