Charles Gaines
Encyclopedia
Charles L. Gaines is an American writer and outdoorsman, notable for his works on fly fishing
, his role in the development of paintball
, and his photo-essay Pumping Iron, about the bodybuilding
culture of the 1970s, which was later adapted into a documentary film
of the same name.
in 1942, the son of Charles Latham Gaines and Margaret (Shook) Gaines. At the age of ten, he and his family moved to Birmingham, Alabama
. As a teenager, Gaines took up bodybuilding. He briefly attended Washington and Lee University
but left school to travel around the country. He later received his BA from Birmingham-Southern College
and his MFA in writing from the University of Iowa
. In 1970, he moved to New Hampshire
, where he taught creative writing at New England College
.
: Craig Blake, a young heir from a family of Southern gentry; Mary Tate Farnsworth, a young woman of working-class background; and Joe Santo, a bodybuilder, athlete and Renaissance man
figure of French Canadian
and Menominee Indian ancestry. As well as exploring the culture of bodybuilding in great detail, the novel also dealt with themes of class difference, spirituality
and self-identity. In 1976, Stay Hungry was made into a motion picture
starring Jeff Bridges
, Sally Field
and Arnold Schwarzenegger
(the latter in one of his earliest roles.)
In 1974 Gaines created Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, a photo-essay with photographs by George Butler which focused in even further detail on the professional bodybuilding scene during the 1970s. It featured such bodybuilding greats as Arnold Schwarzenegger
, Franco Columbu
, Serge Nubret
, Ken Waller
, Mike Katz
and Ed Corney
, and provided a factual and philosophical exposition of the sport of bodybuilding. It is considered to be a seminal work in that field, and still enjoys significant popularity.
Pumping Iron was adapted by Butler into a documentary film
of the same name in 1977, this time focusing on the 1975 Mr. Olympia
bodybuilding contest and the rivalry between Schwarzenegger and up-and-comer Lou Ferrigno
, though also including all of the bodybuilders from the original book. The film enjoyed great success, bringing both Ferrigno and Schwarzenegger into the spotlight and increasing their public profiles tremendously. It also helped to further popularize bodybuilding as a sport and bring it into the mainstream.
Gaines continued writing on the topic of bodybuilding, writing a biography of Charles Atlas
in 1982 and publishing an exercise manual, Staying Hard: The Only Exercise Book You Will Ever Need in 1986.
In 1995 he wrote the autobiographical novel A Family Place, which documented the building of a family cabin in Nova Scotia
with the help of his wife and children. In 2001 he published The Next Valley Over: An Angler's Progress, a creative nonfiction work which detailed his fly fishing
experiences all over the world. He also co-authored Leaper: The Wonderful World of Atlantic Salmon Fishing with Monte Burke.
Gaines currently teaches writing part-time at the Spalding University
Master of Fine Arts program, and continues to contribute articles to outdoors publications.
by Richard Connell
. In 1981, Gaines and eleven others played the first game of paintball
, using Nel-Spot pistols which were intended for marking trees and livestock by ranchers. This initial game was a capture the flag
style scenario. Later, Bob Gurnsey formed the National Survival Game company, which was the first firm to sell paintball equipment.
In 1997 Gaines published a novel entitled Survival Games which features inventors of paintball, probably based upon Gaines and Gurnsey, as the main characters.
Fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or 'lure' requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting...
, his role in the development of paintball
Paintball
Paintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
, and his photo-essay Pumping Iron, about the bodybuilding
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...
culture of the 1970s, which was later adapted into a documentary film
Pumping Iron
Pumping Iron is a 1977 docudrama about the world of bodybuilding, focusing on the 1975 IFBB Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia competitions and the 100 days leading up to them. The film was inspired by a book of the same name, written by Charles Gaines and George Butler...
of the same name.
Early life
Gaines was born in Jacksonville, FloridaJacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
in 1942, the son of Charles Latham Gaines and Margaret (Shook) Gaines. At the age of ten, he and his family moved to Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
. As a teenager, Gaines took up bodybuilding. He briefly attended Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University
Washington and Lee University is a private liberal arts college in Lexington, Virginia, United States.The classical school from which Washington and Lee descended was established in 1749 as Augusta Academy, about north of its present location. In 1776 it was renamed Liberty Hall in a burst of...
but left school to travel around the country. He later received his BA from Birmingham-Southern College
Birmingham-Southern College
Birmingham–Southern College is a 4-year, private liberal arts college located three miles northwest of downtown Birmingham. Founded in 1856, it is affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Approximately 1400 students from 30 states and 23 foreign countries attend the college...
and his MFA in writing from the University of Iowa
University of Iowa
The University of Iowa is a public state-supported research university located in Iowa City, Iowa, United States. It is the oldest public university in the state. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
. In 1970, he moved to New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
, where he taught creative writing at New England College
New England College
New England College is a private four-year college in Henniker, New Hampshire, enrolling a total of approximately 1800 undergraduate and graduate students.-History:The school was created in 1946 for students attending college on the G.I...
.
Writing career
In 1972, Gaines published his first novel, Stay Hungry. This work of fiction focused on the subculture of bodybuilding during the early 1970s, and revolved around the lives of three characters in Birmingham, AlabamaBirmingham, Alabama
Birmingham is the largest city in Alabama. The city is the county seat of Jefferson County. According to the 2010 United States Census, Birmingham had a population of 212,237. The Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Area, in estimate by the U.S...
: Craig Blake, a young heir from a family of Southern gentry; Mary Tate Farnsworth, a young woman of working-class background; and Joe Santo, a bodybuilder, athlete and Renaissance man
Renaissance Man
Renaissance Man is a 1994 comedy film, directed by Penny Marshall, starring Danny DeVito, Gregory Hines, James Remar, and Ed Begley, Jr. It also features Mark Wahlberg in one of his earliest roles....
figure of French Canadian
French Canadian
French Canadian or Francophone Canadian, , generally refers to the descendents of French colonists who arrived in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries...
and Menominee Indian ancestry. As well as exploring the culture of bodybuilding in great detail, the novel also dealt with themes of class difference, spirituality
Spirituality
Spirituality can refer to an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a person to discover the essence of his/her being; or the “deepest values and meanings by which people live.” Spiritual practices, including meditation, prayer and contemplation, are intended to develop...
and self-identity. In 1976, Stay Hungry was made into a motion picture
Stay Hungry
Stay Hungry is the third album by American heavy metal band Twisted Sister. Released on May 10, 1984, the album features the band's two biggest hits, "We're Not Gonna Take It" and "I Wanna Rock" and the power ballad "The Price." According to RIAA certification, Stay Hungry gained Multi-Platinum...
starring Jeff Bridges
Jeff Bridges
Jeffrey Leon "Jeff" Bridges is an American actor and musician. He won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Otis "Bad" Blake in the 2009 film Crazy Heart....
, Sally Field
Sally Field
Sally Margaret Field is an American actress, singer, producer, director, and screenwriter. In each decade of her career, she has been known for major roles in American TV/film culture, including: in the 1960s, for Gidget or Sister Bertrille on The Flying Nun ; in the 1970s, for Sybil , Smokey and...
and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
(the latter in one of his earliest roles.)
In 1974 Gaines created Pumping Iron: The Art and Sport of Bodybuilding, a photo-essay with photographs by George Butler which focused in even further detail on the professional bodybuilding scene during the 1970s. It featured such bodybuilding greats as Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
, Franco Columbu
Franco Columbu
Franco Columbu is an Italian actor, former bodybuilder and World's Strongest Man competitor.-Bodybuilding:Columbu was born in Ollolai, Sardinia . Starting out his athletic career as a boxer, Columbu progressed into the sport of Olympic Weightlifting, powerlifting and later bodybuilding, winning...
, Serge Nubret
Serge Nubret
Serge Nubret was a French professional bodybuilder, bodybuilding federation leader, movie actor and author. Serge was awarded many bodybuilding titles, including Mr. Europe , Mr. Universe and WBBG Pro. Mr. World...
, Ken Waller
Ken Waller
Ken Waller is an American former bodybuilder featured in the 1977 movie Pumping Iron, which starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Waller also won the 1975 International Federation of Bodybuilders Mr. Universe contest in Pretoria, South Africa...
, Mike Katz
Mike Katz
Michael Katz is a former American IFBB professional bodybuilder, most famous for his appearance with Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1977 bodybuilding documentary film Pumping Iron. Mike Katz worked as a Jr. High School gym teacher while training as an amateur bodybuilder...
and Ed Corney
Ed Corney
Ed Corney is an American former professional bodybuilder.-Bodybuilding career:Ed Corney is a legendary bodybuilder from the Golden Age of bodybuilding and is widely regarded as the greatest poser that the sport has ever known. He has won the IFBB Mr...
, and provided a factual and philosophical exposition of the sport of bodybuilding. It is considered to be a seminal work in that field, and still enjoys significant popularity.
Pumping Iron was adapted by Butler into a documentary film
Pumping Iron
Pumping Iron is a 1977 docudrama about the world of bodybuilding, focusing on the 1975 IFBB Mr. Universe and Mr. Olympia competitions and the 100 days leading up to them. The film was inspired by a book of the same name, written by Charles Gaines and George Butler...
of the same name in 1977, this time focusing on the 1975 Mr. Olympia
Mr. Olympia
Mr. Olympia is the title awarded to the winner of the professional men's bodybuilding contest at Joe Weider's Olympia Weekend - an international bodybuilding competition that is held annually by the International Federation of BodyBuilding & Fitness . Joe Weider created the contest to enable the...
bodybuilding contest and the rivalry between Schwarzenegger and up-and-comer Lou Ferrigno
Lou Ferrigno
Louis Jude "Lou" Ferrigno is an American actor, fitness trainer/consultant, and retired professional bodybuilder. As a bodybuilder, Ferrigno won an IFBB Mr. America title and two consecutive IFBB Mr. Universe titles, and appeared in the bodybuilding documentary Pumping Iron...
, though also including all of the bodybuilders from the original book. The film enjoyed great success, bringing both Ferrigno and Schwarzenegger into the spotlight and increasing their public profiles tremendously. It also helped to further popularize bodybuilding as a sport and bring it into the mainstream.
Gaines continued writing on the topic of bodybuilding, writing a biography of Charles Atlas
Charles Atlas
Charles Atlas, born Angelo Siciliano , was the developer of a bodybuilding method and its associated exercise program that was best known for a landmark advertising campaign featuring Atlas's name and likeness; it has been described as one of the longest-lasting and most memorable ad campaigns of all...
in 1982 and publishing an exercise manual, Staying Hard: The Only Exercise Book You Will Ever Need in 1986.
In 1995 he wrote the autobiographical novel A Family Place, which documented the building of a family cabin in Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
with the help of his wife and children. In 2001 he published The Next Valley Over: An Angler's Progress, a creative nonfiction work which detailed his fly fishing
Fly fishing
Fly fishing is an angling method in which an artificial 'fly' is used to catch fish. The fly is cast using a fly rod, reel, and specialized weighted line. Casting a nearly weightless fly or 'lure' requires casting techniques significantly different from other forms of casting...
experiences all over the world. He also co-authored Leaper: The Wonderful World of Atlantic Salmon Fishing with Monte Burke.
Gaines currently teaches writing part-time at the Spalding University
Spalding University
Spalding University is a private, co-educational university affiliated with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth and located in Louisville, Kentucky.-History:...
Master of Fine Arts program, and continues to contribute articles to outdoors publications.
Invention of Paintball
In 1976, Gaines returned to New Hampshire from an African buffalo-hunting safari, and discussed with his friend Bob Gurnsey the idea of a game in which the participants would stalk each other through the woods. The concept was inspired in part by the short story The Most Dangerous GameThe Most Dangerous Game
"The Most Dangerous Game", also published as "The Hounds of Zaroff", is a short story by Richard Connell. It was published in Collier's Weekly on January 19, 1924....
by Richard Connell
Richard Connell
Richard Edward Connell Jr. was an American author and journalist, probably best remembered for his short story "The Most Dangerous Game". Connell was one of the most popular American short story writers of his time and his stories appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's Weekly...
. In 1981, Gaines and eleven others played the first game of paintball
Paintball
Paintball is a sport in which players compete, in teams or individually, to eliminate opponents by tagging them with capsules containing water soluble dye and gelatin shell outside propelled from a device called a paintball marker . Paintballs have a non-toxic, biodegradable, water soluble...
, using Nel-Spot pistols which were intended for marking trees and livestock by ranchers. This initial game was a capture the flag
Capture the flag
Capture the Flag is a traditional outdoor sport generally played by children, where two teams each have a flag and the objective is to capture the other team's flag, located at the team's "base," and bring it safely back to their own base...
style scenario. Later, Bob Gurnsey formed the National Survival Game company, which was the first firm to sell paintball equipment.
In 1997 Gaines published a novel entitled Survival Games which features inventors of paintball, probably based upon Gaines and Gurnsey, as the main characters.