PAUL E. JACOBSON

Inducted 2008

Paul Eagol Jacobson was born November 27, 1941. In 1979 he became a member of gym in his hometown of Huntington, N.Y. He soon discovered he had an eye for bodybuilding and got into judging competitions. When he realized how heavily steroid use had become in bodybuilding he became upset and angry. He felt misled by promise of “health” associated with the sport.

In 1982 Jacobson found out about two natural bodybuilding sanctioning bodies: the Natural Bodybuilder’s Association (NBA) that was operating in Pennsylvania and the Natural Body Builders of America (NBBA) that was operating in New York. Jacobson promoted his first natural contest in 1983 on Long Island in New York. He formed the American Natural Bodybuilding Conference (ANBC) in 1984, the year following the demise of both the NBA and NBBA. Under his leadership the ANBC grew from having three shows a year in two states to having 22 shows a year in 10 states by 1989.

Jacobson published Natural Bodybuilder/ANBC Journal of Natural Bodybuilding from 1985 – 1989. The publications promoted future events, documented the organization’s activities, printed contest coverage of ANBC events, featured competitors, and published informative articles pertaining to natural bodybuilding.