Ken Sprague

Kenneth Ray Sprague born July 14 1945 is an American bodybuilder entrepreneur author and educator best known for purchasing and operating the original Golds Gym in Venice California from 1970 to 1979 during which time it emerged as the epicenter of the golden era of bodybuilding and hosted events featured in the documentary Pumping Iron Under his ownership the gym attracted elite athletes including Arnold Schwarzenegger grew its annual revenue significantly from modest beginnings and gained national media attention through coverage in outlets like 60 Minutes and the Wall Street Journal Sprague who began weight training in childhood and competed in bodybuilding powerlifting and track and field events later authored several instructional books on strength training such as The Golds Gym Strength Training Book 1994 and The Golds Gym Bodybuilding Book 1983 drawing from his experiences coaching adolescent athletes and world champions across multiple sports His tenure at Golds Gym played a key role in popularizing weight training though Sprague has noted in interviews being underrepresented in mainstream narratives of the era 19691973 Modeling Career with COLT Studio In 1969 while attending the University of Cincinnati Ken Sprague was encouraged by a friend to pursue modeling a photograph of him was submitted to Colt Studio in New York City resulting in an invitation to pose for the studios founder Jim French Colt Studio established in 1967 specialized in homoerotic physique photography of muscular men primarily appealing to a gay male audience through mailorder prints calendars and magazines Adopting the pseudonym Dakota Spragues initial work involved a fourday posing session in New York showcasing his athletic build from prior strength sports and bodybuilding endeavors Sprague relocated to Los Angeles in 1970 signing formally with Colt and expanding his output to include appearances in gay erotica publications such as Blueboy stroke books and calendars as well as occasional pornographic films His modeling emphasized raw muscularity and minimal attire aligning with Colts signature style of celebrating male physicality without narrative constraints This phase lasted until 1973 during which his earnings from the studio provided financial means for subsequent business ventures including the acquisition of Golds Gym Spragues tenure as Dakota positioned him among Colts early iconic models contributing to the studios reputation in the emerging market for explicit male imagery