Greatest black bodybuilders – Bodybuilding is a tough profession. Intense physical training is required to be a bodybuilder. You have to challenge your body’s strength with an extreme diet and exercise. Bodybuilding was never a colour-dominating profession. Bodybuilders from diverse countries have always been part of this profession. Black Bodybuilders have created a mark in this profession and dominated this sport for a long time. Bodybuilding is a bit more challenging than other sports. Much patience is required to build your body muscles to look like a bodybuilder. Out of all the incredible bodybuilders, we have shortlisted the top 10 black bodybuilders to appreciate their hard work and accomplishments.
Famous African-American bodybuilders
1. Lee Haney
Powerful bodybuilder, who holds many titles under his name, Lee Haney was born on the 11th of November 1959, in Spartanburg, North Carolina. Haney’s father was a postal worker and his mother was a housewife. Throughout his childhood, he was particularly interested in sports like basketball and football. His bodybuilding training began at the age of 16.
He has a record of winning the most number of times the Mr. Olympia titles. Haney consecutively won the Sandow trophy for 8 years (1984-1991). During his career, he was the strongest bodybuilder challenging all bodybuilders of his time. He had been the longest title holder of Mr. Olympia Champs. He is regarded as one of the best bodybuilders of all time. He also initiated the mass monster era in IFBB.
Haney administered as a chairman of the President’s Council of Physical Fitness and supported during Bill Clinton’s term. In 2014, he was also part of the International Sports Hall of Fame.
Lee Haney married Shirley Draper Haney in 1983 and now has two children: a son, Joshua, and a daughter, Olympia.
Lee Haney’s net worth is estimated to be around 5.5 million dollars.
Also read: Top 10 Richest Black Athletes in the World 2024
2. Ronnie Coleman
This professional bodybuilder is known as The King. Coleman was born on May 13, 1964, in Louisiana, USA. Ronnie belonged to a family from the working class with his father. As Ronnie grew up, he gained a significant interest in sports and participated in many sports events like football and gained a scholarship to Grambling State University. However, his football career concluded due to an injury. He then gained interest in bodybuilding after watching his fellow gym-goers at the University.
He is known for his workouts and having a powerful physique. He shares the title of Mr. Olympia consecutively 8 times with Lee Haney. He is one of the greatest bodybuilders in the world. Coleman is the first bodybuilder to win the titles of Arnold Classic and Mr. Olympia in the same year. His weightlifting and harsh training have taken a toll on his health. He had undergone several surgeries in his career. A biopic of Coleman was released on NetFlix in 2018 by the name Ronnie Coleman: The King.
Ronnie married Susan Williamson Coleman in 2007 and now lives in Arlington, Texas, along with their 4 daughters.
Ronnie Coleman’s net worth is estimated to be around 2 million dollars.
3. Albert Beckles
Albert Beckles is Mr. Universe, born on July 14, 1930, on Barbados Island. He is an American professional bodybuilder. His training began at the age of 10 when he started weight lifting, which helped him gain strength as well as muscle mass. He then moved to England where he started powerlifting. He also enlisted in military service through a contract of 20 years with the Ministry of Defence of Great Britain.
He resumed his training after the service and at the age of 60 and became the oldest professional bodybuilder to win the title of IFBB pro league contest. He has the longest bodybuilding career; he has been part of 100 contests. At the age of 52, he won the competition Night of Champions in New York. He was very competitive even in his later years of life. Beckles was the top-notch bodybuilder in his whole career.
Albert Beckles married Arlene Beckles and also had a child. His net worth is estimated to be around 5 million dollars.
Also read: Albert Beckles Net Worth: Bodybuilding Career, Personal Life, and Legacy
Also read: Top 10 Black Comedians Who Transformed Stand-Up Comedy
4. Sergio Oliva
The Legend of Bodybuilding is known by the name The Myth. Born in the year 1941, in Guantanamo, Cuba, during the presidential reign of Fulgencio Batista. In his teens, Sergio received a year of training and was able to perform clean and jerks above 400 pounds, which brought him to the attention of the government after the revolution, and thus, he was selected to represent the country in the 1962 Central America and Caribbean Games. During the event, he sneaked out and ran till he was safe in the American consulate where he then asked for a political asylum.
As a bodybuilder, he had unbelievable body proportions; his thighs were bigger than his waist. He was the winner of 20 bodybuilding titles. He won the Mr. World in 1966 and the title of Mr. Olympia for three consecutive years 1967, 1968, and 1969. His death was a big loss for the bodybuilding franchise. He died due to Kidney Failure in 2012 at the age of 71.
He married Arleen Garrett, who attempted to kill him, but he survived. His son, Sergio Oliva Jr., is also a professional bodybuilder. At the time of his death in 2012, his net worth was estimated to be around 2 million dollars.
5. Phil Health
A professional American Bodybuilder born on December 18, 1979, in Seattle, Washington, Phil Jerrod Health is famous by the name, The Gift. Phil went to Rainier Beach High School located in Seattle and was a shooting guard on the basketball team of his school that won the state title in the year 1998. He then went to the University of Denver on an athletic scholarship, where he majored in business administration and played as a shooting guard for the university team. He entered the bodybuilding profession in the year 2002.
He is popular for his perfect body symmetry. His dedication to making his perfect proportionate body is responsible for the expansion of bodybuilding to a much bigger audience. His bodybuilding career started in 2002. He won the overall title at the National Physique Committee USA championships in 2005. Health has won the Title of Mr. Olympia for seven consecutive years from 2011 to 2017. Health was also inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame in the month of October 2024.
Phil Health is currently married to Shurie Health and has two children. His net worth is estimated to be around 8 million dollars.
Also read: Phil Heath Net Worth: The Seven-Time Mr. Olympia Champion’s Life and Legacy
6. Dexter Jackson
The most conditioned bodybuilder was born on November 25, 1969, in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. He is known as the Blade for his body’s fine lines. Jackson has several records to his name which are unbeatable. He is the only male bodybuilder who appeared 20 times in the Mr. Olympia Competition. He holds 29 pro show wins, the most for a bodybuilder. Along with the title of Mr Olympia and Master Olympia Titles, he also won the title of Arnold Classic Champion five times. Jackson had defeated Jay Cutler in 2008, winning an Olympia gold medal. Jackson was also featured on the cover of Muscular Development and Flex magazine and shot his documentary DVD, which was released in the year 2009 under the title Dexter Jackson: Unbreakable.
Dexter Jackson married Tina Jackson and had four daughters. His net worth is estimated to be around 7 million dollars.
Also read: 15 Most Famous Black TV Stars in the USA
7. Chris Dickerson
Henri Christophe Dickerson, a controversial professional bodybuilder was born on August 25, 1939, in Montgomery, Alabama, USA, being the youngest of the triplets. His mother was a famous lawyer and civil rights advocate named Mahala Ashley Dickerson. He went to the Olney Friends School and graduated in 1957. In 1959, he then went to the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he learned ballet along with acting and singing but changed his career paths after being inspired by Bill Pearl.
He is the only African American to win the title of Mr. America and IFFB Mr. Olympia. Dickerson had faced some controversies as he was gay. Dickerson admitted that his sexual orientation and his skin color had been a roadblock in his career. Still with these roadblocks, he had many titles to his name. He is one of the two bodybuilders to win the Mr. Olympia and Master Olympia Titles. He died at the age of 82 due to heart failure.
8. Shawn Ray
Shawn I. Ray is a conditioned bodybuilder born on September 9, 1965, in Fullerton California, USA, and is known by the name Sugar. He was famous for winning bodybuilding competitions with much bigger bodybuilders than him. For this reason, he was known by the name The Giant Killer. Ray won the Arnold Classic in 1990 but couldn’t take the title as he was unable to clear the dope test. He was part of various bodybuilding magazines worldwide. Along with bodybuilding, he was a commentator on ESPN for bodybuilding competitions for eight years. Ray was also an author and penned a guide to becoming a bodybuilder and published it under the title The Shawn Ray Way.
He married Kristie Ray and had two children named Asia Monet Ray and Bella Blu Ray. His estimated net worth is 2 million dollars.
9. Kenneth ‘Flex’ Wheeler
Kenneth “Flex” Wheeler, a great bodybuilder born on August 23, 1965, in Fresno, California, USA, had a rather rough childhood as he grew up in poverty and suffered child abuse as well as suicidal tendencies. He also struggled in his school life due to dyslexia but was very good at sports. He started training in martial arts and also started weightlifting in his teens.
He is known by the name Flex. He was one of the most aesthetically appealing bodybuilders. He had won the Arnold Classic title four times. But he could not win Mr. Olympia’s title, though he was an incredible bodybuilder. Flex was famous for his symmetrical body, which made him get the title of The Sultan of Symmetry. He had some health issues that made her career suffer. By birth, he had a rare kidney condition called glomerulosclerosis, and due to this, he had to leave his bodybuilding career in 2003. In 2017, he rejoined bodybuilding at Classic Physique Division. In 2019 he underwent a leg amputation surgery due to vascular system problems.
He married Madeline Wheeler and had a son named Darius Wheeler. His net worth is estimated to be around 2.2 million dollars.
Also read: Best of All Time: Top 10 Bodybuilders in the World 2024
10. Kai Greene
Leslie Kai Greene, an inspiring bodybuilder was born on July 12, 1975, in Brooklyn, New York, USA, and grew up in foster care and residential treatment centers from the age of 6. He entered the bodybuilding profession as a teen so that he does not seem to look like a potential target to the other residents of the treatment center. His interest in the profession was sparked by a book authored by Arnold Schwarzenegger named “The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding.”
He is known for his best poses and is known as Mr. Getting It Done. He had various titles to his name. Greene was thrice a runner-up in the Mr. Olympia title and won the Arnold Classic competition thrice. He had a great rivalry with the bodybuilder Health, which is one of the biggest rivalries in bodybuilding history. He is one of the best bodybuilders who has not won Mr. Olympia even once.
His net worth is estimated to be around 2 million dollars.
