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2 career wins
Bob Birdsong
Bob Birdsong won the Mr America medium class in 1973 and 1974 and both the professional Universe and the World Pro Championships in 1975. He was fifth at the 1979 Mr. Olympia.
Known for
1973 is the densest season: the Mr America medium class, Mr International, Mr Pacific Coast and Mr Los Angeles, four titles in one year. He defended the Mr America class in 1974.
1975 is the biggest: the professional Universe and the World Pro Championships, the two largest professional titles available at the time.
Early career
His record opens in 1971 and runs to 1989, thirty-five contests. He was runner-up at the Universe in 1974 and third there in 1980, and second at the Canada Pro Cup and the World Grand Prix in 1984.
Championship record
Championship appearances
Counted from the same results table below: an appearance is one contest entered (in the years the Olympia also judged weight classes, one appearance can carry two placings), an Olympia title is the overall win in that division, and Top 3 counts first, second and third together. The last row is every professional contest on record for Bob Birdsong.
Mr. Olympia
3Appearances
0Titles
0Top 3
All contests on record
24Contests
2Wins
8Top 3
Professional results
Every professional contest result on record for Bob Birdsong, 24 in all. The table opens on the first 15 and expands in place from there. Nothing sits on a separate page. Won by names the winner of the division Bob Birdsong competed in, and shows a dash where that winner cannot be pinned to one person in the database.
| Year | Contest | Division | Place | Won by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Grand Prix US Pro | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #6 | Nimrod King |
| 1989 | Niagara Falls Pro Invitational | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #7 | Ron Love |
| 1989 | Night of Champions | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #9 | Vince Taylor |
| 1986 | Los Angeles Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | Unplaced | Rich Gaspari |
| 1986 | Night of Champions | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #12 | Lee Labrada |
| 1986 | World Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #11 | Rich Gaspari |
| 1985 | Mr. Olympia | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #11 | Lee Haney |
| 1985 | Night of Champions | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #3 | Albert Beckles |
| 1984 | Canada Pro Cup | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #2 | Albert Beckles |
| 1984 | Mr. Olympia | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #10 | Lee Haney |
| 1984 | World Grand Prix | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #2 | Albert Beckles |
| 1984 | World Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #4 | Albert Beckles |
| 1983 | Grand Prix Denver | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #2 | Tony Pearson |
| 1983 | Grand Prix Las Vegas | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #5 | Lee Haney |
| 1983 | Grand Prix Portland | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #6 | Scott Wilson |
| 1983 | Night of Champions | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #6 | Lee Haney |
| 1983 | World Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #7 | Mohamed Makkawy |
| 1981 | Grand Prix California | Men's Open Bodybuilding | Unplaced | Chris Dickerson |
| 1980 | Universe - Pro | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #3 | Tony Pearson |
| 1980 | World Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #3 | Jusup Wilkosz |
| 1979 | Mr. Olympia | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #5 | Frank Zane |
| 1979 | Mr. Olympia | Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) | #5 | Mike Mentzer |
| 1975 | Universe - Pro | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #1 | Winner |
| 1975 | World Pro Championships | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #1 | Winner |
Showing 15 of 24 professional results.
Where these results come from. Each contest in the table was recorded from a named source, and for Bob Birdsong that source is MuscleMemory. Open any contest above and that page names its own source and links to it where the source is still reachable. That archive no longer answers at the addresses we hold, so it is credited by name here and not offered as a link.
Every professional season
Peak Year 1975 (2 wins)
Measured against Bob Birdsong’s own seasons, not against the field.
Olympia
1st place
2nd place
3rd place
Other
- Pro Debut
- 1975
- Olympia Debut
- 1979
- Last Contest
- 1989
Bob Birdsong at the Olympia, year by year
| Year | Placement | Division |
|---|---|---|
| 1979 | 5 | Men's Open Bodybuilding |
| 1984 | 10 | Men's Open Bodybuilding |
| 1985 | 11 | Men's Open Bodybuilding |
Data updated
Amateur and other shows not counted above
11 results from amateur shows and other contests this archive does not class as professional. Every total on this page covers the professional career only, so these are listed here but never counted, and they have no contest page.
Show the list
| Year | Contest | Division | Place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | Mr America | Division not recorded (Medium) | #1 |
| 1974 | Mr International | Division not recorded (Medium) | #2 |
| 1974 | Universe | Division not recorded (Medium) | #2 |
| 1973 | Mr America | Division not recorded (Medium) | #1 |
| 1973 | Mr International | Division not recorded (Medium) | #1 |
| 1973 | Mr Los Angeles | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #1 |
| 1973 | Mr Pacific Coast | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #1 |
| 1972 | Mr America | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #10 |
| 1972 | Mr California | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #2 |
| 1972 | Mr Western America | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #2 |
| 1971 | Mr America | Men's Open Bodybuilding | #21 |
More Men's Open Bodybuilding athletes Athletes from United States
Legacy
Birdsong competed through the whole of the sport's first period of public visibility and won at the top of it in 1975. The biography previously held in our corpus credits him with the 1974 IFBB Mr. America outright; our results table records the medium class that year, and both may be true of the same contest.
Most-met rivals
Compare any two athletes →In 5 meetings, Lee Haney finished ahead of Bob Birdsong 5 times to 0.
Opponents are ranked by how often they shared a stage and how big the stage was, not by reputation. A meeting is one contest where both competed in the same division and both were placed.
2
ahead
11
behind
7
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5
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3
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1
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Sources
Competition placings on this page come from our own contest database and cover 1971 to 1989.
Our data and the displaced biography disagree on whether his 1974 Mr America win was the overall or the medium class. Both readings are recorded above rather than one being chosen.
Contests of this era awarded a height or weight CLASS title and then a separate OVERALL, and some gave a Most Muscular award. A class win and an overall placing at the same contest are both correct, and a Most Muscular row is a prize given at that contest rather than a win of it.
Win rate here is first-place finishes as a share of all 24 professional contest results. It is published only where a career holds at least five, because below that a single placing moves the figure by twenty points or more.
Missing from this profile
No weight or birthdate on record.