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Ken Waller is a Men's Open Bodybuilding competitor from the United States. Ken Waller has a verified height of 6'0" (183 cm) and a recorded contest weight of 230 lb (104 kg).

Ken Waller profile photo

12 career wins

Ken Waller

GenderMale
Born1942
StatusRetired
High confidence 30 recorded results, Well-verified source Updated August 7, 2026 Accurate?

Ken Waller is a Men's Open Bodybuilding competitor from the United States with a competitive record spanning 1968–1981.

Across 30 recorded contest results, Ken Waller has 12 first-place finishes (a 40% win rate), including 1× Olympia title.

Win rate here is first-place finishes as a share of all 30 recorded 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.

Ken Waller, a bodybuilder from the United States, stands 6'0" (183 cm) tall and competed at a contest weight of around 230 lb (104 kg). He was born on March 20, 1942 and is 84 years old.

Career Record

Total Results
30
Wins
12
Win Rate
40%
Career
1968–1981
Height
6'0" (183 cm)
Weight
230 lb (104 kg)
Age
84
Country
United States
Olympia Titles
1
Verified
Sources
8

Every season on record

1968 to 1981 shown · 30 results on record

Peak Year 1969 (4 wins)

Measured against Ken Waller’s own seasons, not against the field. See the full peak window →

1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975
1976
1977
1979
1980
1981
Olympia 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Other
Pro Debut
1968
First Win
1969
Olympia Debut
1976
Last Contest
1981
Ken Waller Olympia Career: 1 title(s) (1976 to 1976). First appeared at the Olympia in 1976 and placed 1. Source: Fitness Volt Bodybuilding Database.
Year Placement Division
1976 1 Men's Open Bodybuilding
1977 5 Men's Open Bodybuilding
1980 16 Men's Open Bodybuilding
1981 16 Men's Open Bodybuilding

Data updated

About

Kenny Waller (born March 20, 1942) 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 (IFBB) Mr. Universe contest in Pretoria, South Africa. He was known for his curly red hair, freckles and his graceful, confident posing style.

Championship record

Where the titles came from

Counted from the same results table below: an appearance is one recorded placing at that series, a title is a first place, and Top 3 counts first, second and third together. The last row is every contest on record for Ken Waller, amateur shows included.

Olympia

5Appearances
1Titles
2Top 3

All contests on record

30Contests
12Wins
22Top 3
Physique benchmark

How Ken Waller measures up

Fat-free mass index turns the height and weight on this profile into one number for how much muscle a frame carries, so a shorter competitor is not flattered by a bodyweight comparison. The normalised figure adjusts it again to a standard height, which is the version worth ranking. Both assume the 6% body fat a competitor steps on stage at, because that is the only condition the recorded weight was taken in.

29.3FFMI
29.1Normalised FFMI
180thOf 316 measured men

The closest Olympia champion on that measure is Chris Dickerson, at 29.4.

What this rank is not. This database holds a height and a weight for just 463 athletes, and they are overwhelmingly the ones somebody bothered to measure: 73 of them hold an Olympia title. Almost every competitor on record carries no measurement at all. The pool also mixes every division and era together, from the lightweight women's classes to the open heavyweights, so it ranks size and nothing else. It says where Ken Waller sits among the athletes we hold measurements for, not among competitors.

All results

Every contest result on record for Ken Waller, 30 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 Ken Waller competed in, and shows a dash where that winner cannot be pinned to one person in the database.

YearContestDivisionPlaceWon by
1981 Mr. Olympia Men's Open Bodybuilding #16 Franco Columbu
1980 Grand Prix California Men's Open Bodybuilding #7 Chris Dickerson
1980 Mr. Olympia Men's Open Bodybuilding #16 Arnold Schwarzenegger
1980 Pittsburgh Pro Invitational Men's Open Bodybuilding Unplaced Casey Viator
1979 Night of Champions Men's Open Bodybuilding #6 Robby Robinson
1977 Olympia Other Divisions #2 Robby Robinson
1977 Mr. Olympia Men's Open Bodybuilding #5 Frank Zane
1976 Olympia Other Divisions #1 Winner
1975 Universe Other Divisions #1 Winner
1974 Universe Other Divisions #2 Lou Ferrigno
1973 Mr World Other Divisions #1 Winner
1973 Universe Other Divisions #2 Lou Ferrigno
1972 Mr International Other Divisions #1 Winner
1972 Mr World Other Divisions #2 Don Ross
1971 Mr America Other Divisions #1 Winner
1971 Mr International Other Divisions #1 Winner
1971 Mr Universe Other Divisions #1 Winner
1971 Pro Mr World Men's Open Bodybuilding #2 Boyer Coe
1970 Junior Mr America Other Divisions #2 Chris Dickerson
1970 Junior Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #2 Chris Dickerson
1970 Mr America Other Divisions #2 Chris Dickerson
1970 Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #2 Chris Dickerson
1970 Mr World Other Divisions #1 Winner
1969 Junior Mr USA Other Divisions #1 Winner
1969 Junior Mr USA Men's Open Bodybuilding #1 Winner
1969 Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #3 Boyer Coe
1969 Mr USA Other Divisions #1 Winner
1969 Mr USA Men's Open Bodybuilding #1 Winner
1968 Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #4 Jim Haislop
1968 Mr USA Men's Open Bodybuilding #4 Chris Dickerson

Showing 15 of 30 recorded results. Showing all 30 recorded results.

Where these results come from. Each contest in the table was recorded from a named source, and for Ken Waller 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.

In 5 meetings, Ed Corney finished ahead of Ken Waller 3 times to 2.

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.

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