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Ken Waller profile photo

1 career win

Ken Waller

GenderMale
Born1942
StatusRetired

Ken Waller is a Men's Open Bodybuilding competitor from the United States with a competitive record spanning 1971–1981.

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

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 Ken Waller.

Mr. Olympia

4Appearances
0Titles
1Top 3

All contests on record

9Contests
1Wins
3Top 3

Professional results

Every professional contest result on record for Ken Waller, 9 in all. 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 Mr. Olympia Men's Open Bodybuilding #5 Frank Zane
1977 Mr. Olympia Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) #2 Robby Robinson
1976 Mr. Olympia Men's Bodybuilding (Heavyweight) #1 Winner
1971 Pro Mr World Men's Open Bodybuilding #2 Boyer Coe

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.

Every professional season

1971 to 1981 shown · 9 professional results
1971
1976
1977
1979
1980
1981
Olympia 1st place 2nd place 3rd place Other
Pro Debut
1971
First Win
1976
Last Contest
1981

Ken Waller at the Olympia, year by year

Ken Waller at the Mr. Olympia: no title, first appearance 1976. In 1976 the Olympia also judged weight classes before naming one overall champion; Ken Waller's heavyweight class win that year counts as a win on this page but not as a Mr. Olympia title. Source: Fitness Volt Bodybuilding Database.
Year Placement Division
1976 1 Men's Open Bodybuilding (heavyweight class)
1977 5 Men's Open Bodybuilding
1980 16 Men's Open Bodybuilding
1981 16 Men's Open Bodybuilding

Data updated

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: 74 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.

Amateur and other shows not counted above

21 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
YearContestDivisionPlace
1975 Universe Division not recorded (Tall) #1
1974 Universe Division not recorded (Tall) #2
1973 Mr World Division not recorded (Tall) #1
1973 Universe Division not recorded (Tall) #2
1972 Mr International Division not recorded (Tall) #1
1972 Mr World Division not recorded (Tall) #2
1971 Mr America Division not recorded (Tall) #1
1971 Mr International Division not recorded (Tall) #1
1971 Mr Universe Division not recorded (Tall) #1
1970 Junior Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #2
1970 Junior Mr America Division not recorded (Most Muscular) #2
1970 Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #2
1970 Mr America Division not recorded (Most Muscular) #2
1970 Mr World Division not recorded (Tall) #1
1969 Junior Mr USA Men's Open Bodybuilding #1
1969 Junior Mr USA Division not recorded (Most Muscular) #1
1969 Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #3
1969 Mr USA Men's Open Bodybuilding #1
1969 Mr USA Division not recorded (Most Muscular) #1
1968 Mr America Men's Open Bodybuilding #4
1968 Mr USA Men's Open Bodybuilding #4

In 4 meetings, Ed Corney finished ahead of Ken Waller 3 times to 1.

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.

Win rate here is first-place finishes as a share of all 9 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.

High confidence 9 professional results, Well-verified source Updated September 30, 2026 Accurate?

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