Michael Fiffe of Huntington, West Virginia was leaving a bar in his hometown in 2001 when he was robbed of $20 and nearly beaten to death by three men. He suffered a fractured skull, was in a coma for 30 days and was hospitalized for six months.
“I worked out a lot before that happened, and the doctors told me that was the only reason I survived,” said Fiffe, 39, who uses a wheelchair. “I credit bodybuilding with saving my life.”
It has always been a dream of Fiffe’s to compete in a bodybuilding competition, and Saturday he got a chance to make that dream come true at the 13th annual Southern Isles Bodybuilding, Figure and Wheelchair Championships held at the Savannah Civic Center’s Johnny Mercer Theater.
Fiffe finished second behind two-time Golden Isles champion Jack Anderson of Griffin in the wheelchair competition.
With his close friend Ken Epperly by his side, Fiffe has been training hard for the competition. He said he ate nothing but chicken, broccoli and fruit for weeks and went from a size 34 waist to a 28.
But before he took the stage, Fiffe had butterflies.
“I’m really scared,” Fiffe said with a smile before posing in front of a crowd of close to 500.
But afterward, he wore a satisfied smile as he held a sizable second-place trophy.
“It feels like all the hard work I’ve done every morning and every night in the gym has paid off,” Fiffe said. “It feels like my dream has come true.”
Anderson was also an inspiration for the crowd and his fellow bodybuilders. He was paralyzed in a car accident four years ago but hasn’t let the setback define his life.
“It was really rough at first,” said Anderson, 31. “You go through depression, but that’s something you have to overcome.”
Anderson ignited the crowd during his time on stage with his enthusiastic style of posing and his muscular physique.
“I’m lucky, I can eat anything I want. I’ve got that good metabolism,” Anderson said. “I do everything from racing four-wheelers to mud biking and sky diving. And I didn’t do any of those things before I got hurt.”
Tony O’Connor works year round to organize the competition. O’Connor, a regular at the Wilmington Island YMCA’s weight room, said the event continues to grow in popularity.
About 50 contestants participated in various divisions ranging from novice men to women’s, over-50 men and three weight classes in the men’s open division.
“We like to think we’re the best show around,” said O’Connor, an accomplished bodybuilder himself. “We look after and spoil our contestants and our fans. And half of our contestants are competing for the first time — so we are helping bring the sport along.”
Chris Reeves, 21, of Rincon, was one of those first-time contestants. The Savannah State student is a graduate of Benedictine, where he competed on the swimming, track and cross country teams.
He was always in shape, but a friend got him into weightlifting, and two years later he was ready for his first competition.
“The toughest part is the dedication you have to have and the diet,” Reeves said. “There are things you don’t want to do, but you have to do them to be successful.”
At 5-foot-6 and 155 pounds, Reeves was a crowd favorite as he won the novice lightweight division.
“I’ve won things like swim races in the past, but that’s something that goes on week to week during a season,” Reeves said. “This is something I had to work towards for a long time. It felt good to put it all together.”