Pepper Gomez

Jose Pepper Gomez was a beefcake model who became a very popular wrestler in the 1960's all the way into the 1980's. In fact, he was awarded by the Cauliflower Alley Club in 1992 for his numerous contributions to the sport of wrestling. He held numerous titles all over the United States, but is best remembered in wrestling for taunting other wrestlers to jump off a ladder onto his stomach with no ill effects to himself. Hence, he was known as "The Man with the Cast Iron Stomach."

I especially like the image of him on the cover of Strength & Health
and the smaller images of him on the catalog from the Athletic Model Guild. The other model on the catalog is Eugene Meyer.

Please jump to this post on the blog to see a great photograph of Pepper wrestling Bill Brinkley.

Pepper was a local institution in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he lived with his family. He died in 2004 at the age of seventy-seven.