Tribute to Peter McGough By Kevin Levrone and Ron Harris | SPECIAL FEATURE
Tribute to Peter McGough
By Kevin Levrone and Ron Harris
Kevin Levrone
“All the bodybuilders loved working with him and considered him a friend because he genuinely cared about us and was always there when any of us needed advice.”
Peter McGough brought who I was to the world, on paper long before we had things like YouTube and Instagram, so they could gain an understanding of the personality of Kevin Levrone. I first met Peter shortly after the 1992 Mr. Olympia in Helsinki, Finland, my Olympia debut, where I placed second. I was invited to go on the European Grand Prix tour that followed, and one of the first stops was the English Grand Prix in his hometown of Nottingham, England. He came up to me backstage with his mini tape recorder and said, “Joe Weider asked me to write a feature on you, and I find your story very interesting.” I said sure, and we did a brief interview right there, with a longer follow-up interview on the phone when I got back home to Maryland. The article was the very first one that ever appeared about me. It was in FLEX magazine, and talked about how I got into bodybuilding and my fast rise in the sport. Peter was a freelance writer for Joe, but shortly after that he was offered a full-time position and moved from the UK to Los Angeles. Soon everyone would know his name and his unique, gifted writing style. Peter had a talent for being able to express what he was seeing and what we the athletes were feeling to readers who often would never be able to see or meet us in real life. He always knew the right questions to ask to get our true emotions about a particular subject, and was then able to take that and form it into a story that connected us to our fans and opened up our personalities to them so they knew us as human beings, not just these incredibly muscular specimens. He was always backstage at the contests, because he knew this was when he could capture our most honest and real responses, before and after we were out there flexing our hearts out.
Our interviews never felt formal or forced. They were conversations with someone you really connected with. I remember asking him once why he chose to cover the sport of bodybuilding, since he himself hadn’t worked out in many years. Peter said that he found the sport and its athletes fascinating, and he truly enjoyed reporting on all of it. The way he connected on a personal level with the athletes reminded me of the relationship between Howard Cosell and Muhammad Ali. All the bodybuilders loved working with him and considered him a friend because he genuinely cared about us and was always there when any of us needed advice.
His passing marks a tremendous loss, and so many of us will miss him dearly. I still have every article he ever wrote about me saved. When you read something written by a person who was touched by God and given a special gift as he was, it resonates and stays with you. Peter was able to capture what was real and true and make it exciting, with a dash of his dry British humor thrown into the mix. He put a piece of his heart into everything he wrote, and his passion for what he did was unmatched. Watching him go from a freelance writer to the Editor-in-Chief of Flex magazine, I was so proud of him and happy to see him rise to such an esteemed position so quickly. He is a legend in our industry, and we don’t have many of those. Peter was a kind, calm, steady energy in a sport that could at times be stressful and chaotic. He had a way of making you feel like everything was going to be OK. He had a heart of gold and I never once heard him say anything negative or unkind about anybody. I will leave you with the best piece of advice he ever gave me, “Don’t ever change.” Rest in peace in heaven, Peter.
Facebook: Official.Kevin.Levrone
Twitter @LevroneKevin
WATCH GILES THOMAS' TRIBUTE TO PETER ON THE LATEST EPISODE OF MD GLOBAL MUSCLE EP 11 S4
Ron Harris
“We have lost not only an incredible talent but one of the finest men I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.”
A Mentor, a Role Model, and a Shining Light
For almost the first decade I wrote for MD, Peter McGough worked for Weider Publications. I had been reading his work since his own Pumping Press weekly tabloid in 1991, and was a huge admirer of his work. We don’t get many true writers in this industry, but Peter was a master of the written English language who had a gift for descriptive prose along with a rapier-sharp wit, full of puns and cheeky British sarcasm. That’s why I was overjoyed later on when Steve Blechman hired Peter as MD’s Senior Writer. Having him in the magazine automatically added to the credibility and overall quality because there was no argument – he was the best in the world at what he did, to the point where no one else even came remotely close. After all those years of wishing I could talk to him, we were on the same team and working together. Though I wish I’d known him much longer and been able to work alongside him for many more years, I still feel blessed and grateful to have known him. He was a historian of the sport like none other, and had a million stories about stars like Arnold, Joe Weider, and many more going back decades that could leave you nearly sobbing with laughter. I am particularly in debt to Peter for being so supportive when I took the job of Online Editor. At the time, I was overwhelmed and had little confidence I could fill that role properly while still keeping up all my writing for MD. Peter had a calming, reassuring manner, and was always there in my moments of doubt or whenever I just needed some advice. He helped me get through that difficult transition with a patient, fatherly, friendly ear. I miss him greatly. We have lost not only an incredible talent but one of the finest men I’ve ever had the privilege of knowing.
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