Richard Gould is a tough customer in a weight room.
In an age when whiny athletes clutter the sports arena, Gould, 68, is a throwback, a no-nonsense athlete who lets his training regimen do his talking.
If John Wayne was still alive, he’d probably want to put Gould’s story on the big screen. He’d probably fly to Leon County and search local gyms for Gould.
“OK partner,” Wayne would say after finding Gould at the Planet Fitness Northampton (Kerry Forest Parkway) in Tallahassee. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”
Then Gould would swing a 50-pound curl in the direction of the famous tough guy, and the Duke would duck out of the way, rub his chin and say, “That’s some pretty fair arm strength you’ve got there, pilgrim.”
Of course, if the Duke were alive, he surely would have been impressed with the way Gould shrugs off the aches and pains of the aging process. Most recently, he has bounced back from some shoulder issues.
Gould modestly reports his own personal-best bench press mark of 335 pounds, but then directs attention to Phil Arnold, a friend and Florida State University colleague also working out at the fitness center on this day.
“I’ve had a rotator cuff on my right and a partial tear of one of my tendons on my left,” he said.
Arnold, 73, played offensive guard for FSU with Gould’s brother George in the early 1970s. At 220 pounds in 1973, Arnold benched 515 pounds at FSU’s strength test – the first-ever 500-pound mark in that event for a Seminoles’ football player.
George Gould played quarterback at Florida High School and defensive back for the Seminoles. Richard played football and baseball at Florida High – but his focus was always more on baseball.
“He’s an older guy – in great shape,” Arnold says of Gould.
Gould said: “I’m just maintaining. I don’t lift the heavy weights like I did in my younger days. And no legs …”
He says he gets enough leg exercise behind the plate as a baseball umpire. He umpires Florida State Club Baseball games.
“Some of the kids playing club ball eventually make the Division I squad,” said Gould, who worked seven games during the past week.
He heads north in July to umpire ...
