Whatever happened to Don Deckman?

Whenever I've posted photos of Don Deckman (1935-2020), they've always had a great response from viewers, so I've finally got around to doing a "whatever happened to . . . " series on him.  In the course of putting this together, I've learned that he was a star athlete, a hard worker, a good father to his four children, a successful businessman, and beloved by his two ex-wives, one of whom wrote a glowing tribute to him and the other whose obituary listed him and his two children by the other wife among her survivors.  I'd love to know the details on that system of relationships.  Oh, and a note on the frontal photo attributions.  Some collectors and archivists say that these were taken by Lyle Frisby and published by Pat Milo after Mr. Frisby's death.  Others just attribute them to Mr. Milo.   Mr. Deckman's modeling career seems to have begun while Lyle Frisby was still living, but most experts put these in the Milo column.  Anyway, here's Don Deckman.

 

Star High School Athlete

While he lettered in both football and baseball at Burbank High School in LA, Don Deckman really excelled at baseball.  The newspaper clippings mentioning his expert play are too numerous to post, so I've put in the one where he was recruited by Valley College.  As you will see, however, he went pro before long.  I can imagine the coach saying,  "I know this guy downtown who takes a certain type of pictures of guys like you."  Oh, and I think the coach is cute, too.

 

Senior Class Photo

This is Don Deckman's Senior yearbook photo.  The man's strong work ethic goes way back.  He had a job as a bag boy at a Burbank supermarket throughout his high school years, and delivered newspapers from his bicycle even before that.  He was listed on a city directory as employed at age 14!

 

Minor League Baseball

Mr. Deckman was signed by the Cleveland Indians in 1954 and played in their minor league system for three seasons in the Southwest.  Pauls Valley, Oklahoma along with Midland and Port Arthur, Texas were not exactly top spots even in the minors, and Don was released in 1956 without ever playing in a major league game.  The posing strap photo holding a bat is by AMG.

 

AMG Slide

If Bob Mizer's notes are to be believed, Don Deckman posed for this color slide at age 17,

after taking up weight training a year earlier . . . all while in high school.  Phenomenal!

 

AMG Catalog

This catalog sheet from AMG intrigues me very much as it may include the earliest modeling work done by Don Deckman.  Bob Mizer was still using his mother's cut glass punchbowl set for special effects, which is a method he seems to have dropped by the mid-1950s.  I've posted a large version so that viewers can see the individual images better, even though they bleed over the text on the right.  I'd love to see full size versions of these, but I haven't been able to find any.

 

Grecian Guild Pictorial

Grecian Guild Pictorial was a magazine published on the East Coast from 1955 to 1968 that featured material from its own studio as well as others from across the USA and Canada.

I don't have a photographer attribution for this picture of Don Deckman.

 

Bamboo shade?

I think that may be a bamboo window shade or mat turned 

on its side behind Mr. Deckman in this Pat Milo photo.

 

Derriere

Other than the catalog sheet from AMG, there aren't that many derriere shots of Don Deckman.  

Those we do have do tend to be very, very good, however.  This one is beautiful.

 

Pat Milo Posing Strap

Not all of Pat Milo's photos of Don Deckman are full frontals,

and this nice one with a wagon wheel is a good example.

 

Mystery Magazine

This obviously is a page from an unknown magazine published after 1968, years past when 

Don Deckman stopped modeling. The photo has been authenticated as by Pat Milo.

 

Proportions

For some reason I can't explain, this Pat Milo picture made me think 

of how finely proportioned Don Deckman's body was.

 

That Hamper

Pat Milo used a painted wicker laundry hamper to good effect in this picture of 

Don Deckman, as well as some others photos of both Don and other models.

I find the geometry of this photograph to be pure magic.

 

Number Two

This photo came with no information,

 just that cryptic "number two" at lower right.

 

Looking right at us

Mr. Deckman isn't looking straight into the camera in this Pat Milo photo,

but he give the impression of looking right at the viewer.

 

Physique Pictorial 1962

This may be the latest dated physique photo of Don Deckman.  It is from a 1962 edition of Bob Mizer's Physique Pictorial magazine and states Don's age as 25.  According to official records, he was born in 1935, so this picture may have actually been taken in 1960.  It wasn't that unusual for Mr. Mizer to publish photos some time after they were taken, so there isn't necessarily a conflict there.  Perhaps even more interesting is the fact that we are told that Mr. Deckman began modeling at age 17, indicating that he posed for the AMG slides shown earlier in today's series while in high school.  Don would have been married to his first wife, Janet, for three years when this was taken.  

 

Financial Services

By the mid 1960s, Mr. Deckman's occupation was listed as a salesman on city directories of the Los Angeles area.  No indication as to what he sold was given, however.  In 1969 he began to appear in the legal notices section of area newspapers as a financial services provider, probably as a loan officer.  In the 1980s, he shows up as residing in Orange County, eventually landing long term in Capistrano Beach, a relatively posh area.  He must have done well in business, and the last info I could find on line (early 2000s) listed him as a high ranking partner of a financial services firm.

 

Obituary Photo

I couldn't find any photos of Don Deckman taken after his modeling days other than this one which was attached to the skimpiest obituary I've ever seen.  His second wife, Stephanie Alter, sums things up better than I ever could and had this to say in the funeral home guestbook:

Don will always be in the hearts and minds of all who knew him. He was a gentleman and a great reminder of grace for us all. He was a wonderful story teller and a wonderful listener. His wives loved him and his children held him in extreme high esteem. I’m his second wife and can say that I have never stopped loving the most mild mannered gentleman Don. He will always serve as a memory of what a man should be in this age of so little grace!

 

Ed Fury, 1928-2023

 

Ed Fury passed away on February 24, 2023 at his home in Woodland Hills, California 

at the age of 94.  Born Edmund Holovchik in Long Island, New York in 1928, he was an 

orphan who took up bodybuilding in high school and moved to Los Angeles about 1947.  

Once there, he continued his bodybuilding and began a long, successful trek into the movies.  

Along the way, he posed nude for physique photographers and made the burgeoning 

Muscle Beach scene.  Today I will post a long overdue tribute to this icon.

Seven Models in Seven Days, Part 5 - Whatever happened to Bill Derrick

William Robert "Bill" Derrick was born in 1928 in a farmhouse outside Ben Wheeler, Texas.  After high school, he did a tour in the U.S. Navy where he took up bodybuilding. Bill used his GI Bill benefits to attend Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, earning a B.S. in Engineering in 1952.  During that time he won the Mr. Fort Worth title, and was runner up for Mr. Texas.  After graduation, he got a job with Todd Shipbuilding in Long Beach, California.  After arriving in the LA area, he posed for Bob Mizer of AMG for the photo above, but he moved on from there quickly, it seems.