workings, never drove him to be a bodybuilder. He used to say that the only time he wished he was a normal size was when he was around kids, because he didn’ t want them to be scared of his look. He wanted to be normal so the kids felt comfortable. He had a great affinity with kids, and one of his goals was to open a home for disadvantaged inner-city kids. If you wanted to see Dallas really light up, put him among a bunch of kids: He was a 300-pound teddy bear.
“ We would talk about the future and what we would be doing 10 years down the road. [ At this point Matt breaks down ] Aside from my wife, Dallas was the only other person I talked to about such things. I believed in my heart that we would win multiple Olympias together and travel the world, and he would fulfill his ambition of opening that home.
“ I spent a week in Boca with Dallas during his last days, and I went home the day before he died. We had a blast of a week.
“ We had so much fun doing things other than bodybuilding— that’ s how we really bonded. Bodybuilding was our life and passion, but we had fun joking and discussing about football. It was important for Dallas to give bodybuilding a mental break because there was so much pressure on him at such a young age. He had to have someone in his life that he could shut off with, and I was that guy. And he was that guy for me.”
DALLAS THE FUNSTER Dallas had a fun-loving nature, as exemplified in a video interview I did with him in 2016. He started off by instructing me playfully how to conduct interviews. I mimicked nervousness and started biting my nails. He asked,“ You got it?” I nodded, and then I began,“ So I’ m here with Justin Compton.” Dallas clapped his hands and let out a bellow of a laugh that would have woken Congress.
In that same interview, he told me,“ I work out hard and diet hard, but I refuse to be miserable about it all. When you put everything you’ ve got into something you love, it brings a lot of joy. Some guys are really hard on themselves. I think if they took a minute to enjoy it, it might actually have a positive influence for them in the long run. At the end of the day my goal is to do the best I can and to be the best I can.”
Matt:“ We went to Barcelona for the 2016 Arnold Classic Europe. [ Dallas was ninth.] We were supposed to have a room each, but when we checked into the hotel we had only one room with a small bed that wouldn’ t have held Dallas’ left leg. But he was undeterred; all he wanted to do was ride round Barcelona on a mountain bike. So the general population was treated to this mountain of a man with a big smile on his face riding around on a mountain bike.
“ We did not work together for the early 2017 contests, and our relationship became a little strained. But we finally got back together, and as I sit here today with him gone, it drives home to me that if you’ ve got an issue in life with someone you love, make sure you reach out and resolve it. If I hadn’ t reached out to Dallas and gotten our close relationship back on track, his passing would have been even more difficult to process.”
THE LAST ROUNDUP One sentence of my 2016 interview with Dallas resonates with me even more after his passing. He told me,“ As with most things in life, if I can’ t do it and enjoy it, I don’ t want to do it.” Take a deep breath before digesting the next sentence:“ My life is too short and everybody’ s life is too short to live an unhappy or unfilled life.”
Well, Dallas’ 26 years were too short. Some say that when you pass away, your whole life flashes in front of you. If Dallas experienced that sensation, he would have observed a young man universally loved, one who was larger than life and admired and who will forever be remembered as a shining example of how a life should be lived, no matter how short.
On Sept. 12, 2017, Jordan Jansen gave birth to her and Matt’ s first child, a son. His name is Dallas. And so the circle of life and Dallas’ legacy goes on.
126 FLEX | JANUARY’ 18