Salt Lake, egged on by a friend. They had to ride their bikes downtown to compete. His dare paid off- he took second place in the great Salt Lake area. Once he received his first minor title, he was hooked.
His first official title won was Mr. Utah in 1982 when his mother encouraged him to follow his dream. When other boys were turning to football, D’ Marko turned to body building. It was not in his nature to follow the pack, and this continues to be true today.
He knew if he was ever going to go anywhere in the body building world he would have to leave Utah and go to the west coast. In an old 1960 VW Beatle, he packed a few belongings and took off towards California. Without enough money to make it all the way, D’ Marko took a year-long pit stop in Las Vegas, where he worked as a bouncer in local bars. After a year, he packed his things back into the bug and headed towards Los Angeles. This was in 1986.
When he got to LA, his car got stolen after only one month. This happened while he was getting ready for the Mr. Los Angeles contest. He was homeless for about three months. But his friend and owner of the 24 hour Golds Gym let D’ Marko use the shower and hang out at the gym. There he met Jermaine Jackson. Jermaine was so impressed he contracted D’ Marko to be a bodyguard for himself and two of his friends, Dominick Wilkins, and soul singer Issack Hayes, during a weekend trip to Atlantic City. D’ Marko made $ 3200 for the weekend, which was just enough to buy him an old station wagon. Jermaine helped D’ Marko along the way by contracting him a few more times, during which he had the resources to prepare for the Mr. Los Angeles contest. In between working at the gym and side jobs as a bouncer, D’ Marko would audition and act for roles in shows as a body builder. If you look closely you can see him in the Munsters and the movie Con Air.
Right before the competition, he was burned with melodena oil, but even with burns on his body he competed in Mr. Los Angeles and took first place. He accomplished all of this during a time when he was living out of his car and a small gym where his friend let him shower and train clients. He decided to compete at the last minute, a decision he made at 3 am. This was in 1988, six years after his first Mr. Utah competition. In 1989 he entered the USA competition and took sixth place.
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