Excerpt

Chapter 1
Living in Maryland

Born in Elkon, Maryland, a small town located between Baltimore and Philadelphia, PA, exactly two miles from the Delaware line. I came from a large family of five brothers and one sister. My father was born in West Virginia, and my mother was born in New Jersey. My parents were really hard-working, Christian people, who raised their children to believe in God and have the respect of their fellow men. They worked hard to raise us, and see that we had a good education and knew the true value of a dollar, because we weren’t a rich family as far as money goes, but we were rich in other ways. We had a lot of love and all the things we needed as kids growing up.

My brothers and I participated in sports – baseball, football, basketball and track and field.  My sister even played basketball. As the years passed and we got older, we began making a name in sports. The Brockell family became well –known in the state of Maryland and all over the east coast, especially Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania. We were all good in sports, especially my oldest brother, Dick, who went away to play with the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds and played pro ball for nine years. My other two brothers had injuries and were released from going to the major leagues. I had a chance to play myself, but I really didn’t want it bad enough. I did have two scholarships offered to me from the University of Colorado and North Carolina State, playing football. But because of a severe head injury during a football game in my high school days, the last game of the season, I was told by my doctor that I shouldn’t play football anymore. So I participated mostly in track and field. I put the shot put and threw the discus. I broke several shot put records in Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and Virginia. I also placed third in the state of Maryland in the discus.

While participating in sports and becoming a good athlete, I had side interests in singing and bodybuilding. In my younger years, I began lifting weights when I was 13. I also started singing. The last four years in high school, I entered the talent shows in Maryland and each time I took third place, and in my senior year I took first place. Everyone in my home town told me I should pursue a show business career because I had a good voice. So I sang with a couple of bands in the area to get some experience. During my spare time, I would go to local news stands, and go to the drugstore where I’d get a soda and sit and read entertainment magazines, fantasizing about becoming a celebrity in show business. From the age of 13-18, I would constantly look in these magazines. One day I picked up a magazine for an international bodybuilding contest. I was 13 years old, and the contest stated contestants from 13-18. So my father took a photo of me and entered it into the contest. I took third place all over the world as the best built 13 year old in the world.  I received a four-year modeling contract to pose for these magazines, which was located in Washington, D.C. The renowned photographer of Tomorrow’s Man Magazine was Joe Webber. I posed for these magazines several times over the four year period. I would commute to Washington, D.C. about once a month from Maryland. After appearing in these magazines, I told my parents that I wanted to push hard for a show business career. My parents encouraged me a lot, but told me it was very competitive. I decided that’s what I wanted to do anyway. I told them that some day I would be on TV and I would appear in movies. Across the street from where my parents lived, there was a big, beautiful drive-in theater. I told them I would be on that screen some day, and all of us could get in our car and go see me in the movies