Power Couple: Many Years Later
by Richard Jasper
So what happened to the Power Couple, Roger and Bruce? The boring, unnatural ability to put on massive amounts of muscle, of course!
That summer, Roger moved in with Bruce and Bruce’s dad. Roger had told his parents that he was gay and in love with Bruce…and they flipped out.
�Who knew?� Roger said, when he showed up on Bruce�s doorstep.
�If it had been my mom,� Bruce said. �I wouldn�t have been surprised.�
Bruce’s dad was, well, amazing about all of it.
�Look, you�re just kids but I love my son and if my son loves you that�s all I need to know.�
Raymond “Bud” Carter may have been a shift foreman with a high school education but he was more evolved than most men of his “silent” generation.
May have had something to do with the fact when he finally figured out he couldn’t take any more from Bruce’s she-devil of a mom he’d found out that there were plenty of women (married and unmarried) who were willing to hook up with a big ox of a former high school football star in his mid-30s.
�Just keep the place neat and put some clothes on from time to time� were his only requirements.
Roger and Bruce spent the rest of the summer lifting. By the time school rolled around at the end of August, Bruce was up to 215 lbs. of muscle with single-digit bodyfat.
As for Roger…
�Jesus, kid,� Bud said one morning as Bruce and Roger were cleaning up the kitchen. �You�re bigger than I am!�
Roger shrugged his massive shoulders.
�I been lifting, Dad, you know that.�
Bud just shook his head.
�Still��
Roger wasn’t quite as lean as Bruce but at 300 lbs. of solid muscle he was simply huge. He was a good 30 lbs. heavier than Bud and whole lot stronger.
�So, you two gonna go out for football or what?�
Roger and Bruce laughed…then looked at each other.
�You really think�?�
Bud snorted.
�Are you kidding? I�ve seen the two of you working out. How many Woodlawn juniors bench 450, like Bruce does? For that matter, how many college juniors do?�
Bruce blushed…and looked at Roger.
�Well, if you think that�s a lot��
Bud chuckled.
�Oh, I know,� he said. �It isn�t a case of Roger being ready for Woodlawn. It�s a case of Woodlawn being ready for Roger! Roger is ready for the NFL!�
So that was that.
Thanks to Roger and Bruce, Woodlawn powered its way to consecutive state championships, the only time in their history (before or after) the Wildcats ever came close. By the time the Roger and Bruce graduated from high school they were 6’4 and 6’5 respectively. At 450 lbs. Roger was the biggest thing anyone had ever seen, which made Bruce, all 335 lbs. of him, the SECOND biggest thing anyone had ever seen!
Naturally, they had their pick of powerhouse football schools to attend. They wound up choosing UCLA and, after they graduated, the 49ers. And, yes, they did for UCLA and the 49ers what they had done for Woodlawn, routinely breaking and setting and breaking again NFL records.
After 20 years, they retired, taking part of their extremely well-invested incomes to purchase a compound in Maui while retaining a spacious penthouse condo in San Francisco.
During all that time they had routinely been asked about the nature of their relationship and their sexual orientation and they had refused, as a matter of principle, to say other than that they were “best friends for life,” which was accurate, if disingenuous.
Upon retirement, they held a press conference in which they said:
Yes, we are, in fact, a couple, we are, in fact, gay, and we’re very sorry for whatever hurt we may have caused by not having acknowledged so publicly before now. No one asks our straight teammates about their sexual orientation and we felt like we should be treated the same way. We realize now that it is important to acknowledge that saying it does make a difference. We have never been ashamed of who we are and we encourage all gay people to live their lives openly and honestly.
Interestingly enough, it was only after they retired from football that Roger and Bruce took up bodybuilding. During 20 years with the 49ers, they had steadily maintained their college playing weight, never gaining or losing.
�Could we get bigger? Sure,� Roger said, early on in their career. �Would it make us better players? No. In the meantime, we�ll wait for the other guys to catch up.�
No one could have guessed just how much bigger the two men could get.
In the 14 years since they retired, Bruce Carter has gained more than 200 lbs. of solid muscle. At 6’5 and 550 lbs., he dwarfs superheavyweight competitors like Derek Poundstone, Ryan Kennelly, and Martin Kjellstrom.
�And the sad thing is,� Carter said recently. �Roger makes ME look like a shy delicate flower!�
Indeed.
Roger Fenton is still no more than 6’4” tall but these days he weighs in at about 750 lbs., 200 lbs. more than his partner of the past 40 years. With shoulders that measure six feet across and a neck that measures five feet in circumference, he is the largest, most muscular man the world has ever known.
Fenton and Carter, now in their mid-50s, hold a twice-yearly strongman / powerlifting / bodybuilding contest at their Kula compound, the so-called “Triathlon of Strength,” with athletes competing against each other in all three categories. As a concession to the strength competitors, the bodybuilding portion of the contest encourages athletes to retain their body hair. Needless to say, “T.O.S.” is extremely popular among gay men the world over and among the Bear community in particular.
�There�s nothing sexier than fur on muscle,� Roger Fenton allowed at one recent gathering. �Especially if you have as much fur as Bruce does!�
Bruce Carter, his gigantic 44-inch arm wrapped around his husband's barrel-sized neck, agreed.
�Of course, it helps to have a LOT of muscle!�
The Power Couple laughed.
THE END