Stacey Bentley (born 1956) was a registered nurse and former professional

female bodybuilder Female bodybuilding is the female component of competitive bodybuilding. It began in the late 1970s, when women began to take part in bodybuilding competitions.

of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Along with Claudia Wilbourn and Rachel McLish, Bentley was among the first role models of bodybuilding for women and the benefits that it can bring to them. She died on December 31, 2019.

Biography

Bentley was born in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, Ma ...

, where at a young age she was a very active, sports-oriented child. In her high school days she was a diver and later continued her education at

Franconia College Franconia College was a small experimental liberal arts college in Franconia, New Hampshire, United States. It opened in 1963 in Dow Academy and the site of the Forest Hills Hotel on Agassiz Road, and closed in 1978, after years of declining enro ...

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec to the nor ...

. It was around 1975 that Bentley discovered weight training (which was an unusual interest for women at that time) and decided to train with the goal of achieving a healthy fit physique. Although she admired muscular, fit women, Bentley felt uncomfortable admitting that she weight trained to achieve her toned body. She would often say that she was a gymnast, or a swimmer, and would not attribute her physique to weight training workouts, due to the discomfort she felt from the way people perceived her. Bentley moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

and quickly became a role model for women's bodybuilding while working with Joe Gold and Arnold Schwarzenegger and competing in the first bodybuilding show. She worked as a women's supervisor at the Sports Connection while training hard for upcoming bodybuilding shows. Her career as a bodybuilder took off on June 16, 1979, at the inaugural Women's World Bodybuilding Championships, where she competed against bodybuilding stars such as Lisa Lyon (who won the contest), Claudia Wilbourn, and others. Bentley finished in the top five in that contest. Later that year Bentley won the Robby Robinson Classic, also winning awards for best legs and best poser. Bentley continued with two more victories, winning the World Couples Championships (with Chris Dickerson) and the Frank Zane Invitational. Her last bodybuilding contest was the inaugural IFBB Miss Olympia, where she placed fifth. Bentley retired after the Olympia when she realized that the up and coming women of bodybuilding were starting to have huge muscles like men (i.e. taking anabolic steroids) and that turned her off. She switched from lifting weights competitively to general weight training and cardiovascular exercise. She then became a personal trainer for people such as actor

Jack Nicholson John Joseph Nicholson (born April 22, 1937) is an American retired actor and filmmaker. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest actors of all time. In many of his films, he played rebels against the social structure. He received numerous ...

and others. Bentley continued to be a role model to people to improve themselves physically and mentally through bodybuilding as a personal trainer. She also helped people through her work as a nurse at Northridge Hospital in California, where she focused on patients with eating disorders. She would later work with blind and deaf children at a Pennsylvania school, then help children with various diseases and disabilities. She now works with the geriatric population, helping them in the gym and out and helps to make their lives more comfortable and happier. Stacey was able to overcome many obstacles, but continued her career as a nurse in her home state of Pennsylvania until 2011. She still maintains contact with the bodybuilding world, and in 2005 she was inducted into the

IFBB Hall of Fame The IFBB Hall of Fame was established in 1999 to honor outstanding athletes and officials in the sport of bodybuilding. There have been no inductees since 2011. Induction years 1999 *Carla Dunlap *Cory Everson *John Grimek *Lee Haney * Rachel McL ...

. Bentley's career as a competitive bodybuilder stands out, despite its brevity, for her placing in the top five in each of the six bodybuilding contests that she competed in. Her competitive career was also unique in that each of the bodybuilding contests that she competed in marked the inaugural staging of that event.

Contest history

*1979 IFBB Women's World Bodybuilding Championships - 4th *1979 IFBB Best in the World - 3rd *1979 IFBB World's Best Built Woman - 3rd *1979 IFBB Robby Robinson Classic - 1st (Best legs Award winner, Best Poser Award winner, and overall winner) *1980 IFBB World Couples Championships - 1st (with Chris Dickerson) *1980 IFBB Frank Zane Invitational - 1st *1980 IFBB Miss Olympia - 5th

References

External links

IFBB Hall of Fame biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Stacey 1958 births Living people American female bodybuilders Sportspeople from Philadelphia Professional bodybuilders Sportspeople from Asheville, North Carolina American nurses American women nurses 21st-century American women