MacCubbin grabs a title of his own

~ MacCubbin and Ross won their divisions at the competition.

Former Southeast Missouri State football player Terrance Sterling wasn't the only local resident to come away victorious from the Show-Me Naturals bodybuilding competition.

Ron MacCubbin, like Sterling a Cape Girardeau native and Central High School graduate, won the bantamweight (143 1/4 pounds and below) title June 23 in St. Louis.

And Billy Ross, who lives in Tamms, Ill., but trains in Cape Girardeau, captured the heavyweight crown (above 198 pounds).

The Show-Me Naturals is billed as the nation's largest novice drug-free bodybuilding contest.

Billy Ross, who lives in Tamms, Ill., but trains in Cape Girardeau, won the heavyweight title at the Show-Me Naturals. (Submitted photo)

MacCubbin, 37, also won the Show-Me Naturals two years ago. He said he has been competing for nearly eight years and has finished first in five contests.

"I love it. It's awesome," said MacCubbin, a 1989 Central graduate. "The diet sucks, but the end result is good."

Ross, 32, was -- like Sterling -- taking part in his first bodybuilding competition.

"I always thought about doing it, and I finally did," Ross said. "It was exciting to win. It felt good."

Especially since Ross suffered two patella tendon tears to the same knee -- once while playing basketball in January and once during an automobile accident in May -- that placed his ability to compete in the Show-Me Naturals in jeopardy.

"I competed against my surgeon's advice. He told me not to work my legs so hard until my knee had healed better," Ross said. "If you look at the pictures of my competition, my one leg is really underdeveloped."

Adding to his accomplishment is that he said he lost 82 pounds from February until the competition.

"I weighed 295 pounds and I competed at 213," Ross said. "The working out is no problem, but the diet kicks my butt."