Born August 5, 1946, died April 12, 2025

Gabe Aio was the best workout partner I ever had. He was also the strongest. He was
one of my best friends ever. When I was down, he was there for me. Gabe knew all the
influential good people in Hawaii, from Governor Ariyoshi, Tom Seleck, Jack Lord,
Mayor Frank Fasi and the more notorious people like Larry Mehau, George Perry,
Alema Leota, Art Rutledge. What I was amazed the most about Hawaii was everybody
respected everybody, but they all knew their place and there were certain lines you
didn’t cross. Gabe got along with everybody partly because of his size, 6’5”, 365 lbs.
I have known Gabe since 1974. We went to numerous meets on the mainland.
Together we worked out at George Perry’s Gym in Hawaii Kai for 12 years. We ate at
numerous local food places. He judged some of my WABDL meets and he provided
security for some of my World meets.
When Frank Sinatra came to Honolulu, Gabe always provided his security. Gabe went
with Sinatra on a cruise to the Greek Islands. The stories he told about the parties on
the yacht were right out of old Hollywood. Dean Martin, Nancy Sinatra, Peter Lawford,
Sammy David Junior, Tony Bennett, Mike Connors, Connie Stevens, Juliet Prowse, etc.
Gabe was always lowkey, in charge and respected by everyone. In some cases, he
was feared by many. Gabe could raw bench 625lbs at his best. He tried to clean and
press 170# dumbbells at my 1982 Hawaii Record Breaker. He couldn’t do it then. It
would have broken Kazmaier’s record of 165. About 3 months later, he unofficially
cleaned 175# dumbbells and pressed them 4 times. He and I could both do seated
dumbbell presses with 160# for 6 reps.
Gabe was new to powerlifting. He only competed for 3 years due to his busy schedule.
He was involved at high levels with Hawaii Longshoremen and Honolulu Airport
Security, but he still squatted 816lbs and deadlifted 784lbs. He could incline press
584lbs and do flat dumbbell presses with a slight incline of 8inches with 240# for ten
reps.
He always greeted me as “Brother Gus” or hey brother How’s it? He wasn’t my blood
brother, but he was my real brother in every sense.
Gave became a devout Christian. After a real taxing 3-hour workout, we would hit the
beach and loaded with endorphins we would watch the Hawaiian sunset surfers hitting
the waves, sailboats, and the most beautiful women in the world walking by he
commented. Whoever believes that this sunset, this turquoise blue water, pristine

beaches, ocean breezes, beautiful women of all colors, all sizes, whales coming up for
air is a result of the “Big Bang Theory” has got to be a moron.
I talked to him 3 days before he died and he didn’t want to Kidney Dialysis anymore. He
said, remember those times on the beach after workouts where tourists pay big bucks to
see what we saw daily, I want to meet the guy behind all that.
Thanks for the workouts. Thanks for the memories and thanks for always having my
back.

Aloha Brother,
Gus