Tony O'Connor has impressive body of work

If there's a downside to Savannah bodybuilder Tony O'Connor's most recent run of success, it's that the trophies are cluttering his home.

"The last nine are in the hallway," O'Connor said of trophies he earned in the past four weeks. "We've got to find some room."

His office is full, as is the display above his fireplace. Winning a career 45 national titles in the National Physique Committee requires suitable storage space.

O'Connor became eligible for a new age division when he turned 70 - yes, 70 - in December, though he still competes with the younger guys. And no, those 60-year-olds aren't exactly happy about it.

"Some of them say, 'Oh, no,'" O'Connor said. "I do my homework. If they don't, it's not my fault."

His "homework" is meticulously training and fine-tuning his 5-foot-7, 180-pound frame (with 2 percent body fat) for the demands of his sport. He didn't build his body overnight. At 20 years old, the Englishman was 132 pounds before getting into weight training.

The local boxing gym was the place to work out, but it didn't have weights, so he made his own, he said.

A retired engineer, O'Connor came to the United States 28 years ago and is married to a Savannah woman. He became a nutritionist and personal trainer who has trained others at no cost just for the fun of it. Now he's contracted through the Islands YMCA.

He organizes the Southern Isles Bodybuilding, Figure, Physique and Wheelchair Championships in Savannah each June, and he still competes with no end in sight.

"I'll keep going as long as I can," O'Connor said. "I'm good at what I do. According to what I do, and according to the head judges, there's nobody like me in my age category."

Those words are backed up by results, including being honored in 2009 as the over age 40 bodybuilder of the year by Bodybuilding.com. He was 66.

This year, O'Connor began training in February for competition. On July 11-12 at the NPC Southern States Bodybuilding Championships in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., he won the Grand Masters Over 70 and Masters Over 60 middleweight and overall titles (four trophies in all). O'Connor previously won overall titles (based on age, not weight) at this show in his 50s and 60s.

On Aug. 2 at the Dexter Jackson Classic in Jacksonville, Fla., O'Connor captured the Masters Over 60 and Grand Masters Over 70 titles.

Last Saturday at the NPC Excalibur Championships in Charleston, S.C., perhaps the only thing keeping O'Connor from winning was a bad storm, which delayed the finals that night. He collected Over 60 and Over 70 titles as well as a sword as the outstanding athlete of the show.

"You never know who's going to show up. I show up in the best condition I can to compete," said O'Connor, who said he's never lost an age-related division and has always finished in the top five in divisions open to younger competitors.

One upside to all of the dieting and sacrifice O'Connor endures is that he can celebrate after the competition. On Saturday, that meant pizza and beer. A favorite destination is Waffle House.

"I eat everything on the menu," he said. "Everything."