American Gladiators Now and Then

SI Staff | Jul 1, 2016

American Gladiators Now and Then

NITRO (1989-92, '94-95)

Courtesy of Dan Clark

Seven years after publishing his first book, Gladiator, about his life in the limelight, Dan Clark is working on a second book, Cultivating Happiness, about life after a heart attack. He is also the brains and brawn behind Gladiator ’N Run, a 5K fun run through the California mud.

LASER (1989-96)

Samuel Goldwyn Television/Everett Collection

A pioneering fitness pitchman for companies like 24-Hour Fitness and Apex, Jim Starr s the director of product development for Life Time Fitness, a Minnesota-based chain of high-end gyms. Hearing his then one-year-old daughter calling for him over the cheers of the studio audience remains his proudest moment on Gladiators.

BLAZE (1989-92)

Samuel Goldwyn Television/Everett Collection

If you live in the Bellflower, Calif., area and are a parent to a student in grades K through 12, there’s chance Sha-Ri Pendleton-Mitchell might turn up in their classroom to substitute teach. After the final bell, you can find her on the track at St. John Bosoco High, coaching a track team that includes her son, Re-Al, a promising sophomore sprinter.

GEMINI (1989-92)

Samuel Goldwyn Television/Everett Collection; Joe Robbins/Getty Images

Michael Horton works as a physical fitness consultant in the Los Angeles area. The youngest of his three children, Wes (inset), a fourth-year defensive end with the Carolina Panthers, can’t remember much of his experiences visiting the Gladiator set as a three-year-old.

ICE (1991-96)

Samuel Goldwyn Television/Everett Collection

When Gladiators was at its peak, Lori Fetrick made guest appearances on everything from Who’s the Boss? to Ellen; now she travels the country conducting seminars on health and financial wellness.

MALIBU (1991-92)

Batman Forever and Mortal Kombat: Annihilation are just a few of Deron McBee’s film credits. He’s gone from playing comic book characters to using markers, color pencils and watercolors to render them while working avocationally as a graphic artist.

SABRE (1993-96)

NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images

Red Williams parlayed his Gladiators fame into a starring role as Jax in the 1997 box office hit Mortal Kombat: Annihilation. These days a married father of two and grandfather of three, Williams teaches scripture in the San Pedro, Calif., area.

DALLAS (1994-98)

After successful post-Gladiator forays into boxing and wrestling, Shannon Hall now trains MMA fighters. She’ll be in Kenia Rosas’s corner for her pro debut against champion judoka Mackenzie Dern on July 22.

MIKE ADAMLE (1989-96)

Samuel Goldwyn Television/Everett Collection

Adamle is a mainstay at NBC 5 Chicago, where he’s the sports director and an anchor. Like many of his fellow cast mates, he still works out like a fiend and confesses that sometimes he wakes up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat, singing the Gladiators theme song.

JOHN FERRARO (1982-present)

He doesn’t impersonate Elvis nearly as much as he used to. He’s determined to revive the Gladiators franchise and make it everlasting.