Tom Platz
American professional bodybuilder

Thomas Steven Platz (born June 26, 1955) is an American retired professional bodybuilder. He was known for his leg development, which in his prime measured over 76.2 cm, earning him the nickname The Quadfather.
Platz was part of Vince McMahon's short-lived World Bodybuilding Federation (WBF). He ambushed the closing ceremonies of Mr. Olympia 1990 to announce its formation, after attending the event with McMahon as representatives of Bodybuilding Lifestyles magazine.
He is known contemporarily for seminar speeches on his life, work, inspirations, and motivation as well as for helping to train bodybuilders like David Hoffmann.
Early life
Tom Platz was born on June 26, 1955. Upon looking at a Mr. Universe magazine at the age of 11 he decided to become a professional bodybuilder. At the age of 15, he weighed around 165 pounds.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Tom Platz” is american professional bodybuilder. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Platz, American and professional, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “american professional bodybuilder” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q547825. VIAF identifies the subject as 43250635. The Library of Congress control number is n84188320. 4 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1955 and 1990.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Tom Platz”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Tom Platz primary sources, Tom Platz archive and Platz research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Tom Platz”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Tom Platz” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.