Matt DuVall IFBB Pro: Gone but Not Forgotten

Matt DuVall IFBB Pro: Gone but Not Forgotten

It’s with great sadness that MUSCLE INSIDER magazine must report the passing of IFBB pro Matt DuVall. Details are still sketchy, but Matt had a heart attack and was found dead in his bathroom in Atlanta, Georgia. He was just 40 years of age. According to Elite Physique owner Dan Kennedy, DuVall earned his pro card by winning the super heavyweight class and overall title at the 2003 NPC Nationals, beating out such pro hopefuls as Bill Wilmore, Marcus Haley, and Fakhri Mubarak. Matt’s bodybuilding career was more successful than his competitive career. Acclaimed as the man with “bodybuilding’s strongest arms,” Matt enjoyed legions of fans and was an extremely popular athlete. Matt guest posed at the 2001 and 2002 Kingston Championships to thunderous applause. Matt’s passing is a great loss to his huge fan base and the bodybuilding community as a whole. RIP Matt.

“Matthew DuVall … I’m at a loss for words at your passing. We had so many great times together and am glad we at least caught up a few months ago. I can’t believe there won’t be any more. RIP my friend.”—Vince Pe, Athlete Relations Consultant

“I knew Matt briefly—nice guy, always smiling, always a positive athlete to be around. Way too young to pass. He will be missed, and I know he’d be happy for me to also mention his huge arms! RIP Matt, you lived large!”—Mark Gilbert B.Sc. (Nutrition) www.MuscleDiet.net

“I’m deeply saddened by the loss of Matt DuVall, and so is the entire bodybuilding industry. Matt was one of those rare bodybuilders who had not only freaky mass but also a freaky amount of training, diet, and supplement knowledge. This combination made him an exceptional endorsement athlete and ambassador for the sport of bodybuilding. I remember booking Matt for an arm-training photo shoot in LA the day after he competed at the Nationals. I asked him to train as heavy as he could, but I knew his strength would be limited due to the depletion and fatigue that comes with peaking for a contest. I just knew deep down that those massive arms would make Matt super-famous with fans if he was photographed curling massive weights! But to me that meant curling 70s, 80s, maybe 90-pound dumbbells. But when the photos came back, Matt shocked everyone. He did standing alternative dumbbell curls with 150s! Nobody could believe it. A photographer told me later that he had never seen any man curl more weight the day after a show than Matt did that day. When the photos were published in MuscleMag, Matt became a huge name right away. Everyone loved those arms, and the photos are still some of the most inspiring I’ve seen in years.
“When I saw Matt many months later at the Arnolds, he stopped me, set his briefcase down on the carpeted tradeshow floor, and started shaking my hand. In that soft voice Matt was known for, the big man shook my hand and calmly said, “Scott, those heavy curling photos were a blessing and a curse.” At that point, I was shitting my pants! Was I about to get my ass kicked by a 300-pound mass monster right in front all my work colleagues? I didn’t know if he was mad at me for insisting that he train so damn heavy or if he was genuinely trying to “thank me” for how awesome the photos turned out? Either way, he was controlling this conversation and I wasn’t going anywhere until he was done talking (and shaking my hand). He then explained that the photos had made him super famous at his gym and around his hometown. He said he was grateful for this and owed me a huge “thanks” for this. “But now every time I go to the gym, a kid will walk up and ask me to curl those 150s for him!”
“So I guess he had to curl the 150s from then on! He explained that he happily obliged by doing this for them, which he said was practically every time he went to the gym at one point! He laughed and said that he loved doing it to make the kids happy and tell their friends about it.
“I will always remember the mass inspiration you gave all of us, Matt, and the way you put others ahead of yourself. RIP.” —Scott Welch, Publisher, MUSCLE INSIDER magazine