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Milwaukee's Own ... Dick Bacon


Milwaukee loses a lakefront icon Dick Bacon, whose nude tanning knew no season, dies at 67

By Bob Helbig and Nick Sargent
of the Journal Sentinel staff
Last Updated: Aug. 19, 2000


On Jan. 21 of this year, with temperatures in the low teens, Dick Bacon enjoyed a warm 75 degrees in his homemade tanning tent at Lake Park.

Dick Bacon, Milwaukee's tanned-to-a-crisp sunbather who fought for the right to bare it all in public, died Friday at age 67 at his south side home.

He was in the nude when he died, a Milwaukee County medical examiner's report said.

Once described as having skin "tanned to about the shade of Turkish coffee," Bacon was a retired Pabst Brewery worker. At the age of 40, he gained local fame when he was crowned Mr. Nude America at an Indiana nudist camp in 1973. He beat out 30 competitors for the $500 prize.

Other titles followed: Mr. Nude Apollo in 1976. Mr. Nude Galaxy in 1977. His more recent claim to fame: posing as the strongman on the Alterra Coffee bag.

Bacon was a scrawny kid, his brother Howard said, but as "he started becoming a man" he filled out and took interest "in being one with nature."

Locals will remember his year-round joy for tanning, including using foil reflectors in winter so the rays could find his body. He had a passion for playing volleyball on the lakefront.

Bacon, who modeled at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, among other places, viewed the body as a work of art. He was sincere in pointing out the difference between sex and nudity, saying the two had nothing to do with each other. He also viewed nudity as the ultimate equalizer among people.

"It's kind of hard telling if you're a millionaire with no clothes on," he was fond of saying.

"There really isn't a serious art student in Milwaukee, who hasn't worked with him or has heard of him," said Tracey Kostreva, a local artist. "He has posed for students and professionals alike for many, many years. He loved what he did; he loved being part of the creative process."

Asked when he began sunbathing, Bacon explained that it all started before he was born, when his mother went to the beach while pregnant with him in the summer of 1932.

Bacon's propensity for public nudity kept him in the headlines. In the 1970s, he unsuccessfully lobbied to get a portion of the Lake Michigan shoreline declared clothing optional.

In 1977, he was charged with lewd and lascivious behavior for bathing in the nude at Bradford Beach on New Year's Day. About 1,000 people were there watching members of Milwaukee's Polar Bear Club take their annual dip.

"There was one time when some rookie cops approached Dick because he was sunbathing when it was 20 below," said longtime friend Tom La Rosa, recalling a Bacon anecdote. "They walked up to him and said, 'Aren't you cold?' And he said, 'I am now, you're standing in my sun.' For that they were going to take him to (Milwaukee) County (Mental Heath Complex)."

Former Milwaukee County Supervisor Fred Tabak knew Bacon for 35 years and served as Bacon's lawyer. When Bacon told Tabak he planned to take the annual Polar Bear plunge in the nude, Tabak warned him he'd be arrested. He was, but he promised the city attorney's office he wouldn't do it again.

The next year, when the plunge was approaching, he called Tabak again: " 'I gotta get down there again. I shouldn't have agreed not to do it.'

"And I told him, 'Dick, you're going to get arrested again. Call me when you get arrested and we'll deal with it.' "

In 1991, Bacon and friends were arrested for appearing nude just north of Bradford Beach as part of a promotion for a local radio station. Two radio stations fought over which deserved credit for putting up money to pay his fine.

Again, in 1993, he was cited for indecent exposure in the vicinity of Paradise Beach, north of the water filtration plant on N. Lincoln Memorial Drive.

"I'm getting sick and tired of my body being called indecent," Bacon told a reporter at the time. "My body isn't perfect, but it isn't indecent, and I haven't done anything indecent with it."

"His philosophy was do what you want, just live and let live," La Rosa said.

Bacon also was a charitable soul. He helped out at local fund-raisers for the American Heart Association of Wisconsin and made appearances on the WMVS-WMVT (Channels 10/36) television auction.

Besides his brother, of Milwaukee, Bacon is survived by a sister, Mary Rose Ried of Hartland.

According to Bacon's wishes, his remains will be cremated. A memorial service with be held Wednesday at Sass Funeral Home, 4747 S. 60th St. The time of the service will be announced later.
Click to expand...
 
^Awww Dick Van Patten from Eight is Enough!! I :heart: that show!


I was in a Program Management review meeting today and one of our PM's is named Dick. Whenever someone would mention his name or ask him a question, whenever his name was mentioned I sorta giggled to myself thinking of this thread. I wish I had a picture of the guy!! :lmao:
 
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