Vic Tanny

Victor Vic Tanny, born Victor A. Iannidinardo on February 18, 1912, in Rochester, New York, and died on June 11, 1985, was an American bodybuilder, entrepreneur and physical culture advocate, considered a pioneer of the modern health club. He was born into an Italian family, his father was a tailor, and amid anti-Italian sentiment during World War II some of his family members legally shortened the surname Iannidinardo to Ianni, from which he made the new surname Tanny. In 1935, while a full-time school teacher, he opened his first fitness club in his parents' Rochester garage, a gym that uniquely had carpeting, bright colors and background music. In 1939 he closed it, moved west and attended the University of Southern California, and that year he and his younger brother Armand Tanny opened their first gym, West Coast Tanny, near Santa Monica Beach.