Below is a link to another article, from the San Francisco Chronicle, a beloved Sunday treat in our house while I was growing up. Sounds like Jack's early years were rougher than I'd thought. Some excerpts:

- Mr. LaLanne described himself as a skinny, pimply kid addicted to sugar. His behavioral problems were extreme. He attacked his brother, attempted suicide and tried to burn down his house. His overweight father died of a heart attack at 50. I was "a miserable goddamn kid," Mr. LaLanne told The Chronicle. "It was like hell."

- At 40, he towed a 2,000-pound cabin cruiser as he swam the Golden Gate Channel. When he was 42, he did a record 1,033 pushups in 23 minutes.

- When he was 60, Mr. LaLanne swam from Alcatraz to Fisherman's Wharf - while handcuffed, shackled and towing a boat.

- His show ran for 34 years in the United States and Europe. He maintained a youthful physique and joked in 2006: "I can't afford to die. It would wreck my image."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/01/23/MN3T1HDCIB.DTL