Bob Gajda was steroid free as was his friend Ralph Kleiner who the 1962 Mr. A. Both from Chicago. They were the last 2 national, international champs to be PED free. He beat Sergio, another friend in Chicago, due to racism of the judges. Sergio was in better condition, Bob would even say so. At that time Sergio was natural, look at how he exploded from then on. I think you should reconsider your comment.
Sorry, if I had to bet money, I'd say he was on steroids: Nothing personal. A lot of people who took steroids denied doing so, including Steve Reeves.
You would lose and the first readily available steroid-Dianabol- was manufactured in 1958, nearly a decade too late to have helped Steve Reeves. That picture of Bob, circa when he beat Arnold, was a mature body. Arnold lost- and he was on the juice- due to his age, his body was not mature and fully developed from head to toe like Bob was.
As I understand it, Dianabol (methandienone) was not the first anabolic steroid. Not long after the primary male hormone, testosterone, was identified in 1935, Leopold Ruzicka developed a synthetic version of testosterone, for which he won a Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Human trials began in 1937. Within a few years, the first anabolic steroid, testosterone propionate, became available. Maybe Reeves did, maybe Reeves didn't. But when I hear hoofbeats, I think horses not zebras. The Mr. Olympia trophy is a likeness of Eugen Sandow, who lived well before any form of steroids existed. He was considered the physical ideal in his day. He didn't hold a candle to Reeves. So was Reeves natural? Anything's possible. But is that how the smart money would bet? I'll leave it as an open question. But I have little doubt that your friend was assisted in that photo I posted in my previous post. Sorry, just calling it as I see it.