Fee King

I rarely felt lonely or alone while living in LA because of the  support system that I created as soon as I arrived  in 1995.  While leaving Bally Total Fitness Healthy Club in Hollywood, I would meet a celebrity trainer, named Herman C. Nash, while pumping my gas at a station on Hollywood Blvd, just a few short months after relocating to LA from Houston, Tx.

 He rolled up on me in his fancy silver shinny brand new Lincoln Navigator. He was so Hollywood; so I thought. Ofcourse he was flirting. He offered to buy my gas. I thought to myself, Oh! We are going to be friends. A Black man in LA chatting me up means I ought to keep hope alive. That’s a running joke about black men not dating black women in LA. You had to be there.

I invited him to a play I was in. i was shocked to see him in the audience. He sat in the front row and slept through the majority of the performance.  He tried to get me as a client. I was new in town, working full-time at a Hotel in Century; so that I could pursue acting classes and perform in theatrical shows in the evening.  Therefore, there was no extra money left over for personal training. Because I appreciated his hustle and his charm, I vowed to help him get clients. I now realize I should’ve negotiated a 10% commission.

Nash had a way of making everyone around him feel seen, valued and loved. He was a hustler in the best sense of the word and he was the hardest working man I know. He seemed to make the possible out of the impossible. He knew how to make money. Nash could turn lemons into lemonade any day of the week. He also knew how to make people feel special.

Nash was the most passionate, committed and talented celebrity trainer in W. Hollywood, Carson and South Central.  He was a devoted father, friend, business partner, son, brother and nephew. Our friendship spanned over twenty years.  Nash’s friends, children, nieces and nephews, sisters and his mom became my extended family.   I know that GOD brought us into one another’s lives to make my time in LA more enjoyable.  He was my friend, my dawg and my homie. I miss him dearly.  We were two fellow librans who loved everything about health, fitness and training.  Today Nash would’ve been 57 years young.  I miss him every single day. Rest in Peace my dear friend:  Herman C. Nash.  I’ll always love you.   Fee King