Oh, yeah! Double yeah!! I used to record him on VHS (!) and stop frame forward to freeze on the most muscular moments.
Actually, Singer came along when I was more (ahem) mature. Van Williams was part of the Robert Conrad, Troy Donahue, Tab Hunter cluster of shirtless guys I enjoyed in an earlier time. Good j/o material there.
But to be honest, my earliest memories are of the Charles Atlas drawings on the back of comic books. Sorry, folks, that's all I had back in the day! Well, OK, there were Superman and Captain Marvel inside the comic books. Shazam!