For those of you who don't know, $ Bill is, what is it? 93-years-old today. Fantastic! He has seen many of the greatest and not-so-greats of yesterday, including Jack Dempsey, Charley Burley, and countless others. Who else, $ bill? He used to share his memories with us. Just ask him, and he'll share more of his incredible memories of going to some historic cards.
Hope you have a great day, and year to come, $ bill. :)
Last edited by Ric on 09 Jan 2003, 12:54, edited 2 times in total.
Thanks. Appreciate the thoughts. Doing some local research right now. Helping out a little. Found a few bouts. I admire the staff research efforts. It's not an easy thing. 93 is right. Health so-so. Mind not up to snuff anymore. Plus I ramble on, sorry.
:P You share a birthday with Gilligan (Bob Denver), football's Bart Starr, former President Richard Nixon, folk singer Joan Baez, and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page.
Besides wanting to wish "Happy Birthday" to $ Bill - a long-time visitor to BoxRec, I also had another goal in mind for this thread.
At the BoxRec Forum, we all usually desire that all topics to be tangential to the subject of boxing. So, what does wishing a BoxRec visitor like $ Bill have to do with boxing?
Well, first of all: $ Bill has a very long, extensive, and quite detailed memory of boxers, places, and dates. In private messages to some BoxRec Editors, such as me, he recalls old-time boxing information in superb detail.
$ Bill: Please share with us your witness of boxers from "your days."
My favorite boxer to watch was Ray (Windmill) White. I saw him on TV a number of times in Southern California. He has been mentioned on this Forum before by people who know him or saw him fight. I may have even told this before. Don't remember (senility). First better describe him. He was tall and lanky. Thinning hair. Not a typical boxers build to say the least. If any of you watch Star Trek. Captain Picard is a likeness of him. How he got his nickname. Windmill. The story was told. Then I saw it happen. He would swing his one arm around like a propellar and when his opponent would look at it. He would hit him with the other hand. This is another visual. He grabbed the opponent around his neck and pulled his head down around waist level with the opponents head sticking out to the back. He swung around behind his own back and hit him with the other hand. The referee started toward him to break them up. Ray held an open glove up in front of the referees face and shook his head "no" like a wrestler does when he's choking, pulling hair, or trunks. As he was releasing him. He gave him another behind the back punch. Another thing he did was fall against the ropes and then fell forward on his opponent with his head on the guys shoulder like he had been knocked out. His long arms were just hanging limp to the side. He was a clown. Other Ray White fans probably have other stories about him. One was told about him kneeling and didn't get up fast enough and was counted out. He said "Ah ref I was only foolin". Didn't here that statement at the time. But do remember that KO. After he got up he walked toward the Ref with both gloved hands outstreched like he was pleading. Need more of that. Boxing is supposed to be entertainment.
