Classic American West Coast Boxing

[kikibalt]

Jose Becerra vs Alphonse Halimi

[kikibalt]

Jose Becerra vs Alphonse Halimi





That shot to the liver....

[Rick Farris]

Jose Becerra vs Alphonse Halimi





That shot to the liver....

Amen!

[dagosd2000]

Charlie Chaplin

[dagosd2000]

Rick
Do you know if the old Chaplin studios still exist?

[Rick Farris]

Rick
Do you know if the old Chaplin studios still exist?

Yeah, Rog. Today it's known as A&M Records on La Brea. The Charlie Chaplin Stage, is the only film stage on the property, which housed A&M Exec.s Herb Albert & Jerry Moss for years. Most of it is recording studios and the stage has been used for commercials, music videos, etc. On the Chaplain Stage, I'd have the great pleasure of working on a legendary music video, "We Are The World". And the best musician's in the world chipped in on this 80's Quincy Jones production. A few years back, A&M was bought out by a conglomerate, but the Chaplain Stg. is still a busy filming location and the recording studios, as well.

-Rick

[kikibalt]

Davey Moore vs Vince Delgado

Vince Delgado is an honorary WBHOF director. What a great guy Vince is, and a long-time Southern Cal referee/judge, as well. At a recent meeting, Vince and I discussed his cousin, another former West Coast headliner, Carlos Chavez.

Would anybody have any memories or stories regarding Carlos Chavez? Just curious.

-Rick Farris

Rick...Delgado was one of the best young fighters in the early 1950's that I seen, but he went into the army and when he came back he was not the same fighter he was before.

Carlos Chavez I seen fight a few time live and on TV, he was a good classic boxer, who couldn't punch much, but never the less he was a top ten fighter for a few years, Hap can tell you more then me about Chavez.

[Rick Farris]

Davey Moore vs Vince Delgado

Vince Delgado is an honorary WBHOF director. What a great guy Vince is, and a long-time Southern Cal referee/judge, as well. At a recent meeting, Vince and I discussed his cousin, another former West Coast headliner, Carlos Chavez.

Would anybody have any memories or stories regarding Carlos Chavez? Just curious.

-Rick Farris

Rick...Delgado was one of the best young fighters in the early 1950's that I seen, but he went into the army and when he came back he was not the same fighter he was before.

Carlos Chavez I seen fight a few time live and on TV, he was a good classic boxer, who couldn't punch much, but never the less he was a top ten fighter for a few years, Hap can tell you more then me about Chavez.

Thanks, Frank. I'm sure Hap can fill me in on Carlos Chavez. I know that he was killed in a street fight. I'd like to tell Vince your opinion of him as a fighter prior to the Army. He's somebody I plan to interview, I appreciate anything on Vince Delgado as well as Carlos Chavez.

-Rick Farris

[Rick Farris]

Davey Moore vs Vince Delgado

"Davey Moore was a monster", said Dwight Hawkins, Moore's sparring partner for both the Bassey and Ramos fights.
The Hawk loved Davey Moore like a big brother.

Dwight "The Hawk" Hawkins was a monster in his own right.


-Rick Farris

[Dongee]

Fellas:

I was privileged to make Vince Delgado's first six or seven matches at Hollywood, with intentiions to develop him into a main event attraction because he showed promise at the time and did not lose a fight. Johnny Forbes and Gig Rooney were managing him then, and moved him across town to other venues, against my wishes. Vince and I spoke briefly at the CBHOF induction banquet in 2006 as we recalled the old days. He really was a fine prospect at that time.

Carlos Chavez was one of the first products of the "kids glove tourneys" which became so popular in your day, Rick and Frankie. In fact the two brothers, Carlos and Alfredo were developed by Johnny Forbes and toured the state boxing exhibitions while being billed as "Dempsey vs Tunney".
Their bouts were okayed by the Athletic Commission under special dispensation, as I understood the deal.
I believe that the Chavez boys are the only two brothers to hold State Championships as professonals, simultaneously in the history of California boxing. Carlos ruled over the featherweight class while Alfredo held the flyweight belt.

hap navarro

[dagosd2000]

Davey Moore

[Rick Farris]

Fellas:

I was privileged to make Vince Delgado's first six or seven matches at Hollywood, with intentiions to develop him into a main event attraction because he showed promise at the time and did not lose a fight. Johnny Forbes and Gig Rooney were managing him then, and moved him across town to other venues, against my wishes. Vince and I spoke briefly at the CBHOF induction banquet in 2006 as we recalled the old days. He really was a fine prospect at that time.

Carlos Chavez was one of the first products of the "kids glove tourneys" which became so popular in your day, Rick and Frankie. In fact the two brothers, Carlos and Alfredo were developed by Johnny Forbes and toured the state boxing exhibitions while being billed as "Dempsey vs Tunney".
Their bouts were okayed by the Athletic Commission under special dispensation, as I understood the deal.
I believe that the Chavez boys are the only two brothers to hold State Championships as professonals, simultaneously in the history of California boxing. Carlos ruled over the featherweight class while Alfredo held the flyweight belt.

hap navarro

Hap . . . Thanks for the info on Vince Delgado and Chavez. I was happy to read that Carlos Chavez was one of the first L.A. Jr. Glovers. Vince is always a great guy to visit with and I'll tell him your memories when I see him next month.

-Rick Farris

[bennie]

What a coincidence that I just found these pics.

Frankie, who was the black guy holding the pads for Frank Junior in that film of him in the gym?

[kikibalt]

What a coincidence that I just found these pics.

Frankie, who was the black guy holding the pads for Frank Junior in that film of him in the gym?

Doug "Dub" Huntley, who fought as a middweight, I think he fought Carlos Monzon.

[scartissue]

Anyone catch Berto-Collazo last night? Great fight, however, I don't think Collazo's bodypunching is taken heed of by todays judges. I had him winning slightly. Although Berto grabbing his second wind and fighting with a mad flourish in the 11th and 12th did close the gap somewhat. I hope this is beginning a trend for HBO. Show us good matches like this like you used to.

Scartissue

[kikibalt]

Martin Ortiz, founder of Center of Mexican American Affairs, dies at 89


Andy Scott / Los Angeles Times
Martin Ortiz works the crowd at a tardeada at Whittier College. His tireless work with students stemmed from a past that taught him, "Don't just cry, qualify."
Ortiz founded the Center of Mexican American Affairs at Whittier College in 1968 to help recruit Latino students. Several of the school's cultural events are collectively called the Ortiz Programs.

By Elaine Woo
January 18, 2009

Martin Ortiz, who inspired thousands of Latino students to reach for college and earn degrees as the founding director of Whittier College's Center of Mexican American Affairs, has died. He was 89.

Ortiz, who had Parkinson's disease and pneumonia, died Monday at an assisted living facility in Whittier, according to Alex Tenorio, a longtime friend.

Soft-spoken but tenacious, Ortiz was an institution on the Whittier campus who was affectionately known as "El Jefe" (the boss) or simply as "Dad" for his dedication to recruiting Latino students, guiding them through the application process and helping them obtain scholarships, grants, internships and jobs.

Many of the students he helped enroll were the first in their families to attend college.

"Martin really had an impact on people. He pushed education. That was the message of his whole career," said William Estrada, a former assistant dean of Occidental College who is now curator of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Ortiz founded the Center of Mexican American Affairs in 1968, when few institutions of higher learning were reaching out to Latino youths. Over the decades of his advocacy, Latino enrollment at Whittier College, President Nixon's alma mater, grew more than fivefold to its current rate of 28%, among the highest in the nation for private four-year colleges and universities.

"He was a pioneer in the promotion and operation of programs geared to helping Latinos move on to college and succeed," said Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic Assn. of Colleges and Universities, a San Antonio-based group that promotes Latino success in education.

Ortiz's own road to college was strewn with bumps. Born Nov. 11, 1919, in Wichita, Kan., he grew up in poverty in a family of 12 children.

His mother died when he was 4, but he was close to his father, who rode with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa and never attended school, "not even for one day," Ortiz told the Los Angeles Times in 1994.

Although Ortiz went to school in Wichita, he was so unassimilated that in eighth grade he still knew little English. He never forgot the day a cruel teacher pinned a note on him that made his classmates point and jeer. The note read, "I am retarded."

He did not know what the note said until much later, "but I know that I didn't cry," he recalled in the interview in The Times. He resolved "to never let that happen to anyone again."

One piece of advice he often gave students decades later may have been rooted in that experience. "Don't cry -- qualify" became a favorite Ortiz slogan.

Some years would pass before Ortiz practiced what he would later preach. At 13, he dropped out of school and started riding the rails with two friends.

"We became hobos for 3 1/2 years," he said.

He worked in the fields, harvesting sugar beets, potatoes, apples and cotton. He learned to speak English.

When he tired of drifting, he returned to Wichita and entered high school, where he was one of three Latino students. In his senior year he was elected student council president, the first Latino in his school to hold the position.

He had no intention of pursuing college, but an Anglo classmate viewed his prospects differently. One morning the friend pulled Ortiz out of bed and took him to Wichita's Friends University, founded by Quakers in 1898. The friend gave him a clean shirt to wear to registration, and three other friends pitched in to cover the $200 tuition. Later, they tutored him, too.

World War II intervened, and Ortiz left the college after one semester to join the Marines in 1942. He served in the South Pacific as an aerologist and language specialist.

After the war, he moved to California and went to Whittier College on the GI Bill because he was interested in its YMCA management program.

Although he was a veteran who had served his country, he found Whittier unwelcoming. Barbers, restaurants and landlords turned him away. On his first day at Whittier College, where he was the only Latino in his class, a stranger eyed him suspiciously and asked, "Where do you think you're going?" Ortiz quietly replied, "To get an education."

After earning a sociology degree in 1948, he moved to Chicago, where he enrolled in a master's program at George Williams College (now Aurora University), taught Spanish at a YMCA and founded the city's Mexican American Council. He received his master's degree in 1950.

In 1958, he returned to Whittier College to teach sociology. Ten years later he launched the Center of Mexican American Affairs to provide support for Latino students, who by then comprised 5.5% of Whittier's enrollment.

Through the center he coordinated an array of support groups, including the Hispanic Students Assn., the Hispanic Parents Advisory Council, the alumni group Alianza de Los Amigos, and business advisory groups. He launched an annual tradition at the school: the tardeada, an afternoon reception held each fall to celebrate Latino culture and recognize Latino students and their parents.

The tardeada and other cultural events plus an orientation for Spanish-speaking parents have been named the Ortiz Programs in his honor.

Ortiz considered his involvement with parents crucial because many of them, like his own parents, had prodded their children to get jobs instead of an education.

"They're conditioned by the past," Ortiz said some years ago. "I tell parents that college is the future and their children belong in it."

Twice married, Ortiz is survived by his wife, Linda.

A memorial service will be held Jan. 25 at 2 p.m. at the Ruth B. Shannon Center at Whittier College, 13406 Philadelphia St., Whittier, CA 90608. Memorial donations may be sent to Whittier College for the Martin Ortiz Endowed Scholarship.

[email protected]

[kikibalt]

Anyone catch Berto-Collazo last night? Great fight, however, I don't think Collazo's bodypunching is taken heed of by todays judges. I had him winning slightly. Although Berto grabbing his second wind and fighting with a mad flourish in the 11th and 12th did close the gap somewhat. I hope this is beginning a trend for HBO. Show us good matches like this like you used to.

Scartissue

I did, and I don't think much of Berto, don't like the way he stands straight up with his chin up in the air, I thought Collazo won by at least 3 points, but by today standards he will be a star, can you see him in there with the guys from the 1960's-70's-80's? no way!

[kikibalt]

[kikibalt]

Alejandro Lavorante vs Zora Folley

[Boxingnut]

Anyone catch Berto-Collazo last night? Great fight, however, I don't think Collazo's bodypunching is taken heed of by todays judges. I had him winning slightly. Although Berto grabbing his second wind and fighting with a mad flourish in the 11th and 12th did close the gap somewhat. I hope this is beginning a trend for HBO. Show us good matches like this like you used to.

Scartissue

I did, and I don't think much of Berto, don't like the way he stands straight up with his chin up in the air, I thought Collazo won by at least 3 points, but by today standards he will be a star, can you see him in there with the guys from the 1960's-70's-80's? no way!

Damn!! I had £10 on Collazo at 3-1 which would have won me £40.

[dagosd2000]

Anyone catch Berto-Collazo last night? Great fight, however, I don't think Collazo's bodypunching is taken heed of by todays judges. I had him winning slightly. Although Berto grabbing his second wind and fighting with a mad flourish in the 11th and 12th did close the gap somewhat. I hope this is beginning a trend for HBO. Show us good matches like this like you used to.

Scartissue

I did, and I don't think much of Berto, don't like the way he stands straight up with his chin up in the air, I thought Collazo won by at least 3 points, but by today standards he will be a star, can you see him in there with the guys from the 1960's-70's-80's? no way!

Dan
I saw it also. Berto disappointed me. He loads up too much. I thought the fight could have gone either way. Frank's right about his posture. Needs to bend and weave more. Relax a little. But he does come to fight.

[dagosd2000]

Martin Ortiz, founder of Center of Mexican American Affairs, dies at 89


Andy Scott / Los Angeles Times
Martin Ortiz works the crowd at a tardeada at Whittier College. His tireless work with students stemmed from a past that taught him, "Don't just cry, qualify."
Ortiz founded the Center of Mexican American Affairs at Whittier College in 1968 to help recruit Latino students. Several of the school's cultural events are collectively called the Ortiz Programs.

By Elaine Woo
January 18, 2009

Martin Ortiz, who inspired thousands of Latino students to reach for college and earn degrees as the founding director of Whittier College's Center of Mexican American Affairs, has died. He was 89.

Ortiz, who had Parkinson's disease and pneumonia, died Monday at an assisted living facility in Whittier, according to Alex Tenorio, a longtime friend.

Soft-spoken but tenacious, Ortiz was an institution on the Whittier campus who was affectionately known as "El Jefe" (the boss) or simply as "Dad" for his dedication to recruiting Latino students, guiding them through the application process and helping them obtain scholarships, grants, internships and jobs.

Many of the students he helped enroll were the first in their families to attend college.

"Martin really had an impact on people. He pushed education. That was the message of his whole career," said William Estrada, a former assistant dean of Occidental College who is now curator of the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County.

Ortiz founded the Center of Mexican American Affairs in 1968, when few institutions of higher learning were reaching out to Latino youths. Over the decades of his advocacy, Latino enrollment at Whittier College, President Nixon's alma mater, grew more than fivefold to its current rate of 28%, among the highest in the nation for private four-year colleges and universities.

"He was a pioneer in the promotion and operation of programs geared to helping Latinos move on to college and succeed," said Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic Assn. of Colleges and Universities, a San Antonio-based group that promotes Latino success in education.

Ortiz's own road to college was strewn with bumps. Born Nov. 11, 1919, in Wichita, Kan., he grew up in poverty in a family of 12 children.

His mother died when he was 4, but he was close to his father, who rode with Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa and never attended school, "not even for one day," Ortiz told the Los Angeles Times in 1994.

Although Ortiz went to school in Wichita, he was so unassimilated that in eighth grade he still knew little English. He never forgot the day a cruel teacher pinned a note on him that made his classmates point and jeer. The note read, "I am retarded."

He did not know what the note said until much later, "but I know that I didn't cry," he recalled in the interview in The Times. He resolved "to never let that happen to anyone again."

One piece of advice he often gave students decades later may have been rooted in that experience. "Don't cry -- qualify" became a favorite Ortiz slogan.

Some years would pass before Ortiz practiced what he would later preach. At 13, he dropped out of school and started riding the rails with two friends.

"We became hobos for 3 1/2 years," he said.

He worked in the fields, harvesting sugar beets, potatoes, apples and cotton. He learned to speak English.

When he tired of drifting, he returned to Wichita and entered high school, where he was one of three Latino students. In his senior year he was elected student council president, the first Latino in his school to hold the position.

He had no intention of pursuing college, but an Anglo classmate viewed his prospects differently. One morning the friend pulled Ortiz out of bed and took him to Wichita's Friends University, founded by Quakers in 1898. The friend gave him a clean shirt to wear to registration, and three other friends pitched in to cover the $200 tuition. Later, they tutored him, too.

World War II intervened, and Ortiz left the college after one semester to join the Marines in 1942. He served in the South Pacific as an aerologist and language specialist.

After the war, he moved to California and went to Whittier College on the GI Bill because he was interested in its YMCA management program.

Although he was a veteran who had served his country, he found Whittier unwelcoming. Barbers, restaurants and landlords turned him away. On his first day at Whittier College, where he was the only Latino in his class, a stranger eyed him suspiciously and asked, "Where do you think you're going?" Ortiz quietly replied, "To get an education."

After earning a sociology degree in 1948, he moved to Chicago, where he enrolled in a master's program at George Williams College (now Aurora University), taught Spanish at a YMCA and founded the city's Mexican American Council. He received his master's degree in 1950.

In 1958, he returned to Whittier College to teach sociology. Ten years later he launched the Center of Mexican American Affairs to provide support for Latino students, who by then comprised 5.5% of Whittier's enrollment.

Through the center he coordinated an array of support groups, including the Hispanic Students Assn., the Hispanic Parents Advisory Council, the alumni group Alianza de Los Amigos, and business advisory groups. He launched an annual tradition at the school: the tardeada, an afternoon reception held each fall to celebrate Latino culture and recognize Latino students and their parents.

The tardeada and other cultural events plus an orientation for Spanish-speaking parents have been named the Ortiz Programs in his honor.

Ortiz considered his involvement with parents crucial because many of them, like his own parents, had prodded their children to get jobs instead of an education.

"They're conditioned by the past," Ortiz said some years ago. "I tell parents that college is the future and their children belong in it."

Twice married, Ortiz is survived by his wife, Linda.

A memorial service will be held Jan. 25 at 2 p.m. at the Ruth B. Shannon Center at Whittier College, 13406 Philadelphia St., Whittier, CA 90608. Memorial donations may be sent to Whittier College for the Martin Ortiz Endowed Scholarship.

[email protected]

Nice article Frank
You see fellas like Ortiz in the Mexican community who are unselfish and want to give guidance. I had a principal once like him. Worked in the fields as a kid with his parents. The guy's name is Sam Montes.(great boxing fan too. Ran with Bobby Chacon in Pocoima).

Montes would look out at the playground and say to me,"Rog,I see a lot of little Sammy Montes's out there."

A good man,like Senor Ortiz

[dagosd2000]

Anyone catch Berto-Collazo last night? Great fight, however, I don't think Collazo's bodypunching is taken heed of by todays judges. I had him winning slightly. Although Berto grabbing his second wind and fighting with a mad flourish in the 11th and 12th did close the gap somewhat. I hope this is beginning a trend for HBO. Show us good matches like this like you used to.

Scartissue

I did, and I don't think much of Berto, don't like the way he stands straight up with his chin up in the air, I thought Collazo won by at least 3 points, but by today standards he will be a star, can you see him in there with the guys from the 1960's-70's-80's? no way!

Damn!! I had £10 on Collazo at 3-1 which would have won me £40.

That's 80 big ones here!!

[kikibalt]

[dagosd2000]

Rick
Do you know if the old Chaplin studios still exist?

Yeah, Rog. Today it's known as A&M Records on La Brea. The Charlie Chaplin Stage, is the only film stage on the property, which housed A&M Exec.s Herb Albert & Jerry Moss for years. Most of it is recording studios and the stage has been used for commercials, music videos, etc. On the Chaplain Stage, I'd have the great pleasure of working on a legendary music video, "We Are The World". And the best musician's in the world chipped in on this 80's Quincy Jones production. A few years back, A&M was bought out by a conglomerate, but the Chaplain Stg. is still a busy filming location and the recording studios, as well.

-Rick

Rick
Thanks for getting back to me on that.

One more quick one. Did DesiLu buy RKO Studios,and are those studios still around?