Rick Farris wrote:The Hollywood Legion's Boxing Ring . . .kikibalt wrote:Hollywood Legion Stadium
I wish I could have sat ringside for a couple of the greats fights that Frank saw there, matches that were made by our Hap Navarro. I always had a curiosity about the Hollywood Legion. It had been gone a few years by the time I stated boxing.
My manager Johnnie Flores, who built boxing rings, inherited the Legion ring's corner poles. Johnnie would rent boxing rings to promoters, however, he was never able to use these corner pieces because they were too heavy to transport, so they just lay under his gym ring for years. One evening after I finsished working out with another boxer, Johnnie asked me if I wanted to make some extra money. My buddy and I were teenagers and always looking for a way to supplement our part-time income from the Jack-In-The-Box stand we worked in on weekends.
Johnny told us that if we were willing to pull the four heavy poles from under the ring, we could take them to a scrap metal yard and make a fortune, since the poles were so heavy. "They pay you by the pound", Johnnie told us.
That night, my friend and I agree to pick-up the poles after school the next day. I'd just bought an old '55 Ford pick-up truck for $400 and this would be my first opportunity to use the truck to haul something. I knew the poles would be heavy, but my buddy was a heavyweight so lifting the steel out of the gym and loading into the truck shouldn't be much of a problem, I thought.
The next day, I pick-up my buddy and we head to Johnnie's. Flores wan't home and his wife Rose unlocked the Gym for us. Since I'm the smallest, I must climb under the ring and roll the polls to the side, where we can life them out. I go under, try to push one of the poles to the side and it wouldn't budge, like it was stuck to the cement floor. I finally brace myself and push my feet against the bottom of the ring and slowly roll all four to the side, one at a time. That took about half an hour. We then try to lift the poles up and out from under the ring, but it was no easy job, those things were so damn heavy the two of us could barely lift them, but we did, and about an hour later finally had all four in my truck. We tied a red rag to the back of the load since it was sticking way out the back of the pick-up truck bed.
Before we climb into the cab of the truck, I look at how the load is resting in my truck. The back was weighed down so much it looked like the front wheels were going raise off the ground, like a dragster doing a "wheelie" as it leaves the starting line. We'd wasted enough time loading the steel and wanted to hit the road and find a scrap metal yard. As we drove, we knew we had a fortune in scrap metal in our possession, and started to plan how we'd spend the money, my friend considered using his half as down payment on a motorcycle he wanted. I'd probably just open a bank account with my half? We headed up to San Fernando Road and found a scrap metal yard in Sun Valley.
The guy who manged the Scrap yard watched us pull in and stepped out to the truck. He looked over the load and said he'd buy it. I asked if he wanted us to unload the poles to weigh them and the guy told me leave them in the truck and he'd weigh the truck with the poles in the bed, then after unloading them would weigh the truck again, then do the math.
A few minutes later the truck was weighed and the man's helpers unloaded the weight from my truck. The old Ford pick-up actually looked relieved to have the weight off it's back. The guy went to the scale, jotted down a number and then went to his cash register. He pulled out a small wad of cash and brought it to us. All totaled the four heavy ring posts were worth a little under $19.
Needless to say, the amount fell way below what we expected to get, but what the hell, we took the money and left. We each made about nine bucks, which wasn't so bad in 1969. Jack-In-The-Box was paying us about $1.50 an hour back then. At the time I could buy gas for 25 cents a gallon (gas war price). Al didn't get his down payment and I didn't open a savings account, but Johnny got rid of his junk, and nine bucks beat a sharp-stick-in-the-eye, so we were happy.
In those days, all we were concerned about was the upcoming L.A. Golden Gloves Championships. In our minds, were were one day going to get rich boxing. It was fun to dream. Now it's fun to remember. Those truly were "the good old days".
And to my good friend, heavyweight Alan "Kit" Boursse', rest in peace amigo.
-Rick Farris
Rick....I have lots of fond momories of the Hollywood Legion, but the one I treasure the most is the night that Keeny Teran, shown in a 1946 photo above, fought Gil Cadilli in a 6 rounder and Enrique Bolanos vs Eddie Chavez in the main, no matter how old I get, I will never forget that nite, that nite lives on with me.....
