Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Randyman]

These are vintage photos and I'm guessing they are from some time in the 1930's. Maybe someone will recognize the car model and year.


Larry and Marcella


My uncle Tony and aunt Lilly, Uncle Larry and aunt Marcella


Lilly, Larry and Marcella

[Randyman]

Sometime in the 1950's....


Larry and Marcella


I have no idea who the women with my uncle are

[kikibalt]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgDI91Q81p0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AyEMRZJgrQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rthf4CDbKEg

Frankie Baltazar vs Jose Chango Cruz

I'm amazed every time I see that fight, simply because it was only Frankie's sixth fight. He fought like a seasoned pro. He was a well schooled fighter.

Randy

Randy...Frankie had been boxing 12 years at time of the Chango Cruz fight, and what made Frankie a "well schooled fighter" was that he listened when he was given advise during a fight. easiest fighter I ever worked with....

[Randyman]

Larry and my father Andrew, early 1960's.


My father, Larry and younger brother Dennis, early 1970's.


Me at 18 (with the long hair) my brother Dennis, uncle Larry, my father, uncle Jimmy and my cousin Gary.

This last photo was taken at my going away party when I was leaving for Navy Boot Camp. By the end of the night that shirt was soaked in blood and ripped to shreds. I got in fight with 11 guys that night and was stabbed and ended up in the hospital. It took fifty stitches in my back and twenty five in my hand altogether to sew me up. I ended up going into the Navy about two months later than I had planned. Maybe I'll write about that night someday.

I wonder what Mel would say about my hair?

[Rick Farris]

Sometime in the 1950's....


Larry and Marcella


I have no idea who the women with my uncle are

Cheers to Uncle Larry!

[Randyman]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tgDI91Q81p0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AyEMRZJgrQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rthf4CDbKEg

Frankie Baltazar vs Jose Chango Cruz

I'm amazed every time I see that fight, simply because it was only Frankie's sixth fight. He fought like a seasoned pro. He was a well schooled fighter.

Randy

Randy...Frankie had been boxing 12 years at time of the Chango Cruz fight, and what made Frankie a "well schooled fighter" was that he listened when he was given advise during a fight. easiest fighter I ever worked with....

Frank, Mel was big on fighters who listened. He wouldn't waste his time on a fighter that didn't listen.

Randy

[Randyman]

I apologize for so many photos but I have my uncle on my mind.....

[Randyman]

Frankie Crawford at 14 . . .

He had just won a novice Golden Gloves Championship in Cleveland when he decided it was time to split to Los Angeles.
He was a skinny kid, wirey tough, alarmingly strong to those who made the mistake of underestimating him.
Frank Crawford was never the bigger man in a fight, but more often than not, he'd be standing over a body in the end.

Frank's Jr. High School boy's dean encouraged the teenager to "follow his dreams".
Perhaps he was hoping to reduce his case load?

Frankie Crawford stood up for those who couldn't. He'd learned that bullies hate a challenge, especially a proven fist fighter.
So when somebody made the unforgivable error of disrespecting his little sister, Christina ("Choo-Choo" he'd nicknamed her.), they'd have to answer to a windmill of blows that often left blood and teeth in the street. Everybody's blood & teeth, including his own.

Crawford packed a bag and promised his little sis that he would "make it big" in California, and then return to get her and the family.
For the record, this was a promise that he would keep, enabling several to find successfull careers in the film industry.

Crawford would hitch-hike West and find his way to the front door Jake Shagrue.
Shagrue was a local legend in L.A. and ran the Hoover Street Gym in South Los Angeles.
He let the skinny kid sleep in a small garge located behind his home, which was next door to his gym.
The kid shared the garage with a prelim fighter, Manny Lugo.
Crawford would clean the gym, and box with a variety of top pros under Shagrue's experienced eye.

Jake Shagrue understood guys like Frankie Crawford. The salty Navy vet had been a fighter, a trainer and a survivor.
They're relationship worked, Shagrue could give him the start he needed.
Jake also was about to guide the career of a hot unbeaten heavyweight, Joey Orbillo.
With Orbillo and Crawford in his stable, Jake Shagrue carried some weight in L.A. boxing circles.

I'll continue on with Crawford, Shagrue, and others who were a part of this.
I don't know everything about Frankie Crawford, but I know quite a bit. He was a special fighter, a throw-back to a different era.

More later . . .


-Rick Farris

Keep'em coming Rick. This is Real Boxing History101. I learn something everyday.

Randy

[Rick Farris]

d

[Randyman]

I almost forgot this last photo. It's my favorite of my uncle Larry. I'm guessing it's from the late 1930's.


Larry and Marcella

[Rick Farris]

Me at 18 (with the long hair) my brother Dennis, uncle Larry, my father, uncle Jimmy and my cousin Gary.
I wonder what Mel would say about my hair?
--------------------------------------------------------

Mel would say:

"What in the hell is wrong with you. You look like one of dem God damn Beatles, with that filthy bug invested hair-do like a damn broad. The filthy bastids have ruined the country and if I ever see dat Ed Sullivan I'm going to punch da bastid right in the nose!! Get a fighter's haircut, like Dempsey, that Bobby Chacon's gotta fighta's haircut, so does dat Art Hafey. He looks like a fighta, not a pinko-hippie bastid . . ."

Or something like that. Right

[Randyman]

Me at 18 (with the long hair) my brother Dennis, uncle Larry, my father, uncle Jimmy and my cousin Gary.
I wonder what Mel would say about my hair?
--------------------------------------------------------

Mel would say:

"What in the hell is wrong with you. You look like one of dem God damn Beatles, with that filthy bug invested hair-do like a damn broad. The filthy bastids have ruined the country and if I ever see dat Ed Sullivan I'm going to punch da bastid right in the nose!! Get a fighter's haircut, like Dempsey, that Bobby Chacon's gotta fighta's haircut, so does dat Art Hafey. He looks like a fighta, not a pinkohippie bastid . . ."

Or something like that. Right?

Was Mel whispering in your ear? Almost word for word that's just about what he would say. He gave me hell when my hair touched my ears or my shirt collar. I never showed him this photo.

Randy

[Rick Farris]

Me at 18 (with the long hair) my brother Dennis, uncle Larry, my father, uncle Jimmy and my cousin Gary.
I wonder what Mel would say about my hair?
--------------------------------------------------------

Mel would say:

"What in the hell is wrong with you. You look like one of dem God damn Beatles, with that filthy bug invested hair-do like a damn broad. The filthy bastids have ruined the country and if I ever see dat Ed Sullivan I'm going to punch da bastid right in the nose!! Get a fighter's haircut, like Dempsey, that Bobby Chacon's gotta fighta's haircut, so does dat Art Hafey. He looks like a fighta, not a pinkohippie bastid . . ."

Or something like that. Right?

Was Mel whispering in your ear? Almost word for word that's just about what he would say. He gave me hell when my hair touched my ears or my shirt collar. I never showed him this photo.

Randy

Randy . . . I heard it every day for years. I'll never forget what he said, because he said it EVERY DAY.
And he also believed that Ed Sullivan was a Communist conspiritor, etc. The Beatles pushed Mel over the edge.
And yeah, Mel really does still whisper in my ear. No joke.

[Randyman]

Me at 18 (with the long hair) my brother Dennis, uncle Larry, my father, uncle Jimmy and my cousin Gary.
I wonder what Mel would say about my hair?
--------------------------------------------------------

Mel would say:

"What in the hell is wrong with you. You look like one of dem God damn Beatles, with that filthy bug invested hair-do like a damn broad. The filthy bastids have ruined the country and if I ever see dat Ed Sullivan I'm going to punch da bastid right in the nose!! Get a fighter's haircut, like Dempsey, that Bobby Chacon's gotta fighta's haircut, so does dat Art Hafey. He looks like a fighta, not a pinkohippie bastid . . ."

Or something like that. Right?

Was Mel whispering in your ear? Almost word for word that's just about what he would say. He gave me hell when my hair touched my ears or my shirt collar. I never showed him this photo.

Randy

Randy . . . I heard it every day for years. I'll never forget what he said, because he said it EVERY DAY.
And he also believed that Ed Sullivan was a Communist conspiritor, etc. The Beatles pushed Mel over the edge.

Don't forget his favorite whipping boy, Elvis! Mel was actually glad the day Elvis died. That was one of the few times I was pissed at Mel.

[THEHAMMER321]

Frank I was thinking of two brothers who fought at the same time as Tony and Frankie although much smaller one brother was a big banger like Tony while the other brother was a good boxer like Frankie one hint they were Hispanic

[Rick Farris]

Was Mel whispering in your ear? Almost word for word that's just about what he would say. He gave me hell when my hair touched my ears or my shirt collar. I never showed him this photo.

Randy

Randy . . . I heard it every day for years. I'll never forget what he said, because he said it EVERY DAY.
And he also believed that Ed Sullivan was a Communist conspiritor, etc. The Beatles pushed Mel over the edge.

Don't forget his favorite whipping boy, Elvis! Mel was actually glad the day Elvis died. That was one of the few times I was pissed at Mel.

That's right! It was Sullivan's first act as a "pinko".
There was something wrong with Elvis too.
Elvis was the beginning of the end.

[Randyman]

Frank I was thinking of two brothers who fought at the same time as Tony and Frankie although much smaller one brother was a big banger like Tony while the other brother was a good boxer like Frankie one hint they were Hispanic

Alberto and Richie Sandoval?

[Rick Farris]

Frank I was thinking of two brothers who fought at the same time as Tony and Frankie although much smaller one brother was a big banger like Tony while the other brother was a good boxer like Frankie one hint they were Hispanic

The Sandoval's?

[Randyman]

Randy . . . I heard it every day for years. I'll never forget what he said, because he said it EVERY DAY.
And he also believed that Ed Sullivan was a Communist conspiritor, etc. The Beatles pushed Mel over the edge.

Don't forget his favorite whipping boy, Elvis! Mel was actually glad the day Elvis died. That was one of the few times I was pissed at Mel.

That's right! It was Sullivan's first act as a "pinko".
There was something wrong with Elvis too.
Elvis was the beginning of the end.

I wonder if Mel was right??

[Rick Farris]

I wonder if Mel was right??
-------------------------------

Of course.

[Randyman]

I promised my granddaughter she could use the computer for her homework assignment. You guys have a good night!!

Randy

[dagosd2000]

Thanks guys for the kind words about my uncle Larry. I appreciate it. I feel kind of bad. I hadn’t seen him in years. I meant to but I didn’t get around to it. Something always came up. Near the end of last year I was planning on visiting him but I got the flu and then pneumonia so I had to put it off. I figured I would do it after the holidays. Little did I know that he had already died on December 23. Nobody knew. My aunt didn’t spread the word. My cousin Louie Burke called me from Las Cruces. He’d seen the obituary and called to see what I knew. Another cousin, Tony Garcia from Silver City saw the obit and called as well. Nobody knew anything. I called my uncle Gilbert in Arizona and he had just found out the same way I did, someone called and told him about the obituary. So yesterday, I skipped work and went to see my uncle Henry and he found out when he saw the obit. I should mention that there is some hard feelings in the family. One uncle doesn’t talk to another and so forth.

When my father was alive everyone got along. He made sure of it. After he died, one by one they stopped talking with each other, which is why everyone lost touch. Over the years, I would contact one of them but it became work. There were once ten brothers and sisters, now there are only three, Henry, Gilbert and Tony. One uncle didn’t say anything bad about Larry but he also didn’t seem to broken up, I won’t repeat what the other one said. The men in my family take their grudges to the grave with them.

The obit piece says a little about my uncle but leaves out so much. In his early years he was not such a good guy and did some bad things but he mellowed when he got older. I’m sure he had his regrets. He owned several pool halls in east Los Angeles and was a professional gambler. He was no Mickey Mouse Gambler, he was the real deal. He was an old style gangster, East L.A. style. Years ago, my father told me he counted Mickey Cohen as one of his acquaintances . I remember him as a bit of a con artist in his later years. We had a bar size pool table at my parents house so Larry would come over on the weekend and play pool with us. My father was good too but my uncle was something else. He was a boxing fan and Jose “Mantequilla” Napoles was his man. In his later years he owned Larry’s Pawn Shop in East Los Angeles on Atlantic Blvd. It was a popular hangout spot for a lot of people including (at the time) local politicians . He was also an entertainer and dancer and he and his wife, my aunt Frances, would perform at local political events.

There will be a service for him this coming Saturday at the Calvary Cemetery in East L.A. on Whittier and Eastern. I’ll be there to say goodbye and pay my respects to another relative of my past that has passed. The previous generation is almost gone.

If no one minds I would like to post some photos. I might have posted some of them before but I’ll repost

Show the photos Randy.I like what you said about your Dad making everyone get along in the family. That's the way it HAS to be. Sure there's a lot of infighting,but in the end, family is all you got. My Dad was the same way. He'd address someone if he had to,but that was only to keep everyone in line. Family was sacred to him. It's sacred to me to. I'm the head of the family now. The others see me that way too. I have a big job to do at times.

[dagosd2000]

Larry De La O and his then wife, Marcella. Late 30's early 40's?

[dagosd2000]

Was Mel whispering in your ear? Almost word for word that's just about what he would say. He gave me hell when my hair touched my ears or my shirt collar. I never showed him this photo.

Randy

Randy . . . I heard it every day for years. I'll never forget what he said, because he said it EVERY DAY.
And he also believed that Ed Sullivan was a Communist conspiritor, etc. The Beatles pushed Mel over the edge.

Don't forget his favorite whipping boy, Elvis! Mel was actually glad the day Elvis died. That was one of the few times I was pissed at Mel.

Hey fellas
My Dad thought Elvis was part of a Communist conspiracy too. To undermine the youth of America.

[THEHAMMER321]

They were not from California