Classic American West Coast Boxing

[Randyman]

Take a look at Ad Wolgast's record on BoxRec, which shows that he had more than one bout after 1917. Moreover, Wolgast appears to have to been a competent fighter as late as 1919, the year that he fought a competitive bout with Earl "Young" France, a fighter who piled up a crediable record during his career.

- Chuck Johnston

Chick,
Do you know the name of Ad Wolgast's close friend who took care of him after he started suffering from dementia? Wolgast has been a bit of a mystery for me, Not a lot of biographical material. thanks Roger

Rog, this is from Wikipedia: In the early 1920s, Jack Doyle, famous for his Vernon, California boxing venue, took Wolgast "under his wing," and allowed him to train at his boxing gym, promising Wolgast a bout "tomorrow." Tomorrow never came, yet Wolgast continued to train diligently every day for that bout tomorrow.

[Randyman]

There is a legend about Nelson at the Willard Dempsey fight.
It seems before the fight started and unknown to the masses attending that fight, The Battler, who was not the most hygenic guy in the world, took a dip in a huge vat of leomanade that was to be sold as refreshment that day.
Gotta love it.

That is funny, in a perverse way.

I think I just lost my taste for lemonade.

[Chuck1052]

It was reported that Jack Doyle, a Los Angeles area boxing promoter, did look after Ad Wolgast before the latter was institutionalized in the Patton State Hospital during the late 1920s. As I recall, Wolgast was transferred to the Camarillo State Hospital during the 1930s, dying at that location in 1955.

- Chuck Johnston

[kikibalt]

Dear Rick:

I very much appreciated the recounting of your boxing experiences during your days in the sun and particularly when you fought at the Olympic. It brought back so many memories to myself, not as a prize fighter, but as a devoted fan and budding historian, watching televised fights with Dad, many of which took place at the Olympic Auditorium. Invariably, he would say, upon hearing that the fight was taking place at the Olympic in Los Angeles, he would tell my brother and myself, "I remember fighting at the Olympic." We have a taped conversation of him describing some wars that took place during his fights at the Olympic, the impression it made upon him, and a description of sparing with heavyweight Dynamite Jackson.

I've taken the liberty to follow-up on your recollections to provide you with the following newspaper account of a fight which took place in January of 1929 between Young Firpo and Marvin Rife. To set the stage somewhat, Young Firpo began his career in 1924 up to the Los Angeles venture he had fought the vast majority of his fights in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District, the Spokane area, Montana, Seattle and Tacoma. He knew the importance of fighting in the Olympic and the need to make an impression upon the Californian crowd. Going into the Rife fight, Firpo had engage in 44 fights and recorded 24 knockouts. And did he ever! Rife became KO victory No. 25. Here's the fight coverage:

Young Firpo Makes a Hit With California Ring Fans

Young Firpo, the Wild Bull of Burke and idol of the Coeur d'Alene district's ring fans has won favor in southern California as a result of his two round knockout of Marvin Rife, Los Angeles light-heavyweight in a bout last Tuesday at the Olympic auditorium, Los Angeles. California sport writers who saw the fracas have nothing but praise for the squat Italian boy from the Burke canyon.

There facts are show in four newspaper clippings received from Los Angeles today by Wallace friends of Young Firpo.

Stub Nelson, writing in the Los Angeles Record, compares the Firpo-Rife bout to the historic Luis Angel Firpo-Jack Dempsey bout of several years ago, and praises the Burke battler as follows in a story headed "Firpo Scores Hit a la Dempsey:

"The thrill is the thing --- especially in boxing. The story of why Dempsey has always had such a hold on the public was pictured --- in a smaller way --- at the Olympic auditorium last night.

"It happened in the special. Young firpo, a squat-built powerful Italian, with barrel chest and bowed legs, started out fast in his bout with Marvin Rife.

"Just when he looked a sure winner, he ran into a right hand and was flattened out in the slag. He barely got up at nine.

"The young Italian --- with his pawing gorilla-like arms, got off the canvas and floored Rife --- knocked him staff as the bell rang.

"Firpo staggered toward the wrong corner and Rife was carried to his.

"There you had a replica of the Dempsey-Firpo fight.

"The crowd didn't care about classy boxers then. Men stood on their seats and yelled --- throwing programs and hats in the air. That action is a fight always grips a human being.

"The world remembers how Dempsey bounced Willard down seven times in one round at Toledo. And they also know that Jack climbed back into a New York ring and felled the huge ox, Firpo.

"Such stuff made Dempsey a million dollar attraction.

"There was more yelling after one round of the Firpo-Rife preliminary bout than there has been in dozen of classy main events.

Young Firpo means something here now. He can come back as soon as he chooses."

In another section of the Record, Stub Nelson also wrote on the Firpo-Rife bout as follows:

"Young Firpo and Marvin rife, light heavies, put on the big thrill of the night. They met in the six-round special. Firpo was out cold near the end of the first session but got up and floored rife. The bell saved the latter.

"He didn't recover and Firpo floored him three times in the second round."

Another Los Angeles sport writer saw the Firpo-Rife bout as follows, and headed his write up with the heading above: Rip-Snorting Bout ---

"Young Firpo and Marvin Rife put on a rip-snorter. Both were down in the first round. Firpo was flat on his back and looked dead as a pickled mackerel. At nine he was up and planted Rife just as the bell rang. In the second round he had Rife on the floor twice for nine counts and the referee halted the battle."

Still another writer saw the bout this way:

"The main event was all but over shadowed by the special event involving a couple of sluggers known to the annals of the racket as Young Firpo and Marvin Rife. Firpo was forcing the issue and pummeling Rife all over the ring when suddenly a right hand shot to the chin and down went Firpo, stretched flat on his back. Up at nine, Firpo went after his man in the second and finally got him, knocking him through the ropes for count of eight, and finally slapping Rife silly --- so silly that the engagement was stopped. The customers stood on the hind legs and howled. You'd have thought it was a football game."

And finally, yet another writer captured the excitement in this manner:

"In a knockdown drag-out affair, Young Firpo managed to score a technical kayo over Marvin Rife after a short period of the second round had witnessed plenty of action. In the first canto, Rife landed a hard right to the chin that sent Firpo to the floor for a nine count.

"The fallen fighter arose, shook his head and tossed his fists into the face of Rife, who got in the way of a heavy right hand --- Marvin fell like a log and only the round bell saved him.

"Coming out for the second canto, Firpo piled in again and soon had his opponent down on the floor, where the fight was stopped. Marvin was in no shape to continue.

For the record, Firpo did return for other engagements in California. Shortly after the slugfest with Rife, Young Firpo decisioned Jimmy Barry at the Hollywood American Legion, and then beat Joe Woods at the Olympic Auditorium. The fights were broadcast over KFWB, Los Angeles. The announcer in the Barry fight, as heard in the greater Spokane and Wallace, Idaho, area yelled to an excited group of listeners within the Coeur d'Alene Mining District: "Whoever named Young Firpo the Wild Bull of Burke was way off. The way that boy punched could not be called wild in any sense of the word!"

Firpo then went on to fight at the Olympic Auditorium again garnering a decision over Tom Patrick. Despite countless invitations to move to the Los Angeles area to pursue his career, Firpo was a product of the rugged mountains of Burke, Idaho and his temperament would not allow him to move away from the environment that gave him strength and solitude and he would be on the road back to his northern Idaho haunts immediately following any out of the area encounter ... be it Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Portland, or Seattle.

Sincerely yours,


John A. Bardelli
Attorney at Law
606 North Pines Road, Suite 201
Spokane, WA 99206
(509)926-9566
(509)926-1564 fax
[email protected]

[kikibalt]

Caption by Diego


Hey Pal
My sisters had a Bar B Q today too. Had a little too much to drink. This is a picture at night of the street corner where I live in Mexico. I think it's really the corner of my mind.

[bennie]

Caption by Diego


Hey Pal
My sisters had a Bar B Q today too. Had a little too much to drink. This is a picture at night of the street corner where I live in Mexico. I think it's really the corner of my mind.

Can you imagine big Rog prowling around with a camera in the middle of the night, drunk as a skunk, covered in paint, trying to explain he is taking pics of a street corner for boxing fans!
Move over Battling Nelson.

[Randyman]

Dear Rick:

I very much appreciated the recounting of your boxing experiences during your days in the sun and particularly when you fought at the Olympic. It brought back so many memories to myself, not as a prize fighter, but as a devoted fan and budding historian, watching televised fights with Dad, many of which took place at the Olympic Auditorium. Invariably, he would say, upon hearing that the fight was taking place at the Olympic in Los Angeles, he would tell my brother and myself, "I remember fighting at the Olympic." We have a taped conversation of him describing some wars that took place during his fights at the Olympic, the impression it made upon him, and a description of sparing with heavyweight Dynamite Jackson.

I've taken the liberty to follow-up on your recollections to provide you with the following newspaper account of a fight which took place in January of 1929 between Young Firpo and Marvin Rife. To set the stage somewhat, Young Firpo began his career in 1924 up to the Los Angeles venture he had fought the vast majority of his fights in the Coeur d'Alene Mining District, the Spokane area, Montana, Seattle and Tacoma. He knew the importance of fighting in the Olympic and the need to make an impression upon the Californian crowd. Going into the Rife fight, Firpo had engage in 44 fights and recorded 24 knockouts. And did he ever! Rife became KO victory No. 25. Here's the fight coverage:

Young Firpo Makes a Hit With California Ring Fans

Young Firpo, the Wild Bull of Burke and idol of the Coeur d'Alene district's ring fans has won favor in southern California as a result of his two round knockout of Marvin Rife, Los Angeles light-heavyweight in a bout last Tuesday at the Olympic auditorium, Los Angeles. California sport writers who saw the fracas have nothing but praise for the squat Italian boy from the Burke canyon.

There facts are show in four newspaper clippings received from Los Angeles today by Wallace friends of Young Firpo.

Stub Nelson, writing in the Los Angeles Record, compares the Firpo-Rife bout to the historic Luis Angel Firpo-Jack Dempsey bout of several years ago, and praises the Burke battler as follows in a story headed "Firpo Scores Hit a la Dempsey:

"The thrill is the thing --- especially in boxing. The story of why Dempsey has always had such a hold on the public was pictured --- in a smaller way --- at the Olympic auditorium last night.

"It happened in the special. Young firpo, a squat-built powerful Italian, with barrel chest and bowed legs, started out fast in his bout with Marvin Rife.

"Just when he looked a sure winner, he ran into a right hand and was flattened out in the slag. He barely got up at nine.

"The young Italian --- with his pawing gorilla-like arms, got off the canvas and floored Rife --- knocked him staff as the bell rang.

"Firpo staggered toward the wrong corner and Rife was carried to his.

"There you had a replica of the Dempsey-Firpo fight.

"The crowd didn't care about classy boxers then. Men stood on their seats and yelled --- throwing programs and hats in the air. That action is a fight always grips a human being.

"The world remembers how Dempsey bounced Willard down seven times in one round at Toledo. And they also know that Jack climbed back into a New York ring and felled the huge ox, Firpo.

"Such stuff made Dempsey a million dollar attraction.

"There was more yelling after one round of the Firpo-Rife preliminary bout than there has been in dozen of classy main events.

Young Firpo means something here now. He can come back as soon as he chooses."

In another section of the Record, Stub Nelson also wrote on the Firpo-Rife bout as follows:

"Young Firpo and Marvin rife, light heavies, put on the big thrill of the night. They met in the six-round special. Firpo was out cold near the end of the first session but got up and floored rife. The bell saved the latter.

"He didn't recover and Firpo floored him three times in the second round."

Another Los Angeles sport writer saw the Firpo-Rife bout as follows, and headed his write up with the heading above: Rip-Snorting Bout ---

"Young Firpo and Marvin Rife put on a rip-snorter. Both were down in the first round. Firpo was flat on his back and looked dead as a pickled mackerel. At nine he was up and planted Rife just as the bell rang. In the second round he had Rife on the floor twice for nine counts and the referee halted the battle."

Still another writer saw the bout this way:

"The main event was all but over shadowed by the special event involving a couple of sluggers known to the annals of the racket as Young Firpo and Marvin Rife. Firpo was forcing the issue and pummeling Rife all over the ring when suddenly a right hand shot to the chin and down went Firpo, stretched flat on his back. Up at nine, Firpo went after his man in the second and finally got him, knocking him through the ropes for count of eight, and finally slapping Rife silly --- so silly that the engagement was stopped. The customers stood on the hind legs and howled. You'd have thought it was a football game."

And finally, yet another writer captured the excitement in this manner:

"In a knockdown drag-out affair, Young Firpo managed to score a technical kayo over Marvin Rife after a short period of the second round had witnessed plenty of action. In the first canto, Rife landed a hard right to the chin that sent Firpo to the floor for a nine count.

"The fallen fighter arose, shook his head and tossed his fists into the face of Rife, who got in the way of a heavy right hand --- Marvin fell like a log and only the round bell saved him.

"Coming out for the second canto, Firpo piled in again and soon had his opponent down on the floor, where the fight was stopped. Marvin was in no shape to continue.

For the record, Firpo did return for other engagements in California. Shortly after the slugfest with Rife, Young Firpo decisioned Jimmy Barry at the Hollywood American Legion, and then beat Joe Woods at the Olympic Auditorium. The fights were broadcast over KFWB, Los Angeles. The announcer in the Barry fight, as heard in the greater Spokane and Wallace, Idaho, area yelled to an excited group of listeners within the Coeur d'Alene Mining District: "Whoever named Young Firpo the Wild Bull of Burke was way off. The way that boy punched could not be called wild in any sense of the word!"

Firpo then went on to fight at the Olympic Auditorium again garnering a decision over Tom Patrick. Despite countless invitations to move to the Los Angeles area to pursue his career, Firpo was a product of the rugged mountains of Burke, Idaho and his temperament would not allow him to move away from the environment that gave him strength and solitude and he would be on the road back to his northern Idaho haunts immediately following any out of the area encounter ... be it Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Portland, or Seattle.

Sincerely yours,


John A. Bardelli
Attorney at Law
606 North Pines Road, Suite 201
Spokane, WA 99206
(509)926-9566
(509)926-1564 fax
[email protected]

John, thanks for sharing that with us. Some of you on this thread may or may not know that Mel Epstein was one of Young Firpo's trainer. More importantly, Mel was also his friend. As you know Mel Also trained Rick Farris, he was also my trainer. Mel could and would talk for hours about Young Firpo. I wish I would have written it all down back then because time has erased most of it. What I do remember is that when Mel spoke of Firpo his eyes would light up, the laughter would flow and I knew that he was remembering the best days of his life, those days shared with Firpo. He was filled with admiration for him. Sometimes when he was done talking I could also sense a little sadness, knowing and remembering that it so long ago, ...and gone. With respect to every fighter that has trained under Mel Epstein, Young Firpo was the most meaningful, his favorite, the one that had his heart. It was no secret to any of us. We knew that none of us could never fill Young Firpo's shoes. Not in substance and not in Mel's heart. John, because of Mel I will always feel a connection to your father.

Randy

[Randyman]

Caption by Diego


Hey Pal
My sisters had a Bar B Q today too. Had a little too much to drink. This is a picture at night of the street corner where I live in Mexico. I think it's really the corner of my mind.

Can you imagine big Rog prowling around with a camera in the middle of the night, drunk as a skunk, covered in paint and trying to explain he is taking pics of a street corner for boxing fans!
Move over Battling Nelson.

Would've scared the shit out of Murphy!!

[bennie]

Hey, Randy, what name did you fight under?

[Lausse]

You guys remember a lightheavyweight fighter by the name of Jimmy Lester? he fought out of San Fran back in the day and was an all out action fighter apparently who scored some good wins during his career. I`ve heard he fought Andy Kid Heilman twice and one of those two bouts was a great, great fight, think it was the first one but I`m not so sure anymore.... anyone got any stories or thoughts to share about Jimmy?

[Randyman]

Hey, Randy, what name did you fight under?

I fought under my own name Randy De La O, I only had a couple of fights. They are not in Boxrec's records. I haven't yet tried to contact them to add my fights. Both my opponents are in the record books but there records are woefully incomplete. I fought a four round draw with Ignacio "Nacho" Cota on August 13, 1976 at the Coliseum in San Diego. Everyone but the judges felt I won that fight.

I lost a decision (it was a close fight) to Eduardo Barba of Mexico, at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on October 30, 1976. Barba was a ten round fighter. His opponent, for whatever reason, had backed out two weeks before the fight and they needed an opponent for him. I fought a six round fight with Barba. I out boxed him for three rounds but he got the best of me overall. Joey Giambra was the referee. It appeared on the Wide World of Sports, but only because it was the opening fight for the Mike Quarry vs Tom Bethea fight. It wasn't exactly a stellar career but I did what I was supposed to do. I fought and did my best.

Randy

[kikibalt]

"It wasn't exactly a stellar career but I did what I was supposed to do. I fought and did my best."

Randy


Randy my friend, you can't ask for more.....

[kikibalt]

Caption by Diego


Hey Pal
My sisters had a Bar B Q today too. Had a little too much to drink. This is a picture at night of the street corner where I live in Mexico. I think it's really the corner of my mind.

Can you imagine big Rog prowling around with a camera in the middle of the night, drunk as a skunk, covered in paint, trying to explain he is taking pics of a street corner for boxing fans!
Move over Battling Nelson.

Classic, Bennie, classic.....

[kikibalt]

The top 25 of the last 25
The city has been a main character in many films. Our film crew picks the best. It's a tough list to crash.
1. L.A. Confidential (1997)

She is as fitting a metaphor for the city as anything ever hatched by Hollywood: Kim Basinger's high-class call girl Lynn Bracken in the neo-noir potboiler "L.A. Confidential." Tragic yet glamorous, she's a cipher for intense desire and empty idol worship (dolled-up to resemble '40s ingenue Veronica Lake), a classic femme fatale director Curtis Hanson calls "the emotional center of the film."

"The character represents how I feel about Los Angeles and what I want people to feel about L.A.," Hanson said. "She's a natural beauty with a phony image, a disguise that's all about selling it to the suckers. But when you go beyond the image, as when you go beyond L.A. as the city of manufactured illusion, the character is not only beautiful but totally self-aware. Underneath, she knows the truth about who she is. Everybody else is struggling to figure it out."

The cinematic adaptation of James Ellroy's 1990 novel -- which stars Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey as late '40s Angeleno detectives out to solve a series of related murders -- masterfully interweaves police corruption, tabloid scandal-mongering, racial tension and racketeering, all set at the gates of Tinseltown's dream factory. And it couldn't take place (let alone have been shot) anywhere but here.

After "exhaustive" location scouting, filming took place in such beloved Hollywood watering holes as the Frolic Room and the Formosa Cafe, around Elysian Park where pockets of period-perfect architecture still stand, and Hancock Park, where exteriors for Basinger's character's house were shot near the Wilshire Country Club. As well, architect Richard Neutra's iconic Lovell Health House in Los Feliz doubles as the home of Pierce Patchett (the film's princely pimp played by David Strathairn), the only movie filmed there.

"The movie truly started with L.A.," said Hanson, who grew up in Tarzana. "I wanted to capture the city of my childhood memories. And I wanted to take a hard look at the dark side -- the booming economy, the exploding population, the corruption and racism -- as well as certain problems that are still with us. I wanted to capture the spirit of this place. The optimism and energy was real. It still is."



On the Q.T.: Production on "L.A. Confidential" prevented the destruction of the famed Formosa Cafe. "Warner Hollywood Studios owned the [sound] stages where we were shooting the 'Badge of Honor' scenes and they owned the property across the street -- the Formosa Cafe," Hanson said. "The studio wanted to tear it down and build a parking lot. I'm one of the advisors on the L.A. Conservancy. So I told them about the plans, they got on the case and prevented Warners from doing it."

[bennie]

Hey, Randy, what name did you fight under?

I fought under my own name Randy De La O, I only had a couple of fights. They are not in Boxrec's records. I haven't yet tried to contact them to add my fights. Both my opponents are in the record books but there records are woefully incomplete. I fought a four round draw with Ignacio "Nacho" Cota on August 13, 1976 at the Coliseum in San Diego. Everyone but the judges felt I won that fight.

I lost a decision (it was a close fight) to Eduardo Barba of Mexico, at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on October 30, 1976. Barba was a ten round fighter. His opponent, for whatever reason, had backed out two weeks before the fight and they needed an opponent for him. I fought a six round fight with Barba. I out boxed him for three rounds but he got the best of me overall. Joey Giambra was the referee. It appeared on the Wide World of Sports, but only because it was the opening fight for the Mike Quarry vs Tom Bethea fight. It wasn't exactly a stellar career but I did what I was supposed to do. I fought and did my best.

Randy

Thanks, Randy. Excuse my language but that is a fuckin' cool name.

[kikibalt]

I'm going to take Rick down memory lane.


the El Monte Legion Stadium

[Randyman]

"It wasn't exactly a stellar career but I did what I was supposed to do. I fought and did my best."

Randy


Randy my friend, you can't ask for more.....

Thanks Frank, I appreciate that. I will forever feel incomplete without a "W' next to my name. But I've accepted it.

Randy

[Randyman]

Hey, Randy, what name did you fight under?

I fought under my own name Randy De La O, I only had a couple of fights. They are not in Boxrec's records. I haven't yet tried to contact them to add my fights. Both my opponents are in the record books but there records are woefully incomplete. I fought a four round draw with Ignacio "Nacho" Cota on August 13, 1976 at the Coliseum in San Diego. Everyone but the judges felt I won that fight.

I lost a decision (it was a close fight) to Eduardo Barba of Mexico, at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on October 30, 1976. Barba was a ten round fighter. His opponent, for whatever reason, had backed out two weeks before the fight and they needed an opponent for him. I fought a six round fight with Barba. I out boxed him for three rounds but he got the best of me overall. Joey Giambra was the referee. It appeared on the Wide World of Sports, but only because it was the opening fight for the Mike Quarry vs Tom Bethea fight. It wasn't exactly a stellar career but I did what I was supposed to do. I fought and did my best.

Randy

Thanks, Randy. Excuse my language but that is a fuckin' cool name.

Excuse my language, but I fuckin' agree.
Seriously, thanks!
Randy

[dagosd2000]

Take a look at Ad Wolgast's record on BoxRec, which shows that he had more than one bout after 1917. Moreover, Wolgast appears to have to been a competent fighter as late as 1919, the year that he fought a competitive bout with Earl "Young" France, a fighter who piled up a crediable record during his career.

- Chuck Johnston

Chick,
Do you know the name of Ad Wolgast's close friend who took care of him after he started suffering from dementia? Wolgast has been a bit of a mystery for me, Not a lot of biographical material. thanks Roger

Rog, this is from Wikipedia: In the early 1920s, Jack Doyle, famous for his Vernon, California boxing venue, took Wolgast "under his wing," and allowed him to train at his boxing gym, promising Wolgast a bout "tomorrow." Tomorrow never came, yet Wolgast continued to train diligently every day for that bout tomorrow.

Thanks a ton Pal
I used to know that name,but in escaped me. Hemongway used the name of "Jack Doyle" when he wrote "50 Grand." "Doyle" in the story was "Jack Brennan's'" close friend. "Brennan" was actually a fictionalized "Jack Britton" former Welter Champ. Thanks again Randy. Rog BTW that "bout tomorrow" bit is bittersweet and beautifull.

[Expug]

Hey, Randy, what name did you fight under?

I fought under my own name Randy De La O, I only had a couple of fights. They are not in Boxrec's records. I haven't yet tried to contact them to add my fights. Both my opponents are in the record books but there records are woefully incomplete. I fought a four round draw with Ignacio "Nacho" Cota on August 13, 1976 at the Coliseum in San Diego. Everyone but the judges felt I won that fight.

I lost a decision (it was a close fight) to Eduardo Barba of Mexico, at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on October 30, 1976. Barba was a ten round fighter. His opponent, for whatever reason, had backed out two weeks before the fight and they needed an opponent for him. I fought a six round fight with Barba. I out boxed him for three rounds but he got the best of me overall. Joey Giambra was the referee. It appeared on the Wide World of Sports, but only because it was the opening fight for the Mike Quarry vs Tom Bethea fight. It wasn't exactly a stellar career but I did what I was supposed to do. I fought and did my best.

Randy

Its damn impressive being able to go 6 rounds with a ten round fighter.
I know how tough it is to go 4.
I never went 6.
I know Barba was most likely a tough sob.

[dagosd2000]

It was reported that Jack Doyle, a Los Angeles area boxing promoter, did look after Ad Wolgast before the latter was institutionalized in the Patton State Hospital during the late 1920s. As I recall, Wolgast was transferred to the Camarillo State Hospital during the 1930s, dying at that location in 1955.

- Chuck Johnston

I responded to Randy before I got back to you. But my appreciation for finding that info also extends to you Chuck . Thanks Rog

[Randyman]

I'm going to take Rick down memory lane.


the El Monte Legion Stadium

Frank, I had a couple of fights there but they weren't in the ring. As you probably remember, they would have dances there. Chicanos from all the surrounding barrios would show up. Things would be going real nice ....for about five minutes, then a small fight or two would break out. Eventually it was chaos, the lights were turned on, girls were crying, the guys strutting like roosters. Maybe a couple of more fights outside and then were on our way to a party. The good ol' days.

[Randyman]

Hey, Randy, what name did you fight under?

I fought under my own name Randy De La O, I only had a couple of fights. They are not in Boxrec's records. I haven't yet tried to contact them to add my fights. Both my opponents are in the record books but there records are woefully incomplete. I fought a four round draw with Ignacio "Nacho" Cota on August 13, 1976 at the Coliseum in San Diego. Everyone but the judges felt I won that fight.

I lost a decision (it was a close fight) to Eduardo Barba of Mexico, at the Aladdin Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas on October 30, 1976. Barba was a ten round fighter. His opponent, for whatever reason, had backed out two weeks before the fight and they needed an opponent for him. I fought a six round fight with Barba. I out boxed him for three rounds but he got the best of me overall. Joey Giambra was the referee. It appeared on the Wide World of Sports, but only because it was the opening fight for the Mike Quarry vs Tom Bethea fight. It wasn't exactly a stellar career but I did what I was supposed to do. I fought and did my best.

Randy

Its damn impressive being able to go 6 rounds with a ten round fighter.
I know how tough it is to go 4.
I never went 6.
I know Barba was most likely a tough sob.

[dagosd2000]

I'm going to take Rick down memory lane.


the El Monte Legion Stadium

I'd rather watch those kids in an arena like that ,than paying to watch two hyped up fighters at Trump Hotel Plaza. I can always watch that stuff on reruns. The picture above is in that"corner of my mind." where all my greams are.

[kikibalt]

I'm going to take Rick down memory lane.


the El Monte Legion Stadium

I'd rather watch those kids in an arena like that ,than paying to watch two hyped up fighters at Trump Hotel Plaza. I can always watch that stuff on reruns. The picture above is in that"corner of my mind." where all my greams are.

That btw is Frankie on the right.
He was about 12 years old then.