ezzard pics VolII

[jaclem2]

damn..i wrote u p a long new topic on those great pictures of ezzard charles granberry sent in. i had intended to add a post to his thread but i think someone went a little overboard on locking it..a tad too sensitive perhaps.

anyway, the damn computer froze on me so here's a shortened recap:

ezzard's wife was the former gladys gartrel. her family lived a little over a block away from me. i went to school with her brother joe, who was my age in in my classes so i spent some time on his front porch steps and when ezzard came to call he always smiled and said hello. this is the extent of my contact with him then. gladys was very light complexioned and looked Caucasian. her father even more so and joe looked more latino...handsome and soft wavy hair.
there was another sister, kitty. she was more copper complexioned, like ali i guess.

gladys died within the past few years and joe several years ago. ezz and gladys' daughter died recently.

going on a bit too long here but seeing ezz and gladys together again brought up memories.

uh..to Idisagree...ezzard knew when to quit, but he couldn't. he was flat broke..phone and utilities cut off. sad ending to a great career and a sadder ending later to the life of a true gentleman.

[Tinnie]

Cant seem to embed them but here are a coupla gems.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/vieilles_a ... 669478736/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/vieilles_a ... 619873619/

[Tinnie]

[Tinnie]

[Tinnie]

[Tinnie]

[Tinnie]

[jaclem2]

.. a bouquet of thank yous for those wonderful pictures!!! i couldn't open some but the ones i saw were terrific. Ezzard's great grandmother had been a slave. she and his grandmother were the ones who raised him. his mother had gone to new york and little, if anything, is known about his father.

re: the fight pictures. I think one of them is against charley norkus. the other one doesn't look like norkus...his nose is a different shape, but that could be the camera angle. anyway, he looks more like johannsen but of course they never fought each other.

i made a few typos in my post but i have edited them out. hope i got all of them.

again, many thanks for these pictures!

[granberry]

Charles with his wife.


With trainer Jimmie Brown: 17 December 1954


Charles and Marciano. Look at Charles' eyes.


After first Marciano fight. That was when men were men.


With Pat Valentino

[granberry]

Wish I could get the first photo at more normal size, but nothing I tried worked.

It can be seen at a better size here:

http://cyberboxingzone.com/images/EzzardCharles-77.jpg

[granberry]

Preface to Charles' record in the 1958 RING Record Book

1937

Won the Diamond Belt Welterweight Championship
Won the State AAU Welterweight Championship

1938

Won the Diamond Belt Welterweight Championship
Won the Golden Gloves Welterweight Championship
Won the State AAU Welterweight Championship

1939

Won the Diamond Belt Middleweight Championship
Won the Golden Gloves Middleweight Championship
Won the State AAU Middleweight Championship
Won Two National Amateur Middleweight Titles

Won every amateur tournament he ever entered.

[raylawpc]

damn..i wrote u p a long new topic on those great pictures of ezzard charles granberry sent in. i had intended to add a post to his thread but i think someone went a little overboard on locking it..a tad too sensitive perhaps.

anyway, the damn computer froze on me so here's a shortened recap:

ezzard's wife was the former gladys gartrel. her family lived a little over a block away from me. i went to school with her brother joe, who was my age in in my classes so i spent some time on his front porch steps and when ezzard came to call he always smiled and said hello. this is the extent of my contact with him then. gladys was very light complexioned and looked Caucasian. her father even more so and joe looked more latino...handsome and soft wavy hair.
there was another sister, kitty. she was more copper complexioned, like ali i guess.

gladys died within the past few years and joe several years ago. ezz and gladys' daughter died recently.

going on a bit too long here but seeing ezz and gladys together again brought up memories.

uh..to Idisagree...ezzard knew when to quit, but he couldn't. he was flat broke..phone and utilities cut off. sad ending to a great career and a sadder ending later to the life of a true gentleman.

I recall reading somewhere that Ezzard and his wife kept their marriage a secret for two years until their daughter was born. Do you know what the story was behind that?

Joe Louis did the same things with his second marriage to Marva. They, too, kept their remarriage a secret until Joe Jr. was born.

[CNorkusJr]

The two photos towards the top of the post are of my father, Charley Norkus.They fought only once against each other with Ezz Charles the clear victor.

It might be noted that the Ezz Charles-Norkus fight came about after Norkus signed a contract to fight Marciano for the title. A hand injury to Rocky while he was training near San Diego caused a cancellation of that bout. Al Weill and my fathers mgr, Abe Bressler met at the Garden and it was agreed upon that Norkus will fight Ezz Charles instead, the winner will get a Marciano fight. For whatever reason, Rocky I believe fought Archie Moore instead, having beaten Ezzard Charles twice already by then.

[granberry]

The two photos towards the top of the post are of my father, Charley Norkus.They fought only once against each other with Ezz Charles the clear victor.

It might be noted that the Ezz Charles-Norkus fight came about after Norkus signed a contract to fight Marciano for the title. A hand injury to Rocky while he was training near San Diego caused a cancellation of that bout. Al Weill and my fathers mgr, Abe Bressler met at the Garden and it was agreed upon that Norkus will fight Ezz Charles instead, the winner will get a Marciano fight. For whatever reason, Rocky I believe fought Archie Moore instead, having beaten Ezzard Charles twice already by then.

Thanks for the interesting information.

Did your father ever talk about his impressions of his opponents?

I remember a big win of his was his stoppage of Charlie Powell, who was highly regarded going into that fight.

[CNorkusJr]

My father, Charley Norkus, did talk often about his various opponents. I often witnessed interviews with the press and ring magazines through the years,and talked father to son. He always said his toughest opponent he faced was Archie Moore. Not necessarily for punching strength but rather his peek a-boo defense. My father said he could not get inside on him,especially the head shots that my father liked to give. Its one reason why Archie probably stuck around for awhile as a fighter.
He said Ezzard punched hard but he had short chopping shots that were quick. My father had long looping lefts and rights and Charles just beat him to the punch-wearing him down.
Though my father never fought Rocky, he had two contracts to fight him (one title shot-other one not); my father and Rocky were good friends-and attended each others fights. My father said Rocky threw the hardest punches he ever saw,huge muscular forearms were tough to evade.
You might note that Rocky was scheduled to be the guest referee for the Norkus/Powell fight in 54. He did not ref though. Last minute change-not knowing why.
Powell got his revenge later on in 56, I believe. My father stayed good friends with all opponents, seeing many after many years after their fights.
Danny Nardico as well as Powell never returned calls and attempted mailings for invitations afterwards though. Ty CN Jr.

[CNorkusJr]

I wish I knew how to post photos on Boxrec. I have many great shots-never before seen online in our family albums that I'm sure you all might like to see.

[granberry]

. . .
Danny Nardico as well as Powell never returned calls and attempted mailings for invitations afterwards though. Ty CN Jr.

Well, your dad stopped both of them. Guess they didn't like that.

[AntonS]

I wish I knew how to post photos on Boxrec. I have many great shots-never before seen online in our family albums that I'm sure you all might like to see.

If photos are on your PC upload them onto this site http://tinypic.com/ Sports/Boxing
When you've done so, let us know & we'll tell you what to do next.

[jaclem2]

raylaw - ezzard charles did keep his marriage to gladys secret, as you say. he never really explained why, as far as i've been able to find. just something about privacy....but that never made sense to me. by that time i had moved out of the neighborhood we shared and read about it at the same time everyone else did.

norkusjr. great information about your father and many thanks for it. i know i saw him in tv fights but i can't recall which ones they were. i don't think i saw his fight with ezzard but i'm not sure. i'll check his record on boxrec to see if it can jog my memory.

[CNorkusJr]

Norkus vs Ezz Charles promo photo Feb 1955

[Rocky Balboa]

Charles was the one of the very finest fighters to ever lace up the Gloves!