Any Boy Can

dagosd2000 · Post by **dagosd2000** » 31 Dec 2007, 13:52

My first teaching aasignment was at a school for severely handicapped kids. The kids were in wheelchairs. Most of them had cerebral palsy. You pretty much had to do everything for them. I didn't mind though. It wasn't clear what I was going to teach them so I'd put on a record and start singing. They'd get all excited and start to laugh and I'd feel good about that. Those kids never got many visitors or their parents would stop coming after a while. I got along with everyone and liked working there.

Driving home from work I'd pass by Archie Moore's ABC club. ABC stood for Any Boy Can. It was a boxing gym for the neighborhood kids. Once in a while I'd stop by and see how things were going. The boys club was in a little strip mall in East San Diego. I remember a taco shop and a laundry mat being there too. Mostly Mexican kids and black kids came in. After work one day I dropped by. Old Arch was was trying to put together a sparring session with a couple of kids.. The kids looked to be around ten years old. Arch was struggling to put the training gloves on this kid. The kid wasn't paying much attention to what was going on. Arch saw me and said"Could you do me a favor and get the gloves on this lad over here?" I could see the Old Mongoose was pretty busy. He was wearing this stocking cap and perspiration was beading up on his forehead.

Archie's son was in the corner with a couple of kids showing them how to skip rope. The kids must have just started because they were jumping the rope with those funny prancing jumps like when you just start out. The kids would make a couple of jumps and then get their feet caught up and have to start over. As I was working the gloves on my kid I looked at Arch and asked him"How are things going with the club?"
He was still looking down lacing up the gloves and says,"Pretty good. The Park and Recreation Department put this together for me. I'm on salary."

He finally gets the big training gloves on this kid. The gloves looked bigger than the kid's head. Archie then started cinching up the kid's athletic protector. "Got to ask the city to buy some smaller ones" says Archie ."These are for men"

"So you're dong OK? I ask him.
"Yes,I'm happy here with these young fellows. It's better they're here than out in the street."he says as he's pulling up the kid's trunks.
I'm looking at Archie. His beard is gray and it looks like he's gotten a little shorter with age.
"I'm paying the bills"says Archie. I wanted to ask him where all the money went,but decided against it.
Archie is going over something with the kid and he remarked,"I had some pretty slick managers"
I'm toweling off my kid when I hear Archie say,"I was married five times"
I look up at him.He's stopped what he was doing. Archie's forearms are resting on the ring rope,his hands hanging down. He's looking away from everyone. He just stared out the door looking into the parking lot.

Goodnight, Irene · Post by **Goodnight, Irene** » 31 Dec 2007, 17:47

I think they're right when they tell you you should pen a book.

dagosd2000 · Post by **dagosd2000** » 31 Dec 2007, 19:48

Goodnight, Irene wrote:I think they're right when they tell you you should pen a book.

This is what gets me off on life,especially boxing. We watch this sport because we are enthralled by the violence. The courage both fighters have in the ring. I noticed there was a recent thread "Most Ferocious Fighter" It was jumped on pretty fast. Another I think was "Most Brutal Slugfest" Ditto.

But away from inside the ring, fighters often are very different. Now understand me. My experience with the sport was in the 50's through the 70's.

My father handled a few fighters in Chicago and Mexico and would bring them around or I'd go to the gym to watch them train. In San Diego I once in a while would work out with some of the fighters at the Coliseum and the 32nd Street Navy Base.

Fighters,to me,were reserved,a little shy,non intrusive. You wouldn't guess they participated in such a violent sport. I knew a fighter,a local light heavy named,Ronnie Wilson. He was from Canada,but boxed a lot in California. He never said more than a few words when he was with people. I think sometimes fighters were a little insecure. That's why they didn't stand want to stand out. A lot of them dropped out of school. They didn't play baseball or football. They really didn't follow other sports very much.
They didn't have big opinions on politics or philosophy.

Getting back to Ronnie Wilson. He was getting ready to fight Mike Quarry up in LA. This was his shot. Well Quarry won a decision. Ronnie would always cut around the eyes and with Quarry the cuts hindered his performance. A bunch of us in San Diego were like his fan club and we felt bad about Ronnie losing. After the Quarry fight he had a get together at his apartment and invited the gang over for pizza and beer.We brought our girlfriends along. Ronnie was married. His wife was like him:polite and quiet. Well Ronnie wasn't afraid of a drink,but he was OK when he drank. He wouldn't loosen up too much. He could handle his liquor.

Well we're feeling no pain after a while and we're telling Ronnie if it wasn't for the cuts,he'd have beaten Quarry. One of the group was getting a liitle emotional about Ronnie losing. This guy is shouting and then begins to cry. Ronnie is sitting in an easy chair watching television. Ronnie puts down his beer and turns to the guy,"You saw the fight. Quarry was cut too." That's all he said. Ronnie didn't talk much. He never needed too to make his point by overstating anything.

Most of the fighters I came in contact with were like Wilson. The difference inside and outside the ring was brutal and poignant.

Robinson · Post by **Robinson** » 01 Jan 2008, 18:46

Thanks for that. I love to read stories like that.
Moore is a top fighter and seems like a genuinely good man.

Its ashame that after all that fame, hard work, they have nothing to
show for it in there silver years.

dagosd2000 · Post by **dagosd2000** » 01 Jan 2008, 19:01

Robby,Let me tell you pal. Archie Moore was, to me,at peace with life. I'd look at him and say to myself "Where's the cadillacs and the yachts?" He was happiest when he was talking with someone. He was not lonely. He saw more in life than 50 millionares all put together. You could be a whino in the street or the President. When you were around him you listened. He could always give you an insight on life.

BoxBuzz · Post by **BoxBuzz** » 01 Jan 2008, 19:03

dagosd2000 wrote:Robby,Let me tell you pal. Archie Moore was, to me,at peace with life. I'd look at him and say to myself "Where's the cadillacs and the yachts?" He was happiest when he was talking with someone. He was not lonely. He saw more in life than 50 millionares all put together. You could be a whino in the street or the President. When you were around him you listened. He could always give you an insight on life.

One of the most fascinating folks of all time.

sockdolager · Post by **sockdolager** » 01 Jan 2008, 20:13

BoxBuzz wrote:
dagosd2000 wrote:Robby,Let me tell you pal. Archie Moore was, to me,at peace with life. I'd look at him and say to myself "Where's the cadillacs and the yachts?" He was happiest when he was talking with someone. He was not lonely. He saw more in life than 50 millionares all put together. You could be a whino in the street or the President. When you were around him you listened. He could always give you an insight on life.

One of the most fascinating folks of all time.

Absolutely. Any Moore fan would love to read Ageless Warrior the Archie Moore Story.

p4p1 · Post by **p4p1** » 02 Jan 2008, 10:35

sockdolager wrote:
BoxBuzz wrote:
dagosd2000 wrote:Robby,Let me tell you pal. Archie Moore was, to me,at peace with life. I'd look at him and say to myself "Where's the cadillacs and the yachts?" He was happiest when he was talking with someone. He was not lonely. He saw more in life than 50 millionares all put together. You could be a whino in the street or the President. When you were around him you listened. He could always give you an insight on life.

One of the most fascinating folks of all time.
Absolutely. Any Moore fan would love to read Ageless Warrior the Archie Moore Story.

funny you should say that i just went on a spending spree and bought it along with unforgivable blackness-jack johnson, undefeated-rocky marciano(a very good read so far), view from the corner-angelo dundee, ricky hatton my story and another one i cant remember the name of

BoxBuzz · Post by **BoxBuzz** » 02 Jan 2008, 10:40

Dag....I always look forward to your contributions. Well written and interesting!

Ezzard · Post by **Ezzard** » 02 Jan 2008, 10:43

Great thread and great story.

dagosd2000 · Post by **dagosd2000** » 02 Jan 2008, 12:29

BoxBuzz wrote:Dag....I always look forward to your contributions. Well written and interesting!

Thanks Pal

BoxBuzz · Post by **BoxBuzz** » 21 Mar 2008, 16:14

I love these "Archie" moments. Saw the pic and could not resist.

He granny, sometimes it helps if you can understand "the big picture".

kikibalt · Post by **kikibalt** » 21 Mar 2008, 16:34

Smokin'Moe · Post by **Smokin'Moe** » 21 Mar 2008, 17:18

the sport of boxing is the most interesting sport of all. in and out of the ring.
reading stuff like this just makes you think...
its refreshing compared to all the argumental bullshit you read on this site

note to the author of this forum: write a book, you have great voice and tone in your writing

granberry · Post by **granberry** » 21 Mar 2008, 19:04

"I had some pretty slick managers"

Doc Kearns was one of them.