Willie O'Neill
Willie O'Neill was a trainer from Philadelphia who was regarded as one of the most knowledgeable boxing historians in the city.
O'Neill trained only two fighters during his career, but one was a world champion and the other a former world champion.
The champion was Jeff Chandler, who held the WBA bantamweight title from 1980 to 1984. O'Neill was a retired operating engineer when he began training Chandler in 1977.
The ex-champion was Mike Rossman, who held the WBA light heavyweight title from 1978 to 1979. O'Neill trained Rossman in 1983. Rossman retired after going 4-0 with O'Neill.
"He was a top-flight trainer even though he only had two fighters," said promoter J. Russell Peltz.
O'Neill, who never fought as a professional, acquired his love of boxing as a youngster, when his father rewarded his good school work by taking him to boxing matches.
"Willie became a boxing fan because of his father," said his wife, Becky O'Neill, herself a fixture in Philadelphia boxing circles. "His father loved boxing, and Willie inherited that love. Willie used to tell me that his father would take him to the fights if he came home with a good report card. He was just 7 years old."
As a youngster in the 1920s, O'Neill tried to hang around the Philadelphia gyms, but he was so young that the gym managers barred him. That did not stop the boy, because one of his friends, a fighter, allowed him to carry his gym bag, and that granted him entrance into the gym. The fighter was Benny Bass, the featherweight and, later, junior lightweight champion of the world.
While O'Neill enjoyed success as a trainer, he may have been even better known as a student of the game.
"Willie was a walking encyclopedia of boxing," his wife said. "He used to love to talk about the old-time fighters."
"He knew more about boxing in Philadelphia than anybody I ever knew," said Peltz.
O'Neill died from a stroke in 1994 at age 78.