Over the past 18 years or so I have played the role of "The Fight
Doctor" on jail television, doing zany weekly boxing reports.
Literally hundreds of thousands of inmates and ex-prisoners would,
if they met me on the street, say "hey, Fight Doctor, whassup?"
Few ever knew that I once was a boxer myself. And a pretty good one.
Here's the story as best I remember it.
As a kid I didn't develop physically very fast.
I played a lot of sandlot football and baseball and in my
neighbourhood we boxed some but I was too small in stature to compete
with the bigger kids in high school, despite my athletic abilities.
Around 13-15 I hung out with the college athletes at the nearby
university as batboy, water boy etc. for the university teams. LaCrosse also.. and then,
the boxing team.
The college boxers, in addition to their inter-collegiate matches
with other schools in the East and South, also were involved in
training kids for the Junior Golden Gloves competitions. I signed
up....as an 85 lb. candidate.
My mentor and trainer was a star boxer on the college team. His name
was Dixie Walker. I went to see all of his fights and he became my
hero. He encouraged me as a boxer and he thought I would do well in
the Junior Golden Gloves competitions that were coming up.
One night, probably in 1947-48, I went to see my college mentors
against a local university team. Dixie was pleased to see me,
knowing It was difficult for me to get there on city buses at night.
The main event for me was Dixie's bout. I squeezed my way up to
ringside to see better. Dixie was doing well in the fight when
suddenly he was hit by a vicious uppercut that sent him falling
backwards onto the canvas. The back of his head struck the floor as
he fell.
The fight ended in a knockout and Dixie was rushed to the hospital.
I read in the newspaper the next day that he had died.
I did not box again.
-------------------------------
The Fight Doctor
(Written some eight years ago)
