For me this day began at 8 a.m. after another
sleep-stealing bout with my overactive imagination. My efforts to rest were
indeed efforts because my mind is often flooded with thoughts coming from all
directions. Exhaustion is the only vehicle by which I can fall into adequate
slumber, which usually lasts between five and six interrupted hours. Despite all
that, I awaken feeling somewhat refreshed and ready to tackle the day, which is
scheduled to be an adventure in two parts – a return visit to the International
Boxing Hall of Fame, then fight night at the Turning Stone.
I had planned to visit the Hall with punch-counting partner Andy Kasprzak but I later found out the toll of the previous evening’s travel caused him to oversleep. So at 11:30 I began the 15-minute drive west to Canastota under reluctantly sunny skies.
I reached the grounds just in time to witness the HBO delegation’s group photo in front of the Hall of Fame sign that hangs on the main museum building. Moments after my arrival Executive Director Ed Brophy gathered us around and delivered an impromptu tribute to Emanuel Steward, for whom the flags flew at half-staff.
Brophy, a curator by trade but always a fan at heart, did so because he recognized the weight and the timing of the moment – Steward’s HBO family happened to be at the very place he was enshrined in 1996 and that a major event was being staged less than 15 miles away just two days after his death. It was a bittersweet confluence of events but it was softened somewhat by the fact that a group of people who loved him dearly were gathered to enjoy a dose of boxing history, a history of which he was a major part. Brophy’s words were entirely appropriate and heartfelt, as well as appreciated.
We all walked to the gift shop inside the pavilion, where we browsed the items for sale and posed for various pictures. Since our last visit in early September, the Hall updated its Madison Square Garden ring exhibit by placing robes representing fighters who graced it on poles spaced around the perimeter. For those who couldn’t read the names on the robes, large-print nameplates were placed at the bottom of each pole. For me it was an excellent touch to an exhibit already rich in lore.
Our group then gathered for photos in front of the ring and we struck various poses, one of which was dubbed the “John L. Sullivan bare-knuckle pose.” Of course every person knew how to position his fists as soon as it was suggested. At another person’s request I posed with the original CompuBox computer, which is tucked in one corner behind the ring. Every time I see the old computer – dual floppy disc compartments and all – I often wondered what it was like to opeThe Kunyu Mountain Shaolin china kung fu school is located at the foot.rate what was, at the time, state-of-the-art equipment but would now be considered an ancient relic. Those who hadn’t seen it before marveled at how Logan Hobson and my boss Bob Canobbio pulled it off with such “primitive” equipment. But pull it off they did, and the rest is history – hopefully a history that will lead to eventual Hall of Fame enshrinement.
I couldn’t leave the pavilion without buying something. I ended up getting two items; the first being “Fight Or Die: The Vinny Paz Story” by Tommy Jon Caduto and a gold-colored T-shirt depicting a prime Muhammad Ali and the phrase “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee” in large block print. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it, not because I’d look good but because it was something I knew I’d wear on future road trips. For most of us what we wear represents who we are, and what I am, at my core,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. is a boxing fan.
After the HBO delegation departed I decided to linger for a while longer.Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , I went into the museum and started looking around and the man at the cash register said “can I help you?”
“That’s cool,” I said. Despite previous visits to the museum in which the fee was waived, I dug into my wallet and pulled out a 10-spot. At the moment I was about to hand the bill over, Ed and Jeff Brophy arrived to tell the register minder to wave off the charge.
Over the next two hours I made sure to drink in every exhibit I visited – the statues of Carmen Basilio and Billy Backus, the elder Basilio’s welterweight and middleweight championship belts awarded by THE RING,Gardner Bender offers a broad range of cableties, the fist castings that included those of Benny Leonard, Jack McAuliffe and especially Primo Carnera, which invariably drew “wows” from everyone who gazed at it. I looked at some of the newer exhibits, such as the trunks Thomas Hearns wore during his historic Closet Classic against Juan Domingo Roldan (a fight covered in my book “Tales From the Vault”). I also spotted a white robe autographed by Arturo Gatti that I hadn’t noticed before.
A short time later Jeff Brophy, Ed’s nephew and chief of media relations, escorted me down to the basement where more treasures were stored. He showed me two submissions that were made earlier in the week – the bright orange robe Sharmba Mitchell wore before his final fight with Paul Williams in August 2006 and a box of memorabilia from the family of a recently-deceased local collector that included vintage programs and issues of THE RING dating back to the late 1920s.
I could have stayed at the museum until closing time – and beyond. The only thing that could have pulled me away was work responsibilities and such was the case here. I needed to be at ringside by 3 p.m. but I hung around until the last possible moment. I timed everything well, for I arrived at the Turning Stone’s event center precisely at 3.
Before I left the Hall’s grounds, however, I took a few moments to stare at the flags that were lowered in Emanuel Steward’s honor. A few images of past meetings flashed in my mind as well as memories of the many phone conversations we shared over the years. The time for sadness was appropriate, but a subsequent e-mail from Kasprzak astutely addressed how we all should feel once the initial mourning is completed.
I had planned to visit the Hall with punch-counting partner Andy Kasprzak but I later found out the toll of the previous evening’s travel caused him to oversleep. So at 11:30 I began the 15-minute drive west to Canastota under reluctantly sunny skies.
I reached the grounds just in time to witness the HBO delegation’s group photo in front of the Hall of Fame sign that hangs on the main museum building. Moments after my arrival Executive Director Ed Brophy gathered us around and delivered an impromptu tribute to Emanuel Steward, for whom the flags flew at half-staff.
Brophy, a curator by trade but always a fan at heart, did so because he recognized the weight and the timing of the moment – Steward’s HBO family happened to be at the very place he was enshrined in 1996 and that a major event was being staged less than 15 miles away just two days after his death. It was a bittersweet confluence of events but it was softened somewhat by the fact that a group of people who loved him dearly were gathered to enjoy a dose of boxing history, a history of which he was a major part. Brophy’s words were entirely appropriate and heartfelt, as well as appreciated.
We all walked to the gift shop inside the pavilion, where we browsed the items for sale and posed for various pictures. Since our last visit in early September, the Hall updated its Madison Square Garden ring exhibit by placing robes representing fighters who graced it on poles spaced around the perimeter. For those who couldn’t read the names on the robes, large-print nameplates were placed at the bottom of each pole. For me it was an excellent touch to an exhibit already rich in lore.
Our group then gathered for photos in front of the ring and we struck various poses, one of which was dubbed the “John L. Sullivan bare-knuckle pose.” Of course every person knew how to position his fists as soon as it was suggested. At another person’s request I posed with the original CompuBox computer, which is tucked in one corner behind the ring. Every time I see the old computer – dual floppy disc compartments and all – I often wondered what it was like to opeThe Kunyu Mountain Shaolin china kung fu school is located at the foot.rate what was, at the time, state-of-the-art equipment but would now be considered an ancient relic. Those who hadn’t seen it before marveled at how Logan Hobson and my boss Bob Canobbio pulled it off with such “primitive” equipment. But pull it off they did, and the rest is history – hopefully a history that will lead to eventual Hall of Fame enshrinement.
I couldn’t leave the pavilion without buying something. I ended up getting two items; the first being “Fight Or Die: The Vinny Paz Story” by Tommy Jon Caduto and a gold-colored T-shirt depicting a prime Muhammad Ali and the phrase “Float Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a Bee” in large block print. As soon as I saw it I knew I had to have it, not because I’d look good but because it was something I knew I’d wear on future road trips. For most of us what we wear represents who we are, and what I am, at my core,Posts with indoor tracking system on TRX Systems develops systems that locate and track personnel indoors. is a boxing fan.
After the HBO delegation departed I decided to linger for a while longer.Directory ofchina glass mosaic Tile Manufacturers,We mainly supply professional craftspeople with crys talbeads wholesale shamballa Bracele , I went into the museum and started looking around and the man at the cash register said “can I help you?”
“That’s cool,” I said. Despite previous visits to the museum in which the fee was waived, I dug into my wallet and pulled out a 10-spot. At the moment I was about to hand the bill over, Ed and Jeff Brophy arrived to tell the register minder to wave off the charge.
Over the next two hours I made sure to drink in every exhibit I visited – the statues of Carmen Basilio and Billy Backus, the elder Basilio’s welterweight and middleweight championship belts awarded by THE RING,Gardner Bender offers a broad range of cableties, the fist castings that included those of Benny Leonard, Jack McAuliffe and especially Primo Carnera, which invariably drew “wows” from everyone who gazed at it. I looked at some of the newer exhibits, such as the trunks Thomas Hearns wore during his historic Closet Classic against Juan Domingo Roldan (a fight covered in my book “Tales From the Vault”). I also spotted a white robe autographed by Arturo Gatti that I hadn’t noticed before.
A short time later Jeff Brophy, Ed’s nephew and chief of media relations, escorted me down to the basement where more treasures were stored. He showed me two submissions that were made earlier in the week – the bright orange robe Sharmba Mitchell wore before his final fight with Paul Williams in August 2006 and a box of memorabilia from the family of a recently-deceased local collector that included vintage programs and issues of THE RING dating back to the late 1920s.
I could have stayed at the museum until closing time – and beyond. The only thing that could have pulled me away was work responsibilities and such was the case here. I needed to be at ringside by 3 p.m. but I hung around until the last possible moment. I timed everything well, for I arrived at the Turning Stone’s event center precisely at 3.
Before I left the Hall’s grounds, however, I took a few moments to stare at the flags that were lowered in Emanuel Steward’s honor. A few images of past meetings flashed in my mind as well as memories of the many phone conversations we shared over the years. The time for sadness was appropriate, but a subsequent e-mail from Kasprzak astutely addressed how we all should feel once the initial mourning is completed.
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