aT

aM BB lh ool

n Pe

Many try, but few make the grade

Almost nil.
At Hamilton,

in six rounds, and appeared to be in excellent shape.

At 34, however, Ray isn’t the|,
dynamo he was a few years ago.
Even more important, he isn’t a
hungry fighter any more. Years
of good living have dulled the urge
to battle which took him from the
ranks of the Golden Glovers right
up to the welterweight and mid-
dleweight thrones.

In 154 professional fights, Rob-
inson suffered only three defeats,
and later avenged. two of them. In
1951 he was named “Fighter of the
Year” by The Ring magazine, fist-
jana’s bible. Two years ago, fol-
lowing a collapse against Joey
Maxim due to the heat (certainly
not because of Maxim’s powder-
puff punches) Sugar Ray gave up
the boffing game and embarked on
a new career as a dancer.

For a time,’ the kingpin of the
middleweights made $10,000 a
week as a hoofer, but later he was
happy to accept considerably less.
Show biz is wonderful ,if you’ve
got what it takes. Ray had talent,

. but he soon found that he was no
Bojangles.

Robinson’ started life as plain
Walker Smith, son of an automo-
bile worker in Detroit. His mother
and father split up when he was
eight or nine years old, and his
mother moved to New York. The
youngster grew up in Harlem, and
started to box at the tender age
of il.

George Gainford of the Salem-
Crescent Athletic Club took the
youngster under his wing, and be-
fore he passed his 18th - birthday
he was fighting almost every night
on the bootleg circuit, and making
about $100 a week.

In order to box legally, he bor-
rowed a friend’s birth certificate.
The friend’s name was Ray Rob-
inson. After a bout one night a
sports writer said to Gainford,

Suber. Ray Robinson as

“That's a mighty sweet boy you
aa : there!” George grinned,
“Sweet as sugar!” he said. And
from then on it was Sugar Ray
Robinson. | tae E

Sugar’s first pro fight was a 1our-
acti preliminary in Madison
Square Garden on October 4, 1940,
on the Fritzie ZiviccHenry Arm-
strong card. About a year later
he fought Zivic in a Garden main
event.

Jake LaMotta was the first man

he looked in his prime.

Sugar Ray Robinson on
rugged comeback trail

“Sugar sharp, fast as comeback begins,’ said the sports headlines this week. Yep,

ing, like 80 many fighters before
It ht champion Sugar Ray Robinson is trying, lik |
ae iat Heide back ahd do it all over again. What are his chances of succeeding?

Ontario, boxer-turned-hoofer Robinson began the see aa!
‘ . 1 incing di of superiorit
reverse play. Against Gene Burton of New York he gave a convincing display Pp y

to beat Robinson, in 1943. But
Ray beat Jake five times.

Randy Turpin
world by lifting Ray’s middle-
weight title one night in London,
but was beaten by Sugar in a re-

turn match.

Now Sugar is climbing that
tough comeback trail. One feels
like shouting at him: “Don’t try
it, Ray. Let’s remember you as
you were in your prime.”

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«

surprised the]

Bert Whyte's

SPORTLIGHT

'DMONTON fans who journeyed
east for the Grey Cup final
brought back an estimated one
million bucks in wagers won
from the Toronto and Montreal
gamboleers. But it’s rumored
that the Ontario Liquor Commis-
sion took the westerners for a
like sum.

Esks were the fifth western
team to win the coveted Grey
Cup. Others were Winnipeg in
1935, 1939 and 1941, and Calgary
in 1948,

Thousands of Vancouverites —-
this writer included — saw the
game on television. And some
1,100 Winnipeg fans drove down
to Fargo, North Dakota, to watch
the live TV broadcast from To-
ronto, which was carried over a
79-station U.S. network.

As for the game itself, just
about everything that can be said
has already been said by the
dailies. There’s unanimous agree-
ment that it was the greatest
Grey Cup contest in history.

Coach Doug (Peahead) Walker
of the losing Alouettes said sad-
ly that the Esks got the breaks.
But the fact is that both teams
got several breaks. It was an even
game throughout, with the Esks
a. their best in the first and last
quarters, and the Als looking
much the better squad in the
second and third.

With time running out, Mont-
real halfback Chuck Hunsinger
lost his head and threw to no-
body in particular when about to
he tackled. Jackie Parker grab-
ved the loose ball on the bounce
and was away for a never-to-be-
forgotten 95-yard touchdown
which tied the ballgame 25-25.
Dean’s educated toe made the
extra point and that was it.

* * *

Recently a number of news-
papers and magazines in the
United States have been printing
some edifying facts about the
hoods and hoodlums who infest
the sport of professional boxing.
This is all to the good, for it may
lead to a public demand for a
cleanup, particularly in New
York. x“

Boxing is no more racket-rid-
den than many other profes-
sional sports, but the situation in
New York has become a national
scandal. If a fighter from out-of-
town (and that includes Canada
and Europe) wants to get a Madi-
son Square Garden shot, he has
to sell a piece of himself to some
underworld character.

Most infamous exploitation of
a foreign fighter was the case of
Primo Carnera, who came. to
these shores, was promptly. divid-
ed up by the New York racket-

(crs, won a world championship, -

lost it, and then found himself
not only broke, but Owing money.
It seems that Primo, in his in-
nocence, had managed to sell 110
percent of himself, and so still
owed some hoodlum 10 percent
of his earnings, :

_ The big fellow was lucky to get
back to Italy owning the shirt. he
wore coming over. He spent the
war years digging ditches (for re.
fusing to cooperate with the
Nazis) and later made a comeback
in the U.S. as a wrestler. Today
he’s well fixed, owns his own

Lome and has some money in the
bank. en te

* * a

A Yankee construction firm
built a pool at UBC which won't
hold water — the firm forgot that
’ e have frost up here in Canada's
evergreen playground.

Our city fathers approved the

UBC site for the Empire Pool,

and gave irate local swimmers
(who wanted a pool at Riley Park)
assurances that the UBC pool
would be open all year round for

the use of the public. These
romises have proved false.

UBC officials talked of build-
ing a roof for the pool as soon as
the Empire Games were over.
But they later changed their
niinds.

What Vancouver needs is an
enclosed pool at Riley Park, the
size of the present Empire Pool.
Citizens should agitate until they
gel some action on it.

“ * *

Canada’s biggest sports thrills
ef 1954: the Bannister-Landy
duel, Marilyn Bell’s swim and
the Esks-Als game.

The greatest sports thrill of
ali time? My vote would go for
the Dempsey-Firpo heavyweight

. championship fight in 1923.
x

* x

Writing in The Ukrainian Can-
adian, football fan Ronnie Boy-
chuk adds his two-bits worth to
the Canadian-American contro-
versy. He says, in part:

“A few weeks ago some 30
Argo fans wrote the Argonaut
football club a letter protesting
the spending of huge sums of
money to scout the American:
leagues for high paid imports.

“This money should be used to
uevelop our own potential play-
ers, to assist the minor leagues
and to begin paying Canadian
players a salary equal to the im-
ports. x

“We have nothing against an
American playing on a Canadian
iootball team when he decides
t> remain in our country and be-
coime a Canadian citizen. What
we don’t like are the. money-
hungry players who come over
here, scoop up salaries three,
four and five times greater than
what Canadian players get, and
then move back below the border
after the, season is over.

“Football players like Nicklin,
Golab, Krol, ‘Charlton, MeCance
and others got their chance with-
out having to fight for positions
against Americans.

“And | believe that today, Can-
adian players like Ted Toogood,
Gerry James, Lorne Benson, Sul-
ly Glasser, Johnny Fedosoff, Tip
Logan and-others can become
great footballers if given a bet-
ter chance on the gridiron. Then
we will see more Canadians like
Joe Pal make the all-stars.”

* * ra

Canada’s Johnny Longden, cone
of the top jockeys in the world
today, has won 4,400 races dur-
ing his long career. .

Po
JOHNNY LONGDEN
Johnny, who grew up in Al-
berta, rode the bull rings before
moving south. He was on his
first winner back in 1927, and
passed the magic 3,000 figure in
1948.

Longden thinks Count Fleet is
the best horse he ever was up on.
His biggest thrill was winning
the 1943 Kentucky Derby with
Count Fleet.

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — DECEMBER 3, 1954 — PAGE 11

ry