Canarsie, Brooklyn, New York?One of the largest federally subsidized housing developments in the country, Spring Creek Towers, also known as Starrett City, has provided affordable housing for lower-income and working-class families since 1974. More than 5,800 families occupy the 46 buildings of this 153-acre region, replete with trees, day cares, community centers, and other generous amenities for the young and elderly. One would be hard-pressed to find a better example of civic accomplishment, especially in a city whose priorities too often align with that of real estate mavens.
Eighteen miles away from blustering Manhattan?take the Brooklyn-bound L-train to the last stop and then board a bus?the streets here are wider than in the metropolis and they are flanked by large patches of green grass over hilly terrain. It?s mid-afternoon and parents are slinging their children?s schoolbags over their shoulders. For the urbanite, the silence here can be unnerving.
That this unassuming neighborhood is home to one of the more stalwart boxing gyms in New York City should come as little surprise. What is less expected is that Starrett City Boxing Club?which, properly speaking, is actually just a nook within a multi-story parking garage?has been the gym of choice for many professional boxers over the past thirty years. Some of them have even won world titles: most notably Shannon Briggs and Zab Judah. Yet unlike other New York City boxing gyms that overstate their heritage as a selling point for white collar clients, Starrett does not make a cult of its decorated past. Tucked away from the clamor, its fighters walk in and promptly get to work.
STARRETT #2
Inside the thudding gym there are two rings, a desk, and floor space reserved for punching bags. Across the ceiling, gloves, trunks, shoes, and other obscure trinkets hang proudly from a network of pipes. Most prominent is a purple warm-up robe with the name ?Luis Collazo? stitched on the back. Against the north wall, a bright portrait of the gym?s founder, the late Jimmy O?Pharrow, overlooks the scene.
STARRETT #6 O’PHARROW
A couple of lockers?brightly adorned with stickers, photographs and newspaper clippings?stand against the corner. Except for a small alcove, there are no designated dressing rooms. Most toss their bags next to the rings or on a pop-up table. There is a refrigerator?but no water fountain. To use the restroom, you need to leave the gym and enter the parking lot with keys in hand.
Not that anyone is complaining. It?s clear that the principles on which the gym was founded have long reflected Starrett City?s communal heritage. The patronage is proof: mother-daughter duos, independent coaches, high school kids, Golden Gloves competitors, the pros, along with their trainers, family and friends. Out of this collective, probably no one more than Ewart Chase exemplifies the gym?s humble virtues.
STARRETT #3 CHASE
One of Starrett?s longest active trainers, Chase is cut from the oldest cloth. He sports a long, gristly beard and generally isn?t prone to much talk. If credible trainers are hard to come by these days, consider Chase an exception. His methodical, meticulous approach to boxing jars sharply with the image that television provides. Anyone who has spent time trying to teach something to adolescents can testify to the kind of resolve and abiding patience that is often required to succeed. Chase must have plenty of both, as he works primarily with the kids. On this day, one of Chase?s students is in the ring sparring with a peer. The other coach can be heard admonishing his pupil with every punch thrown. But there is hardly a peep out of Chase. He just looks intensely inside the ring, following the action. Towards the end of the round, Chase?s student sends his partner to the canvas with a shot to the gut. Come fight night, you know that Chase is the kind of guy you want in your corner.
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Jila, a petite Iranian woman with an infectious smile, can also be found working with some of the youngest kids in the gym. If there?s something motherly about Jila, it?s mediated by her biker-girl image: She is clad in black denim, topped off with a red bandanna. She doesn?t seem like a likely candidate to be the owner of a hair salon in Long Island, yet that is indeed how she makes her money. She just happened to catch the fighting bug early on, after lacing up a pair of gloves under the tutelage of O?Pharrow. Ever since then, she has been offering her services pro bono to the youngsters in the gym. Starrett City, if it isn?t clear, builds talent from the bottom up. Asked about her former trainer, Jila has only kind words. ?He was a great man,? she says fondly. ?He taught me everything about boxing. Imagine, me, a hairdressing boxer!?
In stark but complementary contrast, wearing a bandanna and a large t-shirt over her stocky physique, Kisha Snow-Daud, another tenured Starrett City trainer and former heavyweight, barks her pupils on as she strolls left and right, carefully eyeing their technique. The gym seems to coalesce around her stalwart presence. Frequently, her voice rises above the pitter-patter of glove work and small talk: ?Starrett City stand up!? she?ll bellow. On some days she can be heard marveling aloud at the number of world champions in the gym.
STARRETT #8 KISHA
Danny Jacobs is one of those. He is also, just as notably, a cancer survivor. Coming from a photoshoot in the city, he jogs into the gym, greets all the usuals, and, in typical fashion, quickly changes into his workout clothes right next to the ring. To the others in the gym, Jacobs, a Golden Boy fighter, is just another one of the guys. Headphones strapped over his ears, he gets into the ring and begins shadowboxing.
STARRETT #9 JACOBS
Whereas Jacobs usually walks in alone, sans entourage, his Golden Boy stablemate Sadam Ali is always accompanied by his father, who makes sure to sit close enough to be able to tell Ali to keep his right up. An all too familiar scene in the sport is the father jumping into the son?s training regimen. Not so, in this case. Ali?s father seems to be well aware of the tenuous line between being supportive and being a detriment. He?ll wrap Ali?s hands ? but he won?t be in the corner anytime soon. Like Jacobs, Ali hardly wastes a minute getting into his workout. There is no sparring for Ali on this day. But the workout is short and intense?an hour-and-a-half, tops. He is long gone, along with his father, before another wave of fighters arrive to the gym.
STARRETT #7 ALI
Nirmal Lorick, the de facto operations manager of the gym and a fellow trainer himself, says that efficiency and intensity are key to working out. No one works out for more than five hours at Starrett. Lesly Jean, who arrives early and stays late, may be the exception to that rule. A bulky amateur, Jean fights at light heavyweight. On this humid day, he?s already gone through several tank tops and sparring sessions. As if that wasn?t enough, he gives the speed and heavy bags equal attention before focusing on his core. There?s a certain aura about boxing workouts. Popular culture has often singled out boxers for their work ethic, as if the kind of workout that takes place in the ring fortifies the soul. Watching Jean, you get the sense, at least for the moment, that this is real. Asked if he wants to turn pro, he smiles wryly. It?s clear he?s been posed this question a million times but still is unsure of the appropriate response:
?I don?t know. I do, but not yet?I just feel like everyone wants to turn pro. But you know, once you turn pro, you?re a pro forever, you can?t go back. And the money is really shady in the beginning.?
You want to stay amateur for now?
?Yeah. I want to make it to the Olympics, man. That?s my dream. And time is running out.?
How old are you, Lesly?
?Old enough.?
STARRETT #15 LESLY
Starrett City won?t be attracting the denizens of Manhattan anytime soon, but that?s fine. A quick tour of Mendez, Church Street, and even Gleason?s Gym, shows that though membership may be in bulk, their high-price points will always keep away the working class. This won?t change anytime soon. So while the dismayed can continue to yearn for the good old days when New York City?s 42nd Street was littered with gyms?in between the porno theaters?take note that there?s still a place at the Eastern edge of Brooklyn that takes the sweet science seriously.
