His style was simply to let it all hang out and let the good times roll. To Chicago fans, Satterfield was neither black nor white. He was simply Bob?
Several years ago, the late Hank Kaplan got a call from a sportswriter in San Diego who was finishing up a feature story on Bob Satterfield, a bruising heavyweight who fought in the ?50s and ?60s. The writer had found ?Satterfield? destitute, a wine-addled man living under a bridge. He called Kaplan, the noted historian, to check on a few facts about Satterfield?s career.
?The only trouble is that Bob Satterfield died seven years earlier,? Kaplan said. ?Good thing he called me.? Kaplan pauses to think about Satterfield. ?A very important fighter, who came very close to being a world champion,? he says. ?But he was completely forgotten. There are countless others who didn?t win the so-called championship but who could beat most of the champions around today. ?I say this: Why should these guys be forgotten? It?s a sin to forget them.?? (Kathy Glasgow, ?Lord Of The Ring.? January 15, 1998: http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1998-01-15/news/lord-of-the-ring/full)
When you make a film based on a true story, albeit a true story about a lie, you raise the likelihood of misinterpretation five-fold.
?Just who was Bob Satterfield?? some might ask.
Bob ?Rapid Robert? Satterfield (1923-1977)
Every kid who boxed or followed boxing after World War II had his favorite fighter. Joe Louis was just about a unanimous choice, but I was the exception. My favorite was not called ?the Brown Bomber.? My favorite was called ?Rapid Robert? and he was a heavyweight out of Chicago by the name of Bob Satterfield. He was the Chicago City Golden Gloves 147-pound champion in 1941, and served in the United States Army from 1942?45. As an amateur, he had 27 knockouts in 35 bouts.
Satterfield never fought for the title and retired with a record of 50-25-4 (35 KOs). He made The Ring?s list of 100 Greatest Punchers of All Time.
He was 58 on the list. Below is Boxing Illustrated 10 Hardest Punchers P4P of All-Time. (Hank Kaplan, ?Too Much Ring ?Rage? in DeNiro?s LaMotta.? September 30, 2005: http://www.thesweetscience.com/boxing-article/2691/too-much-ring-ragedeniro-lamotta/)
Interestingly, Earnie Shavers is number 7 on the list.
1. Jimmy Wilde 2. Max Baer 3. Bob Fitzsimmons 4. George Chaney 5. Charles Ledoux 6. Bob Satterfield 7. Earnie Shavers 8. Joe Louis 9. Jack Dempsey 10. Sandy Saddler
There was almost a palpable quality?maybe Chicago noir?about being a Satterfield fan back then. It was right up there with post-war blondes or grooving on Charlie Parker?s alto sax. In a word, it was ?cool.? What attracted me most to Bob was his complexity. On the one hand, he was a sensitive modern jazz enthusiast and art student; on the other, a menacing fighter whose principle was the last man standing is the winner.
To add to his depth, he reportedly was a close friend of the great jazz artist Miles Davis, who hailed from downstate Illinois. When the Count or Duke played Chicago, Bob was always a big part of the party. He was a muscular, handsome man who magnetized the pretty Chicago women. The incongruity of it all was the attraction. The following was posted in August 2005 by a blogger named rocky111:
?Hey, I loved Satterfield as a kid. What a build. Ya had to see him live to appreciate it. What a guy he was from what ive heard. Too good looking for his own good, he became a devoted playboy and lost his chin, but never his wallop. What a great fighter he could have been with discipline. He had the gifts.? (?10 Hardest Punchers P4P of All-Time,? Strictly Business Boxing: http://www.strictlybusinessboxing.com/7.html)
Many of his fights were at Chicago?s Marigold Gardens and I got to see them live. The crowd was made up mostly of devil-may-care types back from the war, and it was a kind of ?let the good times roll.?
And that?s just what Bob did for us. His style was simply to let it all hang out and let the good times roll. To Chicago fans, Bob was neither black nor white. He was simply Bob.
Though I always believed the Anton Raadik vs. Tommy Bell fight in 1946 was the first live one that I witnessed, upon reflection it was Satterfield?s first-round KO of Art McWhorter in 1945 at the Marigold Gardens. Art went down three times: first from a left hook, then a brutal flurry, and then another left hook iced him.
Though closer to a light heavyweight, Bob could hit like a super heavyweight and had massive sledgehammer power with either hand. In spectacular fashion, he chilled some of the best heavies of this very tough era, including Bob Baker, Marty Marshall, Vern Mitchell, Lee Oma, Nino Valdes, Oakland Billy Smith, Johnny Summerlin, and Harold Johnson.
However, there was one major problem. He himself went to dreamland 13 times during his career, but still, he could he punch! It was chill or be chilled. When he missed, it made his opponents wince. His first round KO of favorite Bob Baker in July 1953 was brutal for its finality. Baker had Satterfield hurt, and then?bam?Baker went down like he had been sapped. Whether going down or putting someone else down, his fights almost suggested the ?fix? was in. That?s how dramatic they were, whether caused by his granite fists or his porcelain chin.
Cleveland Williams, another monster bomber, began his career in 1951 and won his first 27 fights, 23 by knockout, but in 1954, he met Bob Satterfield and was KO?d in three.
?Tampa Tommy? Gomez (1950)
In 1950, Satterfield met another savage bomber, ?Tampa Tommy? Gomez (75-8-2, 65 KOs), who had an astonishing KO percentage of 87 percent coming in. The gritty Gomez, who was a brutal hitter for his size of 5?10?, sustained a fractured rib in the first round but refused to give up. Satterfield scored four knockdowns in all; he decked Gomez for an eight-count in the first round, and twice in the seventh round, and again in the ninth for a nine-count. Gomez was out on his feet at the end of the seventh and ninth rounds but managed to last out the full 10 rounds. This was a great display of courage on his part and savagery on the part of Satterfield. It?s no wonder Gomez retired after losing the UD. The fight was held at the Chicago Stadium. Unfortunately, I missed it.
Gomez had turned pro in 1939 and was ducked by many of the contenders of his time due to his fierce knockout power. In fact, he was named to the Ring magazine list of the100 Greatest Punchers. He is number 72; Satterfield is number 58.
But there was something else that endeared Tampa Tommy to the fans in those days. Like many other fighters of the late 1940s and early 1950s (including Satterfield), he was a World War II veteran, but in Tommy?s case he was more. He was a Purple Heart recipient who had been wounded 16 times in Germany. Tommy Gomez was one tough hombre.
The Excitement
What made Satterfield so exciting and a great fan favorite was that he would try to lure his opponents into punch-outs in which he would begin winging and then move inside, closing the gap and shortening up on his punches. However, he was not overly strategic and seldom had a contingency plan. This was dangerous, as he would tire badly if the fight went into the late rounds. Never known for great durability, he nevertheless had the ?baddest? of intentions. He either got you, or you got him. Being hit by Satterfield was once reportedly described as being struck by electricity. His fights bring to mind the excitement generated by Danny ?Little Red? Lopez, Julian ?the Hawk? Jackson, Jaime Garza, John ?The Beast? Mugabi, Gerald McClellan, and Felix ?Tito? Trinidad. Arguably, if he were fighting today, it would be sweet dreams for many of the smaller heavyweights out there?and God forbid if he fought as a cruiserweight.
As a testament to Satterfield?s great appeal, virtually all of his fights were held in well-known venues, places like the Chicago Stadium, the Chicago Coliseum, the Miami Beach Auditorium, St. Nicholas Arena, Madison Square Garden, the International Amphitheater, Comiskey Park, the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Oakland Auditorium, and the New Frontier Sportsdrome in Las Vegas. See: http://www.boxing.com/the_memory_bank_part_ten.html
By now, Satterfield really should have reminded you of someone else, someone who fought in the ?70s?another great era for heavyweights. That?s right, Earnie Shavers. Satterfield was a smaller version of Earnie who came out bombing, throwing caution to the wind and with no ?what if? plans in sight. He too tired badly in the later rounds?but his punches were like jackhammers! He too was pure excitement
Ring historian Hank Kaplan in describing the courage of Jake LaMotta once said, ?It is not every man?s kind of guts that will put you up close to Bob Satterfield?s brand of fireworks and Jimmy Reeves? and Sugar Ray Robinson?s? (Hank Kaplan, ?Too Much Ring ?Rage? in DeNiro?s LaMotta). LaMotta later said Satterfield was one of the hardest punchers who ever lived.
Rex Layne (1961)
Satterfield?s fight with Rex Layne (29-1-2 coming in) in 1951, and one I witnessed on TV, was typical. He came out bombing and quickly knocked the granite-chinned Layne down for an eight-count in the first round?no easy trick. Layne appeared out on his feet, but somehow survived the round.
Satterfield had let him off the hook, and Layne slowly came on until he began to gradually dictate the pace and control matters. They exchanged incredibly violent blows winging from all directions, but hardcore Satterfield fans, of which there were many, knew what was going to happen. Layne floored Satterfield with a crunching left hook in the eighth. Satterfield went down hard but somehow, tapping his inherent courage, got back up at the count of six. He was totally out on his feet, and, after a left and two more rights, referee Mark Conn moved in and stopped the bout. After the fight, Layne reached over and, in a gesture of pure human decency, touched Satterfield on the cheek. Those who saw it will never forget it.
The normally clumsy but hard-punching Layne really impressed in that fight, displaying an effective jab, decent speed, and showed how good his chin was by taking a flush Satterfield right hand and getting back up. This was a closet classic in which two contenders both in their prime brought their top game into the ring in a fight that included thunderous punching and a great display of heart and humanity.
Here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKUlBPErrn0
Lee Oma(1950)
But perhaps the classic example of a Satterfield fight was in the Chicago Stadium in 1950 against mean and dirty Lee Oma (62-26-3 coming in). Satterfield was floored for a nine-count in the fifth round and barely made it to his feet. Oma moved in for the kill, but Satterfield then suddenly dropped him with a right. Oma, still on the floor when the round ended, was saved by the bell. Satterfield then knocked him cold with a savage right in the next round that had the Stadium crowd oohing and aahhing. That was an indelible boxing memory?the beautiful oohing and aahhing.
In 1953, he met 214-pound swarming bomber Bob Baker (30-2-1 coming in) at the Chicago Stadium. The high ranking Baker was a big favorite but after 152 seconds of pure fury, Rapid Robert KO?d Baker. They both had been throwing menacing shots in this slug-o-rama and even when they missed, the crowd roared. Sooner or later, the fans knew that the first one who connected flush would walk away the winner. It happened at the 2:32 mark as Satterfield unloaded on the much bigger Baker and that was that? 152 seconds of mutually exchanged violence.
Throughout his career, Satterfield would lose to such tough opposition as Joey Maxim, Bert Whitehurst, Holman Williams (who had an astounding record of 147-30-11), Jake LaMotta, Ezzard Charles, and the great Archie Moore. He dropped two out of three to future light heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer Harold Johnson, considered the best technical fighter to emerge from the City of Brotherly Love. Each of these fighters owned tremendous won-lost records.
Bob was scheduled to fight Wayne Bethea at Chicago Stadium in January 1958 but was forced to retire due to a detached retina. Thus, he closed out his exciting and fan-pleasing ring career with a decision win over Howard ?Honeyboy? King (34-11-6) on November 21, 1957. Honey Boy had gone 0-5-1 against the great Archie Moore and 3-1-1 against Roger Rischer.
Ted Sares is one of the world?s oldest active power lifters and holds several world and state records. He enjoys writing about boxing.
