Attention: International Boxing Hall of Fame (?I.B.H.O.F.?)
Dear Mr. Edward Brophy,
All could be better in boxing!
We both know in what high regard I hold the I.B.H.O.F. and that wonderful induction weekend in June of every year. It is a weekend visit that all boxing fans should make in celebration of the grand world of boxing and all of its participants.
A suggestion of change, potential improvement, I assure you in this particular writers case, is not born of anything but positive thought and respect. I think we each know another well enough Ed that nothing further need be said in that regard.
All could be better in boxing!
This is not the usual yearly missive of who ?got into? the ?I.B.H.O.F.? and why they shouldn?t have but rather is a question of who has not gotten in and how it might be possible, deservedly, to allow entry to a long list of legends.
The likes of artist Leroy Neiman, actor Sylvester Stallone, Michael Buffer, and soon to be inducted fellow ring announcer Jimmy Lennon Jr., as non-participants, are all worthy Hall of Fame members. They each in their own individual way have substantially contributed to ?The Sweet Science?. I must say though, my friend, each year, that special weekend, I watch the incongruousness unfold at the big Saturday night inductee celebration dinner. The non-participant likes of Mr. Buffer, Mr. Stallone, Mr. Al Bernstein and numerous others, as non-participants, are introduced to the head table and walk past the likes of fellow head table guests such as George Chuvalo, Tony Demarco and Mickey Ward, all warriors and each born of hundreds of battles, body and soul, and travel far. It is those very non-participant Hall of Fame entrants, walking past these legendary warriors, that seems out of place or, in another minds eye view, not in place! This coming inductee year will be no different as the likes of photographer Neil Leifer, who most certainly is a major component in boxing?s history, pass by legends that have left pieces of themselves on canvases all over the world.
Lifetime achievement awards and honorary awards are not uncommon.
Certainly it works for the Academy Awards and one only need consider the legendary Kurt Douglas obtaining an honourary award after fifty years, Pierre O?Toole nominated eight times and winning an honourary award and Paul Newman nominated seven times between 1959-1986 before winning an honourary award. Similarly the Grammy Awards have a ?Lifetime Achievement Award?, and an entry known as MusiCares person of the year, which commends artistic achievement and dedication to philanthropy. It includes the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Barbara Streisand, Sting, and Bono. One only need look at the likes of my friend George Chuvalo and his unending crusade, year after year by way of lecture circuit, against drugs and youth addiction as an example. There are of course numerous examples of boxers, and individuals surrounding boxing, that have given back to society.
Yes, it is time for a lifetime achievement award, honourary member award, or by any other appropriate moniker, to be included in the annual I.B.H.O.F. yearly inductees. There is of course a long list of individuals that come to mind including the likes of Al Hostak, Ceferino Garcia, Chris Eubank, Dave Sands, Donald Curry, Esteban de Jesus, Jerry Quarry, Johnny Bratton, Tony Demarco, Ray Mancini, Mando Ramos, and George Chuvalo. The lifetime achievement award or honourary member award could include non-boxers as well. Trainers such as Kenny Adams and Joe Goosen who seemingly have devoted a lifetime to boxing come to mind. Similarly individuals like Jim Lampley come to mind. Obviously Mr. Lampley and Al Bernstein were in the same voting category the same year. I am sure there are a number of other instances where individuals were ever so close one particular year, in the same category, and the following years there was such a strong entrant level that they did not make it back. This year of course, with the deserved first ballot entry of the champions Oscar de La Hoya, Joe Calzaghe and Felix Trinidad, leaves little room for others.
This June will mark the 25th year and anniversary of the I.B.H.O.F. It started as a dream and how it has grown! There is a photo sitting at my desk Ed. It is George Chuvalo ?squaring off? with ?The Wolverine?, Hugh Jackman, at the premiere of the movie ?Reel Steel?. In turn that photo conjured up a thought of course, a dream as it were, for boxing warriors deserving entry for their contributions inside and outside the ring.
I am apt, Ed, to recall Al Bernstein?s comment, upon his Hall of Fame entry in the observer category: ?This Hall of Fame is essentially for the great boxers?it is their house, however this Hall of Fame is very generous in the way it welcomes those of us who fulfill another function for boxing?.!?
I have utmost faith in the thought that if one were to poll the likes of Al Bernstein, Jimmy Lennon Jr., Sylvester Stallone, and Michael Buffer along with a host of other non-boxer Hall of Fame members as to a ?lifetime achievement? or ?honourary member? category, in ?generosity of thought?, all would fully endorse such a new category. It would not be far fetched to envision, as it were, a future non-participant recipient taking a position as that taken by the legendary George C. Scott (?The Movie ?Patton??) and refusing their award while leaving it open to another to accept.
Yours truly and always with the utmost respect and love of boxing. I look forward to seeing you in June my friend.
Again with all of the utmost respect for the current and soon to be Hall of Fame inductees who, in their mutual love of boxing, add so much to the grand sport
Michael J. Schmidt Schmidtlawoffices.net
