We start with a goodbye to famed boxing trainer Emanuel Steward,who trained numerous world champions,but was usually connected with Thomas Hearns and his many champions from Detroit's Kronk Gym.Milton McCrory,Mike McCallum,Jimmy Paul and many more were world champions in the heyday of the 80's on network television under the tutelage of Steward and made his boxers big names in the sport.
Manny Steward also was the trainer that fighters that needed a change would come to as Lennox Lewis,Julio Cesar Chavez,Oscar De La Hoya and Miguel Cotto,to name a few,came to Detroit and Steward to revitalize careers.
Most recently,Steward had been training both of the Klitschko brothers to heavyweight titles and had been one of the regular announcers for HBO's boxing telecasts.
Emanuel Steward seemed to be one of the few people in boxing that no one had a bad word about and in that game-that says more than I can write.
Rest well,Manny-those of us that were Kronk boxing fans will never forget your contributions to the sport.
Manny Steward was 68 and passed from colon cancer.
Former Olympic Greco-Roman wrestling champion Jeff Blatnick passed from heart failure at the age of 55.
Blatnick won his medal in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles after battling back from the affects of Hodgkin's Disease.
Jeff Blatnick was also an early influence of MMA as he served as a commentator and worked on establishing a unified set of rules for MMA across the country.
Blatnick might have been along with Kurt Angle and Rulon Gardner the most recognized American amateur wrestler of the last 30 years....
Well traveled outfielder in the 1970's,Dave May passed at the age of 68 in Delaware from complications from cancer and diabetes.May spent time with five big league teams and six organizations,but his best seasons came in the early 70's with the Brewers after being unable to crack the powerhouse Oriole lineups in the late 1960's.
May's career year came with Milwaukee in 1973 as he hit over .300 and smacked 25 homers in making his only All-Star team.
Dave May's son Derrick spent some time as a big leaguer in the 1990's,most notably with the Chicago Cubs.
May is also notable to me for two reasons.
The first is one that many remember him for as May was the player traded to the Braves so that an aging Hank Aaron could return to Milwaukee and spend the final two seasons of his career as a DH with the Brewers.
The other is from my late grandfather.
Pap loved the Orioles and often raved about the terrific player development system of the pre-free agency Orioles.
Dave May was Pap's poster boy for players that the Orioles developed that never got a true chance in Baltimore because of the stars in the lineup that he just couldn't get by.
Hardball Times has a nice tribute to Dave May here.
Former Braves pitcher Pascual Perez was killed at the age of 55 in a home invasion in Perez's native Dominican Republic.
Perez had his biggest success in Atlanta before having drug issues that sent him to Montreal,who he had two strong seasons before more drug issues that effectively ended his career.
My favorite Aunt Becky sends me word that the restoration of Cleveland's League Park will finally begin after the funding was finally obtained.
The city will restore the grandstand and ticket office,which stands as the only remaining portion of the stadium,but is crumbling,as well as making the playing field usable and adding a visitors center.
League Park (the original home of the Indians) is a must visit when this project is completed!!!
More history found in an attic as the widow of the late pro wrestler "Johnny Barend" was cleaning out their attic and found the first ever WWWF title belt that the first champion Buddy Rogers dropped to Bruno Sammartino.
It is in the shape of the United States,yet has a plate that says World Champion on it.
This makes sense as Rogers was the U.S champion before the beginnings of the WWWF and it was easier to just have Rogers keep his belt and add a plate,I suppose,to make the belt a world title.
It is amazing to think just how much history is awaiting to be found in attics,basements and closets around the country.....
No comments:
Post a Comment