Ron, thank you for your kind words.Originally Posted by Ron Lipton
Btw, Cars are not made like that anymore...
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Ron, thank you for your kind words.
Btw, Cars are not made like that anymore...
Tony & Frankie Baltazar
2007
Memorial Day 1970
Forty years ago we took a motorcycle trip to Northern California. There was Gibby, his wife Gloria, Gibby’s brother, John and his wife, I don’t remember her name, there was also Guzman and his girlfriend Mary Lou, and Connie and I.
A week before we were leaving my late brother-in-law Willie said he wanted to go too, one problem, Willie didn’t have a motorcycle, Gibby said to Willie.
“Willie there’s a 305 Honda in my backyard, get it running and you can go with us”
Willie goes into Gibby backyard and finds the Honda in the chicken coop full of chicken poop. The Honda had been sitting for about a year, but with a bit of work/new parts Willie got it running, clean it and he was ready to go.
Memorial weekend comes, its Saturday morning, 7:00 AM, we were meeting at my place, Gibby, John and Guzman and wives/girlfriends ride up, then Willie and Annie , when they ride up I ask Willie.
“Willie, where is the Honda?”
“We are sitting on it, don’t you see it?”
“No”
Willie was a big boy, so with him and Annie on the small bike, well, you couldn’t see the bike, the handle bar’s were embedded in Willie stomach and in back of Annie you could barely see the tail light.
After having coffee we take the I-5 to the San Fernando Valley, as we reach the Valley Willie gets a flat tire, we pull into a gas station and get it fix, we get back on the I-5, now we are on the Ridge Route/Grapevine and Willie gets another flat tire, the same tire, rear,. No gas stations for miles, what to do?. We tried flagging down anybody driving a pick up, none would stop, finally an old ‘58 Chevy station wagon stopped, all the windows but the windshield were broken, and that one had a big crack on it, an old man and woman got out to help, but they could barely walk, they were drunk! At 10:00 AM!. We didn’t have much choice, we put the Honda in the back of the wagon with Willie, Annie gets in the back seat. As we’re going down the Grapevine I could see Willie drinking the old couples beer, we get to a gas station, gave the old people a few bucks and got the tire fix one more time.
We now get Highway 99, somewhere between Bakersfield and Fresno, damn if Willie didn’t get another flat, same tire. This part of Highway 99 is a freeway where the semi’s are going 80-85 miles per hour. We stopped and told Willie we would wait for him at the off-ramp which was about 75 yards up the freeway, Connie got of our bike and said she would walk with Annie while Willie pushed the bike, right of the off-ramp was a gas station with a store, after all these flat tires we needed a beer, Willie comes up the ramp hopping mad and Annie and Connie behind him laughing their butts off, I looked at Willie’s bike an I could see that the handle bar on the right side is broken, the broken piece is just hanging on the brake cable, I ask Connie what happened.
“Annie and I were walking behind Willie and every time a semi passed by, the bike and Willie’s fat ass would wobble, Willie’s ass would go back and forth, we were laughing so hard he got mad, he stopped and turned around to tell us to shut up when a semi passed by and knock the bike of Willie’s hands, the handle bar broke as the bike hit the ground, that’s why he is so mad”
Damn!, we had enough of the flat tires, I told Willie.
“Willie, lets find out why you keep getting flats”
We took the tire of the rim and found a crack inside the tire that was biting on the tube, I told Willie he needed to buy a new tire, he puts his arm around my shoulder and said.
“Brother-in-law, I don’t have any money”
Kiki bought the tire.
That out of the way we go to work on the handle bar, I took the broken piece of the handle bar of the hand grip and put the grip on what remain of the handle bar on the right side, now Willie had a long handle bar on the left side and short bar on the right side.
Back on Highway 99 we travel about 50 miles when the Honda started leaking oil, it was leaking so bad that we started using nothing but STP, we pull into a gas station where Willie borrowed some tools to try and fix the leak, he took some parts of the bike but he couldn’t find where the leak was coming from, so he puts the parts back on, but something was wrong.
“Willie, that’s not right”
“Why?"
“Look at the kick start, it suppose to be vertical not horizontal”
The kick start was now horizontal facing forward and he was now starting the Honda like a lawn mower.
We get back on 99 and we had Willie ride in front of us, damn! we were all getting full of oil. The guys told me.
“He’s your brother-in-law, you ride behind him and we’ll ride behind you”
We finally got to Tracy, Ca. and visit with Gibby’s cousins, after drinking one or two beers we left and headed to Pittsburgh, Ca. to visit my cousin Ernie, by the time we got to Pittsburgh the charging system on the Honda had gone south, that meant only one thing, Willie and Annie would have to take the bus back home, I told Willie.
“Willie, it looks like you and Annie are going to have to ride the bus back home”
“I don’t have any money for bus tickets”
“Willie, there are some people working in the fields down the road, you can work two-three days and make enough money to pay for the tickets.
“Do I have to do that?”
He didn’t, us guys put some money together for the tickets.
We rode back home minus Willie and Annie.
About a week after getting home I seen Willie.
“Willie, how was your bus ride?”
“Okay, but for the bus driver”
“What was wrong with the driver?”
“He wouldn't stop for a cold one, I ask him if I could drive and he pointed to a sign that read ‘do not talk to the driver when the bus is in motion’ and told me to go sit in the back”
Last edited by kikibalt; 05-23-2010 at 06:58 PM.
CBHOF-2010
Ed Hernandez, Tom Ray, Randy De La O, Rodolfo Gonzalez, Rick Farris and Frankie Baltazar
Tom Ray and Frank Baltazar
Rodolfo"El Gato" Gonzales and Frank Baltazar Sr.
Mickey Cohen's old neighborhood.
Been reading a lot about him and his fighting days. He fought Jimmy Thomas, who was an excellent black fighter from Pittsburgh
Used to see Mickey Cohen at the Olympic on fite nite back in the day..
Tony Valenzuela and Frankie Baltazar, the two fought when Frankie was about 12 years old, Tony was older, Frankie won the fight
Emliy Cerda, mother of 2010 CBHOF inductee, Tony Cerda Jr. and the "wife", Connie Baltazar
CBHOF-2010
Bobby Valenzuela & Frankie Baltazar
These two met in the ring as six year olds in the the 1964 Jr GG's finals
Bobby won
Frank,
That looks like a great time. I cant imagine being among some of the legends that were there.
Thanks for posting the pictures. I really enjoyed them.
Randy
Thanks Randy, glad you enjoy the pixs. I think its safe to say that everybody had a great time. Btw, I posted some other pixs from the event on the Calif. photo thread.
I haven't heard Tony Cerda Jr.'s name in 25 years!
Emliy Cerda, mother of 2010 CBHOF inductee, Tony Cerda Jr. and the "wife", Connie Baltazar
He was one of the first real popular ESPN fighters along with Freddy Roach, Bobby Czyz, Livingston Bramble, Steve Cruz, Dwight Braxton, and many other regulars on Thursday Night Fights.
Thanks for that, Mr. Baltazar.
Karl
Tony Cerda Jr.
Tony has being a Los Angeles County Deputy Probation Officer for the last 25 years
Had a scare yesterday, heard a rumor that Bobby Chacon had died, Don Fraser did some checking around and found that Bobby is still standing, so much for rumors....
Boxing Contracts, etc etc
Tony's contract vs Robin Blake
Frankie's contract vs Pat Duran, on Tony/Blake card
A 1977 letter from my late friend Bill Field
I being shredding paper (bank statements, billing statements, etc etc) for days now, my wife saves every piece of paper for years, she had plastic bags in every nook and cranny full of paper. She gets piss when I want to shred the papers, well, I did it behind her back while she was at work, and I filled 7-33 gallon trash bags, found billing statements from as far back 2000, I also found the boxing contracts and letter I posted.
I call Connie "The Bag Lady".....
I hope you didn't shread those contracts and letter. Those were very interesting. Thanks for letting us see them.
Randy
Its funny, you are the second Randy who said that, about shredding those documents, Randy De La O on BOXREC said the same thing, but no, I didn't shred them....They are hard to read, but after some many years its to be expected I guess.....
Frankie's 1985 Nevada State boxing license
"Pinche cabrone, you shredded all my paper" said the Bag Lady this morning....LOL!!
Junior Golden Gloves Finals
1964
I had Romulo Ventura fighting Andy “The Hawk” Price in the finals of the 1964 Junior golden Gloves at the Valley Garden Arena, Andy gets in the ring first, we now make our way to the ring, Romulo starts his climb up the stairs, he puts one leg over the bottom rope and he sees Andy shadow boxing and looking like a minuter Sugar Ray Robinson, Romluo turns around and looks me in the eye and tells me “I don't feel like fighting tonight after all”, I gave Romulo a shove into the ring and tell him “he looks pretty, but can he fight?”. Romulo fought that night and gave Andy a good scrap losing by decision.
Frankie shot this picture of Dub Huntly and me today (7-26-2010) at my house
Rocky Baltazar working out with Dub Huntly at Frankie's house
Frankie Baltazar and Johnny Flores vs Chango Cruz
Frank Baltazar Sr., Harry Kabakoff and Frankie Jr.
Tony Baltazar vs Chu Chu De La Cruz
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