ATT: HAP NAVARRO

[gregbeyer]

hap ,
please call rick at 1-310-482-1811. he said he needs to speak to you. thanx
greg

[DonGee]

Thanks Greg. I'll try to get hold of Rick today. I'm feeling great except for weak underpinning but hope to be posting on my favorite "zone" later this week. Miss all of your interesting comments and raring to go again. God Bless.

Hap Navarro

[gregbeyer]

hap,

great to hear from you amigo. glad your feeling well. i am sure rick will be glad to hear from you also.
greg

[Chuck1052]

Hi Hap!

It is great that to learn that you are doing well! Don't
be a stranger...this board isn't the same without your
contributions.

- Chuck Johnston

[DonGee]

Thanks a lot, Chuck.

Good to be back. Warm welcomes are always welcome.

hap

[gregbeyer]

hi hap,

you reminded me of the words of that old chief in "dances with wolves" who said..."these days, nothing is better than a warm fire"....

i told rick you were back. he is looking forward to hearing from you. good to have you around again.
greg

[boxingethan02]

HELLO HAP,
THIS IS BILL RASTORFER (MY TRAINER IS GEORGE VIOREL WHO KNEW CHALIE MCDONALED FROM THE LEGION STADIUM). I HAVEN'T POSTED FOR A LONG TIME AND WAS FRUSTRATED THAT THE HISTORY OF L.A. BOXING THREAD HAD DISSAPEARED.
BEING FROM MISSOURI, I AM PARTIAL TO FIGHTERS FROM MY HOME STATE. I WAS WONDERING WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF JIMMY GARRISON, AND JOEY ALCANTER, BOTH OF WHOM ARE FROM KANSAS CITY. THEY BOTH FOUGHT HENRY ARMSTRONG (AS WELL AS SEVERAL OTHER HIGHLY TOUTED FIGHTERS), AND BOTH FOUGHT AT THE HOLLYWOOD LEGION STADIUM. I AM FRIENDS WITH ALCANTER'S GRANDAUGHTER - FRANCHESCA- WHO IS A PROFESSIONAL FIGHTER, AND SHE ALSO WISHESTO KNOW MORE ABOUT HER GRANDFATHER. ANYTHING YOU COULD SHARE ON THESE TWO GREATS FROM THE MID-WEST WOULD BE HIGHLY APPRECIATED.
-GOOD TO SEE YOU'RE STILL POSTING AND KEEPING EVERYONE "IN THE KNOW"...

[DonGee]

Good to hear of someone interested in Jimmy Garrison who was one terrific boxer-puncher type. If you don't have access to his record I can email you results of his bouts at Hollywood Legion Stadium, the club I was associated with shortly after he quit boxing.

I guess you know he was a threat in two divisions, llghtweight and welterweight, and much more so after he became active on the Pacific Coast. I also have a few of Joey Alcantar's bouts in California, which I can forward to you at your request.

If memory serves, I think Garrison set some sort of a receipts record in one of his trips back home; not entirely sure about that, though.

This may take a little time, however, as I have just moved much of my research stuff to another city in California, and have it all warehoused.

regards

hap navarro

[Chuck1052]

Hap- I am looking forward to your future posts in
the section, History of California Boxing. By the
way, I often get Jimmy Garrison confused with
Jimmy Doyle, both of whom had many bouts in
the Los Angeles area.

- Chuck Johnston

[DonGee]

Chuck:

Actually the two Jimmys were quite unlike one another.

Doyle, like his boxer-brother Paul, was of French ancestry
He was managed on the Pacific Coast by Ralph Gambina, who turned over the kid's eastern bookings to Tony Palazzola,an experienced ex-New England fight man wno had relocated to San Francisco. Ralph told me it was Tony Palazzola who had contracted for the match between Jimmy and Sugar Ray Robinson at Cleveland, Ohio.

I would like to see someone in the know do a fine piece on Jimmy Doyle, whose story is worthy of retelling. I don't have enough of the facts to attempt it at this late stage of my life.

Maybe you, huh, Chuck?

Thanks for the good wishes, buddy.

hap navarro

[kikibalt]

[Chuck1052]

Hap- I will do some research on Jimmy Doyle.

Frank- In regards to the tribute photo of Doyle
in KNOCKOUT, I didn't know that there were
fight cards staged at El Rio at such a late date.

- Chuck Johnston

[kikibalt]

Chuck that copy of KNOCKOUT was from 1948, so it lookes like there were fights in EL RIO then, i don't know to much about EL RIO, since i was never there, in fact i had forgetten all about EL RIO, do you live close to EL RIO?

Frank B.

I'm about 5 miles east from where the El Monte Legion Staduim
used to be at

[Chuck1052]

Hap- I will try to do some research on Jimmy
Doyle's career.

Frank- El Rio is an unincorporated town located
north of Oxnard. However, the old location of
the boxing arena later became annexed to
Oxnard and is part of the financial district
of the area.

El Monte Legion Stadium had quite a history.
Besides being a venue for boxing cards,
many R&B and C&W shows were staged
there during the 1950s.

- Chuck Johnston

[kikibalt]

Chuck
My wife and i used to go to the R&B dances at the
El Monte Legion Stadium before we got married,
we got married in 1954,
I also had my last amateur fight there , with John Thomas been the referee
So here is the El Monte Legion Stadium

Frank

[kikibalt]

[Chuck1052]

Frank- Thanks for writing a post about
your memories of El Monte Legion Stadium.
In regards to the C&W history at the famed
venue, I have a biography of the great
Country singer, Lefty Frizzell, who use
to pack the place for his televised shows
when he was at his peak. Although not
well-known today, Frizzell had a distinctive
singing style that has influenced many
top Country singers of the last fifty years.

- Chuck Johnston

[kikibalt]

Chuck

I remember when Spade Cooley (spelling ) used to be on t.v
( live ) from the El Monte Legion Stadium , gee that had to be
sometime in the early 50s if i remember right

Frank

[Chuck1052]

Frank- Spade Cooley is another star who is largely
forgotten today. He was an important figure
in the Country scene in Los Angeles during
the period after World War II due to his shows
and appearances on television. Of course, he
went to prison after being convicted of murder.

- Chuck Johnston

[kikibalt]

Ya i believe he kill his wife

Frank

[DonGee]

Chuck and Frank:

I believe the El Rio club had pro boxing cards from the early 1920s until at least the late 1940s when they began putting on amateur bouts. My wife's cousin, a pretty fair welter in the days of Danny Fierro, Max McKinnon, etc. boxed at El Rio many times. He quit the game when he banged up his elbow, thus negating his fine left hook for all time. His name is Benny Ybarra and he was a favorite a the old Southwest Arena, on Slauson avenue. That club was built by old Ring Magazine writer Harry Winkler.

It may surprise you both to know that El Monte Legion tried to break into the pro game in 1934 .....they put on one show which was headlined by former Olympic Games 160-lb. champion Carmen Barth, who was originally out of Cleveland, Ohio.

hap navarro

[Chuck1052]

Hap- There was a boxing arena in El Rio as
early as 1921. It appears that the City
of Oxnard had restrictions in regards to
boxing shows at the time, so that could
be one reason that an arena was built
in a neighboring community.

- Chuck Johnston

[kikibalt]

[gregbeyer]

frank,
are those check marks you picks?
greg

[kikibalt]

Greg
That was in 1948 and those check marks were my dad's picks

Frank

[Chuck1052]

In 1925, there were the following venues in
the Los Angeles area:

Monday- Assembly A.C.
Tuesday- Vernon Arena
Wednesday- Wilmington Bowl, Olympic
Auditorium
Thursday- Chief Petty Officer's Club in
San Pedro, Pasadena
Friday- Hollywood Legion Stadium, Compton
Saturday- Lyceum A.C. in Downtown
Los Angeles

Note- In 1925, Dick Donald staged some
big shows at Ascot Park while Jack Doyle
staged some big shows at Maier Park, the
home of the Vernon Tigers, a minor league
baseball club in the Pacific Coast League.

As I recall, there were the following pro boxing
venues in the Los Angeles area in 1926:

Tuesday- Vernon Arena
Wednesday- Ocean Park Arena, Wilmington Bowl,
Olympic Auditorium
Thursday- Pasadena, Culver City, Whittier
Friday- Hollywood Legion Stadium
Saturday- Main Street A.C.

Note- In 1926, Dick Donald staged some big
shows at Ascot Park before moving his operations
to Wrigley Field later in the year.

- Chuck Johnston

[gregbeyer]

chuck,

when you say ascot park are you speaking of the site of the old ascot raceway? i once lived close enough to hear the cars from my house. never knew there was boxing there.

also...i have heard about the chief petty officers club having boxing cards in my birth place of san pedro but have no idea where that venue was. in those days my grandfather delivered beer to places off beacon st. like tommys goodfellows and shanghai reds. between both world wars the beacon st. area was a world famous
port of call. do you have an adress anywhere listed for that club?
thanx.
greg

[DonGee]

Right! Greg and Chuck!

To elaborate a bit on Chuck's post about the Assembly Club, which was near Ninth and Central, or about where the current wholesale produce market is. A rumor was rampant, apparently, when the boxing game was legalized late in 1924 that mixed bouts, black versus white would not be allowed in certain areas. That sent black promoters scurrying to open a boxing club of their own in the aforementioned location.

Young Jack Thompson, a coming welterweight champion, topped the card there a couple of weeks. When the rumor proved to be nothing more, the club closed its doors after a few shows.

And Greg: The CPO club in San Pedro was a hot bed for showing established as well as promising talent, mainly boxers from the Navy. A man who much later became a good friend had many of the starbout kids at the time. He was George Burns, manager of the Ponce boys, Mickey Biss and many other waterfront favorites. It was Burns, too, who guided a baby faced, blond kid, Tully Corvo, to the California State Featherweight Title in 1935. Unfortunately, a meeting with the best 126-pounder in the state, Henry Armstrong, was inevitable. Henry destroyed Tully at Sacramento to take the title belt a short time later. Corvo, by the way, had won the state championship on a foul from Georgie Hansford, at the Olympic Auditorium.

I covered this rather thoroughly in my monograph(unpublished) on the featherweight division in California, which lists the titleholders for the years 1925--1965.

hap navarro

[Chuck1052]

Greg- There were several versions of Ascot
Park in the Los Angeles area. Of course, the
latest version was located in Gardena, which
is quite a drive from Downtown Los Angeles.

Hap- Do you think that the Wilmington Bowl
eventually killed the CPO Club in San Pedro
off? Man! The CPO Club seemed to be
going great guns for a number of years before
it went under in 1925. In fact, it appeared
that the CPO Club, the Assembly Club, the
club in San Fernando (one that I forgot
about), and the Lyceum A.C. all went under
about the same time.

- Chuck Johnston

[DonGee]

Yes, Chuck, I think the opening of Wilmington Bowl, with its better-known ten round attractions had to spell doom for the smaller clubs in that area, Venice, San Pedro, Compton, etc.

The other small clubs, all with limited seating capacity, were more or less "smoker" gathering holes operating with limited funds. You know, of course, that even Dick Donald's Lyceum club on 3rd and Spring had a capacity of about 450 (paid)--way too small to compete. Ditto San Fernando.

It would be great to determine who was the actual "angel" backing Donald with his outdoor extravaganzas. Somebody had to underwrite those shows, which were meant to give our man Jack Doyle a headache in competition.

hap navarro