One Punch from the Promised Land
Page 24
But all is not lost for Leon. He has stumbled upon something more important to him than the alcohol-dazed stupors he spent his life chasing. He has found a family.
In 2000, while separated from Betty and doing autograph shows in Branson, Missouri, he met Brenda Glur, a petite, white-skinned, blonde-haired dresser for the touring company of the Radio City Rockettes. Brenda fell for Leon and brought him back to her hometown of Columbus, Nebraska, which boasted a population of 22,000, and, until Leon showed up, virtually no black residents. But Leon pulled off the biggest upset of his career, winning over the town and assuming the role of mini-celebrity. The locals called him “Champ,” and despite his obvious physical and mental difficulties, Brenda managed to set him up with a series of odd jobs. He swept floors at the local YMCA, worked as a school bus monitor, and unloaded trucks at McDonald’s.
In 2011 Leon and Brenda moved to Henderson, Nevada, and married in a small, private ceremony in nearby Las Vegas. Pop singer Tony Orlando, a close friend of the couple, was the best man. Toni Wine played keyboard and sang her composition “A Groovy Kind of Love” as the bride walked down the aisle.
“It was wonderful, because they had it where Elvis Presley had his marriage in Vegas; and there was Kenny Norton and Earnie Shavers—they were there with their families,” Orlando remembers. “Brenda was with her kids from another marriage. And Leon came dressed up in his white shirt and tuxedo, and I just got a kick out of it because you could see he was uncomfortable wearing that stuff. You could see when he gave the vows he did it with such seriousness and such intent that he didn’t want to make a mistake. I thought that was such a loving, wonderful, typical Leon Spinks.”
Leon and Brenda get by on money earned from occasional autograph signings. Leon can’t erase the past, nor does he express any desire to, but he has made an effort to reconnect with Darrell and Cory. Sadly, he’ll never be able to make amends with his oldest son, Leon, who was gunned down in St. Louis in the summer of 1990.
Six days before the shooting, Sports Illustrated had heralded the promising light-heavyweight, who, like his father, was more vulnerable outside the ring than in it. He liked to drink, loved to party, and lived on the edge. He had been born with his mother’s last name, Calvin but fought under the name Spinks, as did his younger brothers. Leon Calvin was buried two months shy of his twentieth birthday and left behind two children, Little Leon and Irene.
Darrell and Cory escaped a similar fate but not the constant dangers that threatened them while growing up on East John Avenue. The neighborhood was three miles north of Pruitt-Igoe, but just as neglected and nearly as violent. Darrell has been shot three times, and Cory survived a stabbing by his ex-wife.
“It was real tough,” Cory says. “You either had to learn how to fight to protect yourself or you got ran over on. There was a lot of shootings, a lot of killings. Most of us that grew up in that neighborhood were blessed to get out. I saw my friends get killed. It was everyday life.”
Like his brothers, Cory also had a professional boxing career. From 2003 to 2005, he was the undisputed welterweight champion; he also went on to win the IBF light-middleweight title. He and Darrell have opened their gloved arms to their father, forgiving him for his years of neglect.
“Now, when my daddy comes to St. Louis,” Darrell says, “I’m the one he stays with. I mean, he stays in a hotel, but he likes to hang around me and my friends. They show him so much love.”
Cory says, “Our relationship is phenomenal. The old guy has stepped up to the plate. He’s a terrific granddad to my daughter. He never misses anything. He embraces her and plays with her. He sends her something if it’s her birthday. He comes to my fights. He’s around more. He’s in my life.
“I feel so blessed to be Leon’s son. Leon has accomplished so much. Some people will never accomplish that much in their life. I praise him for doing that. Someday I want to train fighters and have my own gym and bring my father into it.”
In the end Leon’s greatest liability has become his strongest asset. The naive, devil-may-care attitude that caused so many problems in his younger years is saving his life now.
Leon’s friend Tony Orlando says, “I have a very special love for Leon. It’s not difficult to love him. He’s a kindhearted, gentle man. So many fighters find disappointment at the end of the road. Here they’ve had the glory of a championship and they’ve worked hard to be who they became, and then they run into rough times. The rough times that [Leon] has gotten into, I never heard him crybaby or beg for anything. He’s a man who stood up to whatever came his way.”
Leon’s late-career manager Charles Farrell says, “[Leon’s] is a life that can be seen in very, very sad terms. [Leon] doesn’t do that. He is alive in the moment that he is living, and I’ve got great respect for that. I believe that Leon doesn’t dwell on what he deserves or doesn’t deserve. I don’t believe that enters into his psychological orbit at all. One day he’s a guy with eight pro fights, and the next day he’s the heavyweight champion and a multimillionaire. Eight months later he’s an ex-champion and he’s broke. Those are just the things that happened. And there’s not this connecting component where he thinks, my God, what a strange trip this has been.”
Leon has finally broken free of the same hellhole that Michael left so many years ago. Leon traveled like a racecar and Michael like a dependable sedan, but both have achieved what they dreamed of when they donned their gloves back at the DeSoto.
They escaped Pruitt-Igoe.
St. Louis, 2013. Nearly four decades after the last brick of the Pruitt-Igoe housing disaster fell to the ground, most of the fifty-seven-acre site lies vacant, a rocky expanse of discarded junk, broken glass, and contaminated soil—an unmarked burial ground for the dreams of the city’s have-nots. Only weeds survive.
As for the rest of the city, St. Louis continues to outpace the country’s homicide rate. It is still consistently ranked among the most dangerous cities in the United States, and in 2012, ranked second, behind only Detroit. The General Motors plant has closed. The Brown Shoe Company has moved. Vashon High School has been torn down and relocated a mile away. The school is still 99.9 percent black and shows no plans of diversification. Less than half of its student body graduates.
Throughout St. Louis there is little acknowledgement of Leon or Michael—there are no plaques at the site of the DeSoto the way statues honor Bob Gibson and Lou Brock outside Busch Stadium. There are no busts at Kiener Square, where St. Louis officials stood in 1976, gushing over the Spinks boys and their newly minted Olympic gold, proclaiming Michael and Leon Spinks Day, preaching city pride, and promising bright futures. Along the St. Louis Walk of Fame, on Delmar Boulevard, visitors track 116 of St. Louis’s most notable alumni. Leon and Michael are not included.
The roads out of north St. Louis are few, so amateur boxing continues to thrive. Kenny Loehr, now eighty-one, can still be found training the local kids, teaching them to defend themselves while preaching character and discipline—only now he does so out of the 12th and Park Recreation Center. He’s there every afternoon, Monday through Friday, calling the kids “freaks” and buying the occasional pizza. And he still warns them against turning pro. If they do, he says, they’ll be eaten up and spit out.
But across the room, at the speed bag, is a young kid with no other choice. His father is gone, his mother is hungry, his brother is in prison. And so he perfects his footwork, polishes his jab, strengthens his hook. He tells himself he’ll be different. He’ll retire young, rich, famous, and sharp.
All he needs is the heavyweight title.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
WE OWE A DEBT OF GRATITUDE TO THE MANY PEOPLE WHO HAVE made this book possible, most notably Leon and Michael Spinks. Throughout their lives they repeatedly stood up against outsized opponents, both in and out of the ring. And for that, their story needed to be told.
During the two years spent researching and writing this book, we made repeated efforts to interview both Spinks brothers. We c
aught up with Leon at the Hall of Fame in the summer of 2011. Unfortunately, after a short interview, he proved to be an unreliable witness to his own story. Perhaps it was the many drinks that well-intentioned fans passed his way, or the memory issues that have begun to plague him. It may have been both.
We contacted Michael through his attorney, Vincent Sarubbi, who’d kept Michael out of circulation until his lawsuit against the estate of Butch Lewis was resolved. The long wait finally ended in late November 2012, at which point Mr. Sarubbi, perhaps protecting his client, attached several unrealistic demands (including a sizable interview fee) to a meeting with Michael. In the interest of maintaining objectivity, we declined.
Thanks go to a long list of interview subjects who gave their time and insight to the project, particularly Leon’s surviving children, Darrell and Cory, who spoke as openly about the low times as the high ones.
Jerry Izenberg certainly had better things to do than spend hours on the phone with us. Yet he was always ready to chat, answer a question, share an anecdote, or give advice. For that, we owe him one. We hope he calls and collects.
This book is credited to two authors, but it is very much the work of three people. Our uncredited secret weapon was Justin Davidson—a thorough researcher, probing interviewer, and diligent fact-checker. Remember the name. He’ll be writing his own books someday, and they’ll be good ones.
Speaking of book releases, a special thank-you goes to our editor, Keith Wallman, and our agent, Elizabeth Evans. They did more than champion the story. They believed we were the ones to tell it.
INTERVIEW SUBJECTS
Abraham, Seth—July 31, 2012
Anderson, Dave—October 8, 2012
Armstrong, Davey—August 23, 2011
Arum, Bob—July 18, 2012
Arzt, Sydney—September 22, 2012
Balooly, Al—August 19, 2011
Bickle, Marty—August 24, 2011
Boyd, Luther—February 6, 2012
Brown, Ed—May 15, 2012
Caldwell, James—February 6, 2012; February 27, 2012
Cappuccino, Frank—August 6, 2011
Carlo, John—July 19, 2012
Carter, Helene—June 19, 2012
Conforti, Michael—June 20, 2012
Cooney, Gerry—June 24, 2011
Crittenden, John—August 23, 2012
Cross, Mike—July 10, 2011
Darrow, Bill—May 6, 2012
Davis, Howard—January 21, 2012; April 22, 2012
Davison, Jesse—July 8, 2011
DiNicola, Ron—August 27, 2011
Drayton, Buster—September 10, 2011
Dundee, Angelo—June 11, 2011
Early, Gerald—March 2, 2012
Farrell, Charles—July 9, 2012
Feour, Royce—June 21, 2012
Frank, Steve—July 10, 2011; September 19, 2011; February 27, 2012
Giachetti, Richie—February 4, 2012
Gibson, Alma—May 15, 2012
Greenburg, Ross—January 23, 2012
Guy, Rick—May 6, 2012
Hamm, Charles—July 10, 2011
Hartman, Karen—June 20, 2012
Hartmann, Douglas—June 18, 2012
Hauser, Thomas—May 28, 2012
Hazzard, Larry—July 5, 2012; July 17, 2012
Hefton, Brad—September 4, 2012
Holley, Steve—March 20, 2012
Howell, Jim—January 30, 2012
Izenberg, Jerry—August 18, 2012; August 23, 2012; September 11, 2012
Jastrow, Terry—June 14, 2012
Johnson, Robert L.—December 11, 2012
Kallen, Jackie—August 22, 2011
Kane, Kip—July 25, 2012
Kilroy, Gene—August 24, 2012
Kipping, Ray—August 23, 2011
Kunkle, Bill—September 15, 2011
Lafata, Sam—September 29, 2011; February 21, 2012
Lampley, Jim—February 24, 2012
Lederman, Harold—June 21, 2011
Lipsyte, Robert—June 5, 2012
Loehr, Kenny—July 8, 2011
Lotierzo, Frank—July 16, 2012; November 13, 2012
Lott, Steve—August 11, 2011
Low, Al—February 12, 2012
Lueckenhoff, Tim—September 2, 2011
Marks, Cozy—September 3, 2011; August 26, 2012
Martorelli, Jack—March 28, 2012
Mason, Mark—April 18, 2012
Matthews, Wallace—August 30, 2012
Mayweather, Floyd, Sr.—March 18, 2012; March 20, 2012
McLain, Denny—August 17, 2011
Mooney, Charles—February 21, 2012; April 22, 2012
Mustafa Muhammad, Eddie—July 21, 2011
Newman, Rock—July 15, 2012; July 29, 2012
Orlando, Tony—October 17, 2012
Patterson, Amelia—July 15, 2012
Petty, Harold—July 8, 2011
Porter, Kevin P.—August 17, 2011
Qawi, Dwight—August 6, 2011; February 12, 2012
Randolph, Leo—August 22, 2011
Rooney, Kevin—June 11, 2011
Rotella, Carlo—July 12, 2012
Roth, Jerry—July 21, 2011
Sammons, Jeffrey—June 5, 2012
Santana, Tony—January 22, 2012
Shabazz, Omar—July 20, 2012
Shilstone, Mackie—March 8, 2012; March 9, 2012; March 24, 2012
Spinks, Betty—July 9, 2011; August 21, 2011
Spinks, Cory—May 23, 2012; September 6, 2012
Spinks, Darrell—July 10, 2011; July 11, 2011; October 5, 2011; October 8, 2011; September 19, 2012
Spinks, Leon—June 11, 2011
Stafford, Roger—August 30, 2011
Steward, Emanuel—September 9, 2011
Tangstad, Steffen—August 12, 2012
Tearney, Greg—August 30, 2012
Tompkins, Barry—May 10, 2012
Tyson, Mike—February 17, 2012
West, Doc—March 28, 2012
Wheatley, Suzanne (aka S. J. Stockhausen)—January 19, 2012
Wilkinson, Butch—August 26, 2011
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Books
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Hauser, Thomas. Muhammad Ali: His Life and Times. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992.
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Mr. T. Mr. T: The Man with the Gold: An Autobiography. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1985.
Norrell, Robert J. The House I Live In: Race in the American Century. New York: Oxford University Press, USA, 2006.
Rotella, Carlo. Cut Time: An Education at the Fights. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2005.
Magazines
Boyle, Robert H. “Man, It Was a Rumble in the Riverfront.” Sports Illustrated, June 14, 1976.
Coffey, Wayne. “Leon Spinks Looking for Big Comeback in Life.” New York Daily News, March 7, 1997.
Cormier, Ryan, and Sean O’Sullivan. “Last Goodbye for Butch Lewis.” News Journal (Wilmington), August 2, 2011.
Ebony. “Leon Spinks: The ‘Boy’ Who Did a Man’s Job on Muhammad Ali.” May 1978.
Friedman, Jack. “Stripped of His Title, Not of His Heart, Michael Spinks Fights Gerry Cooney, but Looks Out for Leon.” People, June 19, 1987.
Fussman, Calvin. “A Yawning Gap in His Life.” Sports Illustrated,
March 14, 1983.
Hoffer, Richard. “Court Ruling Excites Butch Lewis.” Los Angeles Times, March 21, 1987.
———. “Fists Full of Dollars.” Sports Illustrated, January 15, 1990.
Kanew, Evan. “The Dream Team.” Sports Illustrated, August 3, 1996.
Killeen, Austin. “Leo Randolph: The Golden Prodigy.” International Boxing Research Organization Journal, September 2009.
Leavy, Walter. “The New King of the Ring.” Ebony, March 1986.
Leerhsen, Charles. “Spinks Stands Tall in Brawl.” Newsweek, March 28, 1983.
McCallum, Jack. “A Golden Moment for Leon’s Little Brother.” Sports Illustrated, July 27, 1981.
McMurran, Kristin, Jim Forbes, and Cynthia Mitchell. “His Wife Calls Leon Spinks a ‘Man-Child,’ but the Title Has Been No Promised Land.” People, May 1, 1978.
Nack, William. “A Crowning Achievement.” Sports Illustrated, March 28, 1983.
———. “Dark Days for Neon Leon.” Sports Illustrated, March 31, 1986.
———. “Spinks Was No Sphinx.” Sports Illustrated, January 21, 1980.
Newman, Bruce. “Sometimes a Guy’s Gotta Swoop.” Sports Illustrated, July 24, 1978.
Putnam, Pat. “Battle of the Ballot.” Sports Illustrated, April 28, 1986.
———. “The Big Showdown.” Sports Illustrated, June 27, 1988.
———. “The Day the Gold Turned Green.” Sports Illustrated, February 14, 1977.
———. “He’s the Greatest, I’m the Best.” Sports Illustrated, February 27, 1978.