The St. Louis community has responded beautifully to local boxing star Cory Spinks as the ticket sales for Saturday night’s welterweight championship bout with Zab Judah continue to rise. At the beginning of the week, the figure was nearing 17,000 tickets sold, so the excitement level is tremendous for this city’s first world title fight in five decades.
Having a bout of this magnitude in St. Louis gives us all a special opportunity to not only to celebrate Cory Spinks and his commitment to his home city, but also to honor the rich history of boxing in the St. Louis area at the amateur and professional levels. This night is also a payback for the legions of people who have committed their lives to the sport of boxing and the advancement of the sport in St. Louis for generations.
There are way too many names to mention in this space, but for those boxers, trainers, promoters, officials and judges who have worked tirelessly to keep boxing alive in this city, you should be just as proud as Cory Spinks for what is about to happen this weekend at the Savvis Center.
St. Louis deserves to have this world championship bout on Saturday night. While we get ready for Spinks-Judah II, we can reminisce about past world champions from St. Louis, such as Henry Armstrong, Sonny Liston, Archie Moore, Leon Spinks, Michael Spinks and world champs of recent vintage, such as Terronn “Tramp” Millett, Eddie Hopson, Arthur “Flash” Johnson and Freddie Norwood.
Kevin Cunningham is also at center stage as the young trainer who developed this young, talented fighter into one of the most skilled and fundamentally sound boxers in the world today. Cunningham is the product of perhaps the most dedicated group of individuals in the whole mix: the trainers and coaches. They have been the unsung heroes that cultivate the skills of our young boxers without a lot of fanfare. Men such as Ben Stewart, Buddy Shaw plus icons such as Myrl Taylor and Pop Myles, who are both gone, but not forgotten, have been developing our young men for years.
The good folks at the St. Louis Gateway Classic Sports Foundation have been honoring such people in its own Hall of Fame for more than a decade. Many of the names in the Hall of Fame may be unfamiliar to those outside the area boxing community, but they have been instrumental to developing the stellar tradition of STL boxing.
So, while most of the fans in attendance will be scoping the crowd in search of big-name celebrities and high rollers, I’ll be looking to glad-hand some of the local boxing luminaries who had a role in keeping St. Louis boxing alive and well. They are the ones you may not recognize, but they are stars just the same.
This is also your night.
50 and counting for V
The Streak Continues: The winning streak for the Vashon Wolverines is currently at 50 after their 72-50 victory at East St. Louis last Saturday night. The victory enabled the Wolverines to maintain their No. 1 national ranking in the current USA Today National High School Basketball poll.
This weekend, Vashon will host Cleveland Naval Jr. ROTC on Friday night and Louisville Male on Saturday night. The Wolverines will then face Public High League rival Beaumont on Monday night at Gateway Tech at 6:15 p.m. The Wolverines were honored at City Hall on Tuesday by Mayor Francis G. Slay for achieving the nation’s top ranking. Head coach Floyd Irons and the members of the team were given a proclamation.
Man Man is the Man
Former Vashon High standout Lorenzo “Man Man” Gordon has established himself as one of the top players in the Missouri Valley Conference. The 6’7″ 245-pound Gordon is currently averaging 17.7 points, 6.4 rebounds while shooting 53 percent from the field. He was voted the MVC Player of the Week last week.
Gordon’s efforts have helped the Redbirds become one of the surprise teams in the MVC this season. Illinois State is currently 6-4 in league play and 14-6 overall after finishing last in the league last season. The former junior college All-American from Mineral Area is making a bid to become the MVC Newcomer of the Year, the Player of the Year and earn a spot on the All-MVC First Team.
All’s well at Wellston
The boys and girls basketball programs at Wellston have been off the radar in recent years, but there is great tradition in both programs with state championships and a bevy of Final Four appearances. The Wellston program has produced such great players as Edgar Wilson, LaShonda Albert, Jeffrey McCaw, Tanisha Albert, Garry Beals, Arletha Lewis and countless others.
I had a chance to watch both teams in action last Friday night, and it’s clearly evident that the boys and girls are bringing back the good times at Eskridge High. They have combined for a 29-7 record with the boys at 15-4 and the girls at 14-3. At the Class 1 level in Missouri, both teams are capable of doing some damage when the postseason rolls around in March. The boys team won a district championship a year ago.
The girls have rebounded nicely from a nine-victory season in 2004 under the direction of former Wellston standout guard Jeannette McCray. The Trojanettes have splendid senior backcourt duo in Imogene Dooley and Natisha Jones. The 5’6″ Dooley is averaging 16.4 points and 10 rebounds a game while the 5’4″ Jones leads the team in scoring at 17.5 points a game. Providing strong play in the post is 6’0″sophomore Venita Wood, who is averaging 12 points and 10 rebounds a game. Wellston is currrently in second place in the Suburban East Conference behind defending league champion Jennings.
The boys have rolled to a 15-4 record by utilizing a relentless press defense that causes a multitude of turnovers every night. The team leader for coach Sterling Bates is 6’1″ senior guard Carl Stallings, who is averaging 18 points a game. Stallings scored 30 points in the Trojans’ victory over Berkeley on Friday.
Several other players have a hand in the Trojans up-tempo game, including James Sims, Kevin Douglas, Markiece Rush, Dejuan Crumer and Kevin Wrice. All five players are averaging between seven and nine points a game.
