Page 4
June 16, 1999
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T
H
E
R
'S
D A Y
R e c la im in g F a th e r h o o d
played on television. T he bartender
asked Thad if he was related to the
Todd Spencer who was having the
big game against the Irish. Thad
By Jay Heater
Contributing Writer from The Times
Father and son, Thad and Todd
Spencer, stand now on the edge of
anonym ity despite their former ca
reers as sports stars. T he athletic
talent long ago was drained from
their bodies, dripping into a stream
o f confusion and ending in an ocean
of indifference.
At 35, Todd still has the muscu
lar build (6 foot, 220 pounds) and
the em otional fire o f his days as a
USC and Pittsburgh Steeler run
ning back. However, his reflexes
aren’t those of a young man.
A you th co u n selo r in an El
Sobrante group hom e, he no longer
looks into the eyes of a linebacker,
tr y in g to z ig aw ay fro m th e
linebacker’s zag. H p instead studies
the e /e s of teenaged boys, trying to
figure out whether or not they’ve
done their homework.
Thad, although he professes to
feel “way too good for a man with
no money," no longer carries the
profile of a heavyweight contender.
He has added some extra pounds
from his days in the 1960s as a top
five contender when he was a threat
to Muhammad Ali. His m ovem ents
now are som ewhat restricted by half
a lifetim e’s worth of drug abuse and
street violence.
Never m uch of a team - Thad
abandoned T odd and his younger
brother, Lance, when they were tod
dlers - they want to com bine their
interest in helping develop young
men while steering them away from
drugs and violence on the streets.
said no.
T hen O.J. Sim pson, who was the
commentator, announced T od d ’s fa
ther Thad was a former heavyweight
contender. Thad walked out o f the
bar. “T hat was my last day of co
Thad Spencer of Northeast Portland
Is a d evoted
fa th e r and
championship boxer who has been
nominated to the Oregon Sports
Hall of Fame by local football great,
Mel Renfrow.
I knew he cou ld n ’t beat m e.”
No one was able to slow Thad
down and his party habits became
national news prior to the Quarry
fight. “I was arrested 10 days before
the fight for drunk driving. 1 was
gone. After (a knockout loss to
Quarry in the 12lh round) came two
years of faking.”
Spencer never won in the ring
again. It looked like he w ouldn’t
win at life, either.
Thad's Fall
By the age o f 22, T had had
gon e through a divorce, a boat
load o f b en n ies (speed) and som e
o f the w orld ’s top heavyw eights.
“T h e w h o le w orld lo o k ed real
g o o d ,” he sa id k
T h ad , a 6-foot, 200-pounder,
managed to clim b in the rankings
because he would always stay clean
while training for a fight. He reached
the peak o f his career in 1967 when
he beat contender Ernie Terrell.
Thad was featured on the cover of
The Ring magazine.
However, when A li’s problem s
with the draft escalated, a proposed
bout in San Francisco fell apart and
Spencer had to face an up-and-com
ing fighter, Jerry Quarry, instead. It
cam e at a tim e when Spencer felt he
was unbeatable.
“T he Quarry fight was next and
El Cerrito Phenom
By the late 1970’s, Todd was
m aking lots o f friends as one of the
top prep football players in the Bay
Area at El Cerrito High School. He
was stronger than his classm ates
and could simply run over most of
them , or use his speed to cut away
from them. Although he lived in
Berkeley, he enrolled at El Cerrito
because it had the better football
program. N obody seem ed to mind,
“used to have dinner with the prin
cipal,” Todd noted.
USC, along with a slew of other
universities, noticed his abilities.
However, it w asn’t until T od d ’s
junior year (1982) at USC when
Thad decided to change his lifestyle.
It was then, during USC’s game at
N otre Dame, that Thad sat in Fred’s
P lace d rin k in g w h ile the gam e
caine,” he said.
Breaking the drug addiction was
much harder than preparing for a
heavyweight fight. Thad had to swal
low his pride and call Lance be
cause he needed help.
O nce off drugs, Thad went to
Los Angeles in an attempt
to reconcile with T odd,
who through his first two
years at USC drew head
lines as the fullback who
c le a r e d th e w ay for
Marcus A llen, then took
over as the tailback his
junior season.
It seem ed T odd would
have the last laugh, espe
cially when he was one of
the NFL’s top return men
his rookie season in 1984.
However, like his father,
he began to have drug
p r o b le m s. M a riju a n a
turned up in his blood
tests and the Steelers qui
etly told Spencer he had
better clean up his act.
“Here I was, a guy sitting
on all this talent, and I
had weed problem s,” said
Todd, who vowed to Pitts
burgh coach Chuck Noll
he would change.
In his second season,
Spencer was clean. But
with one game left before
the season’s end, he gave
in to pressure from a
couple o f his team m ates
and took a line of cocaine.
T he next day, after not
being drug tested all sea
son, he was asked to give
a urine sample. Todd is
convinced he was set up,
but also admits it was his
own fault. He was cut by
Pittsburgh, latched on at
San D iego for one sea
son , th en disap p eared
from the league.
He took various jobs
in Los A ngeles on the
strengths of the contacts
he made through his USC
contacts, but eventually he wanted
som ething more. His marriage fell
apart once his celebrity lifestyle dis
solved, and he decided to return to
the Bay Area. Besides everything
else, he was broke.
Both Thad, 55 and Todd had
golden opportunities to make posi
tive changes in their own lives, but
got caught up in the distractions.
T hey never sensed the fleeting na
ture o f fame. Together they are in
the m idst o f making a com eback,
not so much in athletic terms, but in
trying to becom e a family.
Lack of guidance from a male role
model was a bigproblem for both and
they thought they could overcome it
by slugging it out in the ring or on the
football field. They would like young
sters with similar athletic ambitions
to know their story.
Thad Spencer is the founder of
“Last C hance to Get a L ife” Youth
B oxing Program in Portland. The
fou n d ation is aim ed at h elp in g
troubled, disadvantaged youth who
have fallen to crim e and corrup
tion, landing them in the juvenile
detention system. For more infor
m ation, contact Thad at 503/284-
0675 or Derek G onzalez at 503/
936-1460.
EVENTS
H udis J a m es Trio
Thursday, June 10 at 7pm in the Gymnasium
John Bunzow and Steve Bradley
Thursday, June 17 a t 7pm in the Gymnasium
Good In The Hood
Thursday, June 24 in the Gymnasium
Doors Open at 6:30pm
Mary Kadderly Jazz Band
7:30 to 10pm
Shoehorn
Tap Dancer & Saxaphone at 7 to 7:30pm
Ms. Petal the Clown
Jon Koonce & The Gas Hog
Reunion
5756 NE 33rd • Portland, Oregon • (503) 249-3983
All ages welcome • No cover charge unless noted