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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (April 23, 2003)
lije JJortlanh (Observer Page A8 April 23. 2003 ‘F a lle n W a r r io r s ’ H o n o r e d continued from A3 m ined to up ho lding their good im age and acting as good role models fo r younger boxers. Seattle fight. Johnson hadjust won a s ilv e r medal and could hardly dying him self. move. The pain turned out to be bone cancer. person w ho m o tiva te d others,” “ He was always a good natured " I to ld him to go to the doctor "There was a real u n ity,” he said “ Nobody wanted to do anything to embarrass the team.” m onths,” Rahsaan said. “ He was o n ly 22 o r 23.” But after the team disbanded, the image the boxers fought so hard Pete Vastine W h ite played in local bands, did a lo t o f fishing and to maintain liquidated along w ith it. Rahsaan said o f the 12 deceased boxers, o n ly three died o f natural causes. w orked construction before pass ing away in his sleep at the age 45 and he was dead in six to nine Rahsaan said. “ He was always ta lk ing about what he was going to do and how m uch he was going to There was John H oward, w ho w on the nationals at age accom plish.” standing B o x e r- even though the m in im u m age to compete O ther boxers had their lives cut short by gun violence. Police shot Joe H o p kin s in the 1980s and M arcellus A lle n was shot by his girlfriend. Joel ‘ J D ’ Stroud was shot in the back o fh is head and Herb Le in 1988. Joe Banks died a couple years team m em bers’ deaths were p re cip ita te d by the use o f drugs and alcohol. Suer, w ho Rahsaan remembers as 14 and was voted M ost O u t was 16. Rahsaan said even a m ediocre southpaw can g ive a g o o d rig h t-h a n d e d b o x e r trouble, but H ow ard was more than mediocre. "H e was super and he knew he was good,” Rahsaan said. “ But he got wrapped up in the chem ical abuse life style and die d som etim e in the late 1980s.” The same story applies to PeteGonzales, a featherweight w h o turned professional and PHOTO BY W YNDE D \ ER H a lim R a h s a a n h o ld s a n e w s p a p e r c lip p in g o f b o x e r J o h n n y H ow ard. went on to become No. 8 in the w o rld fo r his w eight class. “ T ryin g to hit him was like k illin g flie s ," Rahsaan said. “ A n d he a l ways had a lo t o f heart.” Joe West became a poet, got into drugs and died sometime in the 80s. Rahsaan kept in touch w ith him fo r a w h ile and describes the poetry he wrote and pre sented around Portland as revo lutionary. Rahsaan has no idea what became o f C lyde W i 11 iams, but said the death that m ost per sonal ly touched him was that o f his sp a rrin g p a rtn e r, T o n y Tony Jacobs, k n o w n by te a m m a te s as 'The Toy C h am p ion , ’ is in th e rin g in a h is to ric a l K n o tt Jacobs. S tre e t B o xin g p h o to . Ja co b s w as fo u n d d e a d b e h in d a d u m p s te r ju s t five w e eks ago. He considers it iro n ic that Jacobs, w ho Coach L in c o ln First there was Sam Johnson, w ho represented the U nited States in 1967. Rahsaan rem e m be rs Johnson com plaining about pain in his Hip on the trip home fro m a ago in a tragic fish in g accident. Rahsaan said a boat flip pe d over an older boxer that the kids always looked up to, died in his 30s when and no one was w earing lifejackets. he was shot by an acquaintance du rin g an altercation. Banks saved another fisherm an w ho c o u ld n ’t sw im and ended up M ore often than not, K nott Street said. “ W e called him 'T h e T o y b o xin g he alw ays found it m ore C h am p ion’ because he was like a im portant to w o rry about the fig h t ers he’ s never heard of, rather than the ones w ith the collectio n o f tro little d o ll you w o u ld w in d up and turn loose.” Jacobs was found dead from phies and titles. “ I f you fig h t somebody w ith He was the first one in to train and the last one to leave. We called him ‘The Toy Champion ’ because he was like a little doll you would wind up and turn loose. w o u ld measure the other b o x ers against during physical fitness tests, w o uld turn to drugs. “ He was the firs t one in to train and the last one to leave,” Rahsaan -H a lim Rahsaan a name and you loose, it ’s no big deal," he said. “ But i f you fight a nobody and you loose, that nobody becomes a somebody.” A lthough all o f the 12 de ceased Knott Street Boxers have both titles and trophies to their credit, Rahsaan worries that i f their stories are not told and b their legacies not remembered they w ould loose their place in Portland athletic history. He hopes the com m em ora tion dinner w ill keep that from happening. weather exposure behind a north Portland dum pster ju s t fiv e weeks ago. • Jenkins at 5 0 3-8 23-3 631 o r H a lim Rahsaan said in the w o rld o f Rahnaanat503-281-2804ext. 115. For more inform ation contact Lee C h e m ie n ' P eel Commendable Restraint Injustice propels Frederick Douglass to national consciousness as an orator and w rite r. Several years later he w o u ld fin d h im s e lf in R och ester, N e w Y o rk w o rk in g as an e d i tor. Between 1847 and 1874, some o f his papers in clu d e d the N o rth Star, F r e d e r ic k D o u g la s s Douglass M o n th ly and the N ew Era. Douglass had m any opportunities to take revenge on whites but refused Douglass gravitated from slavery to pursuit o f peaceful justice w ould have made M ahatm a G andhi and M artin Luther K in g Jr. proud. H is dram atic portrayals o f life as a slave greatly impressed m ostly w hite audiences throughout N e w Y o rk and cans. other northern states. H is listeners Douglass was bo m to a slave w o u ld rise to th e ir feet in loud ap wom an named Harriet B ailey and an unknow n father. He was raised by free black grandparents. A t eight years old, Frederick Bailey, as he was named plause after hearing his stories o f tor tuous treatment and how he broke free to m arry the wom an he loved. W ith his w ife , w ho also was a form er then, was sent to live in B os ton where his mast slave, and the ir children in the audience, the crowds wept w ife w o uld teach hii and cheered w h ile lis to read and w rite , o f tening to his harrow ing tales. Through ten using the bible. A fte r her husband forbade the edu out h is li f e D o u g la s s spo ke and w rote on the cating ofblacks in his home, young treatment o f black slaves, insisting on F r e d e r ic k w as fo rc e d to teach II you're not ready for a equality fo r all per sons in Am erica and him self. A t the age 12, he saved cosmetir, procedure, you’re the perfect candidate lor across the w orld. His m oney to buy his first book, “ The C olom bian NEW OLAY REGENERIST message was the same in Europe where he was Orator. ” W hen the mas ter began to notice that re g e n e riS T to match b ig o try w ith violence. His to educate racist A m erica on the cru elties o f its treatment o f A frican A m e ri of C ollagen Treed m e rit P a p e r, D riven by anger at the injustice against A frica n Americans, Frederick center stage in our national con sciousness. He rejected revenge on whites in fa vo r o f the pen and p u lp it L a s e r R e s u r f;?.c:nc' so m ove d he began his o w n career Of course, it's.not a doctor's procedure it provides different extrem ely w e ll received. Frederick D ouglass Frederick was somewhat insolent and seemed more in te llige nt than the other slaves in the house hold, he sent h im to a cruel slave breaker. It was here that Frederick decided he could no longer bear the lash. " I am fast in m y chains... I w i 11 run away. ” his narratives report. Frederick d id ju s t that. A t the age o f 23 he ran north to N ew Y o rk and changed his last name to Johnson. S h o rtly a fte r, he changed it to D u rin g his later years, D ouglass held several results But it isn’t just skin care, go ve rn m e n t posts, such as U nited States M a rs h a ll fo r the D is tric t o f C o lu m b ia and m in is te r to H a iti. T o- either It’s revolutionary cell care. w ards the end o f his life Douglass a ls o jo in e d Ida B. W e lls in h e ra n ti- ly n c h in g cam paign and began a r Complex lo beautifully regenerate skin s appearance Renewing skin s outer layer tri reveal newer skin One r.ell at a time flow. Olay uses an Amino Peptide g u in g fo r the rig h ts o f wom en o f all colors. Diainalically improved skin rieerl not require drastic measures O n Feb. 20, 1895. D ouglass a t tended a N a tio n a l W o m e n ’ s C oun c il m eeting. A fte r the session, the Douglass, a name found in W alter 7 7 -y e a r-o ld D ouglass w ent home and died. He le ft b e hind a legacy o f ' Scott's “ Lady o f the Lake. "He found em ploym ent on the docks and raised bra very, en cou raging people o f a ll co lo rs and n a tio n a litie s to fig h t fo r a fa m ily in N ew Bedford. Douglass e q u a lity , no m atter w h at the cost. then began attending anti-slavery ra l Ron Weber is a retired electrician and frequent writer and speaker on African American history. He is a regular contributor to the Portland Observer. lies. In 1838, his life w o u ld d ra s tic a lly change w hen he heard W illia m L lo y d G arrison speak. Douglass was ) j j OLAY In v n th n s k in y r t t i’r n in .4 I