Nothin’ but
the Blues
D iv e r sity Special Edition
Esperanza Spalding
and Thar a Memory
team up fo r benefit
concert
page 3, inside
b se rlie r4 3
‘City ö/Roses’
Volume XLIII
w w w .portlandobserver.com
Number 31
Wednesday • August 14, 2013
P c f o h l i c h i x l in 1 0 7 0
Established
in 1970
Committed to Cultural Diversity
./
photo by D onovan
■
e o m m u m tv
M. S mith /T he P ortland O bserver
Ernest Richie gathers signatures to his petition outside o f M att Dishman Community Center in northeast Portland. He’s part o f an effort to permanently return relics
from the center’s historic Knott Street Boxing program to its former sole trophy display case.
Memorabilia from
decades past
cause friction
at Matt Dishman
by D onovan M. S mith
T he P ortland O bserver
The historic Matt Dishman Community Center in north
Portland is the focal point of a battle that essentially ques
tions the relevance of the celebrated relics of decades-past
to the 63-year-old site’s immediate future.
Matt Dishman’s boxing program brought the national
spotlight to Portland during the 1960s and 1970s after local
fighters like Ray Lampkin Jr., Chuck Lincoln, Thad Spencer,
and many others made the center one of the most successful
amateur boxing programs in the country. Mostly African
Americans, they competed with the best fighters of the day,
including renowned boxer Muhammad Ali to represent the
United States of America in U.S. Boxing Trials and at the
Olympics.
W ith the accom plishm ents came a num ber o f acco
lades that are docum ented in historical w rite-ups from
newspapers, to trophies and cham pionship belts, all of
which were once displayed prom inently in the cen ter’s
only display case.
•
.
continued
on page 6