I would buy a BurtB joke book. They are what i like to call dad jokes where they are funny because they arnt funny.
Don, don't underestimate me...I used to be a stand-up comedian ! But I developed flat feet and i had to sit down !atsch
Thanks fellows, but my early chidhood trauma, prevents me from writing a book. I never revealed this before, but when I was 8 years old I was kidnapped. My parents immediately sprung into action...They rented out my room !!!
Ike told me that all that began when he fired his alcoholic manager, Connie McCarthy. That was a major no-no. I guess McCarthy was an easy to control alky and the MGRs Guild liked him right where he was. Poor Ike. He would lean into you sometimes and point to his eyes. "See these? These aren't even my real eyes. Blinky (Palermo) robbed me blind!"
I always enjoy reading Burt's fascinating posts. I think its fair to says hands down Burt easily has the most knowledge when it comes to boxing than anyone on this forum.
Burt, how many fighters (in the late 40 in particular] got shafted over the years by their management ?? For every Jimmy McLarnin there are thousands of Ike Williams and Primo Carneras, yet managers and promoters are always quick to have a go at Sugar Ray Robinson looking after himself and Marciano gets criticised for being careful.
Burt, count me one of the many who thoroughly enjoy your stories, anecdotes, and opinions. And if you someday you put together a book, I would be among the first purchasers! To add an Ike Williams story of my own, sometime in the late 70s or early 80s I learned that Ike Williams was working as a laborer at Camp Kilmer in Edison, New Jersey. I wrote him there, enclosing a picture asking him to sign it and return it in a stamped, self-addressed envelope I had enclosed. A short time later I received the picture autographed personally to me, along with an even better picture of Ike wearing his championship belt, also autographed to me. He enclosed a real nice letter thanking me for my letter and stating that the next time he passed through my home town that he would look me up, as he would like to meet me. Sadly, that meeting never came about, but what a classy guy!
I love these types of stories as well, stories of meeting ring greats after their careers came to a close. Their post ring life, their reflections and what they seemed like as people. I mentioned in another post the book, THE ROAD TO NOWHERE. This could be a great thread, compile it into a book, get an agent named Morty and start counting the money. Wait! Readers could just get it here. I'm sorry I jumped ahead. atsch
Burt, you really write a "reflections from the seats" type thing. You could keep it simple, just do it chronologically You have a naturally captivating, readable writing style.
A hearty thank you to posters suggesting that I write a book on my favorite sport of boxing. I feel so flattered, but at this stage of the game of life I am afraid that the "train" has left the station...I am just an "oldtimer" blessed with a dad who loved the fights taking me to bouts when I was a wee tyke in the 1940s. I also was lucky that my family lived next door to a trainer of the great LH champion John Henry Lewis. As I have posted before, most every night I would go next door, and spar with the stablemates of JH Lewis, discuss the latest boxers, and history of boxing, and have a salad with olive oil which I still partake every night... With this background how could I not became a lover of boxing in the golden age of the 1940s ?. My claim to fame probably is I might be the only man alive that shook hands with Ray Robinson BEFORE and AFTER he started his pro career, and after he retired...So fella's thanks again...
Yes T, Old Pop Foster was like a father to the great Jimmy McLarnin, and when Pop Foster died he left his entire estate to his beloved Jimmy. Yes Ray Robinson was a tough negotiator that it was said could "squeeze a nickel and make the buffalo squeal"...