If you dont know about sailor Liston (and im not the most educated either which is why I made this thread) he was found in some news articles back in the day by Paul Gallender and this brought him to the assumption that Liston was born in 17-19. The issue with this is that its all alleged, to my knowledge no one has ever found the image of sailor so it cant be tied to Sonny. Whats your take? Got any info you wanna share?
In terms of Gallender finding information and assuming he wasn't purposefully making up stories we got to pretend we're living in a time before the internet. Researchers were relatively crippled information was very difficult to find, kept under lock and key in universities and librarys. These sorts of records were not nearly as easy to access.
The man is a mystery. We learn new things about him all the time. I guess nothing is impossible. According to Paul Gallender Sonny used to be a sailor and he used to be white.
Copying and pasting an earlier post of mine. Gallender's claims seem to stem from an article written shortly after Liston's death. "Once a little old man came trudging into the sports department of a Texas newspaper, carrying a shabby old scrapbook under one arm. l ie produced some clippings from the East St. Louis Journal of 1934 showing a 17-year old kid named Charles (Sailor) Liston whose gimmick was a peacoat and a white Navy cap, which he wore into the ring instead of a robe. The face had aged, but the glare was unmistakable. That would have made Sonny 53 when he died in Las Vegas the other day and 47 on that historic evening at the Miami Beach Convention Hall when he salon his stool and refused to come out for the seventh round against a fighter who was then called Cassius Marcellus Clay. A reporter covering that fight showed Liston photostats of the clippings. He stared at them for a second and blew smoke out of his nostrils. "Bullfur!" he snapped. Later on, Sonny insisted that the pictures showed a cousin of his, also known as Charles Liston, who had boxed for awhile. " Article clipped from The San Francisco Examiner - Newspapers.com™ I've searched endlessly for that picture and found sfa. I found another article that listed a bout with this Sailor Liston. "Now a record of a fight has been discovered between two light-heavyweights in East St. Louis, Missouri— Deacon Leo Kelly, of Vicksburg knocked out a big, awkward coloured kid nicknamed " Sailor ", because he wore a US Navy jacket, in three rounds. The victory for Kelly, a well known fighter, who had fought Maxie Rosenbloom, was registered against " Sailor " Liston. -date of that fight was November 1933 ! OLD-TIMERS SAY No age was given for "Sailor" Liston thirty-one years ago, because it was then possible for boys, who looked older than their years, to falsify their ages. This Liston might possibly have been one of Sonny's many brothers. His father sired two dozen children from two marriages. But old-timers around East St. Louis today insist that "Sailor" Liston is Sonny Liston, which puts the former world champion around the 48-year-old mark." Article clipped from Sunday Mirror - Newspapers.com™ "One cold November night in 1933, an awkward 18-year-old youth stepped into the ring of an E. St. Louis club to fight light-heavyweight 'Deacon' Leo Kelly of Vicksburg, Miss. Kelly, a notorious puncher, who had fought the likes of Maxie Rosenbloom, Oscar Rankins and Ron Richards, scored a three-round kayo over the awkward Negro boy who was nicknamed 'Sailor' because of the navy pea-jacket he always wore. "In Kelly's record, the three-round victory is registered over 'Sailor' Liston. Old-timers around E. St. Louis insist that 'Sailor' Liston is none other than Sonny Liston. If this is correct, it proves Liston is 49 years old!" Article clipped from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Newspapers.com™ " Fight promoter Pinkie George, commenting on a newspaper clipping dated Nov. 18, 1933, referring to a fighter named Charles (Sailor) Liston: "Sailor Liston and Sonny Liston are the same guy. If he was 17 or 18 31 years ago, he'd be pushing 50 now. But that's not impossible. Everybody in the business knows Sonny's got a 21-year-old daughter. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if he's a grandfather.". Article clipped from The Des Moines Register - Newspapers.com™ Now their is a bout between Deacon Kelly and a Sailor Liston.... but it's in May of 1933, not November, and their was no KO, it went to a four round decision. Their's also no way Sailor Liston was 16 years old in 1933, considering he'd already been a professional for ten years, unless he turned pro at 6 years old. But most importantly.... Sailor Liston was white. BoxRec: Sailor Liston So Sailor Liston was not Sonny Liston. Considering this is the only thing that hints at a 1917 birth year, I think we can safely rule it out.
Unusual that when Liston was sentenced in 1950 he was “the yellow shirted bandit”. Somewhere along the ways, Maybe he lost the pea-jacket?
I was actually gonna send this in the thread (with credit ofc) to spark discussion but didnt wanna upset you at all, thanks for sending. Also how knowledgeable would you consider yourself on Liston? Got an upcoming project that I need collaborators for if your intetested.
Eh I'd say I'm fairly knowledgeable on Liston. Did some work for his former (purported) Grandson through Geraldine, Lynel Gardner who for some reason wanted me to find the death date of Liston's mother, which was actually much tougher than expected, and took me quite a while to find.
