Sonny Liston's age?

Let's for a moment take SD's census find as the real answer to the question we've been pondering for years. Then when did he leave Arkansas for St. Louis? Around 1935? And when did he start having problems with the law? Where are the early arrest records? Why did he fabricate his age? Maybe because he thought he wouldn't have been taken seriously as a prospect at 30 or 31. Liston was secretive.

 

Did you ever read "The Champ Nobody Wanted"?

 

All very good questions. Fwiw, Liston when arrested in 1950, was given an age of 22 by law enforcement, indicating a birth year of 1927. Article clipped from The St. Louis Star and Times - Newspapers.com

 

Hmmm not sure, I think I only read "The Devil and Sonny Liston."

 

It's extremely interesting. It was published in Chicago around 1962. Written by someone who wrote for black newspapers and magazines. Not a great writer and not a well-edited book but it's got some good information. If you can find a copy -- copies are rare -- you'll enjoy it.

 

Nick Tosches thanked me in his foreword for supplying him with the FBI file on Liston. I obtained it through a Freedom of Information filing. Now the FBI file is on the Internet.

 

I'm good at finding things. I'll take a look for it.

 

Yeah, the "Yellow Shirt Bandit" was a stupid thief. He wasn't innately dumb, as I think you know. I believe they pulled a bunch of jobs with little or no planning.

 

You might try a national library search. Are you an American or a Brit? I saw a copy for sale in the UK but it was priced as a rare book. A lot of money.

 

I'm American so I imagine it'll be quite a bit harder but who doesn't love a challenge?

 

SolomonDeedes: You might be able to sell the story of Liston's age to a prominent magazine. A lot of people have wanted to learn the truth. It's not who killed President Kennedy but still it's very publishable. The problem is if you tell them
about the 1950 census just coming out, they can assign the story to a staffer.

 

Great stuff. Are you any relation to George Katz?

 

SD: You would need to do it quickly before. the word gets out.

 

No, who's he?

 

He was Sonny's manager for a spell. Sorry, I thought you may have been Alan Katz.