Recently, I had the pleasure to visit an old wrestling adversary, Bobby Ferraro, in Easton, Pennsylvania. In high school, we competed against each other in the Pennsylvania regional wrestling tournament in the mid '60s held at Wilkes College. Since then, we became best friends.
Bobby went on to be a two-time Division I All-American in wrestling and was a finalist his senior year at Indiana State University.
Bobby later coached wrestling for nearly a quarter of a century at Bucknell University. He then founded the National High School Coaches Association, which includes 22 sports. Bobby is also a very successful entrepreneur.
My navigator on the trip to Easton was Charlie Ballouz, a prominent political figure in Wheeling. I must say our host treated Charlie and me to a wonderful weekend, taking us to all the iconic sites in the Easton area. But our most exciting experience was Bobby Ferraro taking us to lunch to meet his lifelong friend, the "Easton Assassin" - Mr. Larry Holmes - at a local Chinese restaurant.
What a great treat it was to learn his life's story!
Young Larry Holmes was one of 12 siblings and his family was dirt poor and had to scrap and scratch for any money they could make.
We then learned that he wrestled in grade school and continued to compete until he dropped out of school after his seventh-grade year, to help support the family, working at a local car wash. Larry mentioned that the mat sport taught him the importance physical endurance in sports.
Holmes' first professional fight was in Scranton, Pennsylvania. His payment that night was $63, which didn't include travel expenses from Easton.
He then became the sparring partner for Mohammed Ali, and they became great friends. Later in life, Larry Holmes cried after defeating Mohammed Ali. He also lamented Ali's passing.
After numerous victories in the ring, Holmes finally got his shot at the title, fighting then champion Ken Norton. Norton's handlers felt it would be an easy defense of his title, but that was not to be. Holmes won the fight by a split decision, beginning an eight-year span defending his title.
His biggest paycheck came on June 11, 1982 when he was pitted against Irish-American Gerry Cooney, who everybody was toting to defeat Holmes and be the next heavyweight champion. The bout took place at Caesar's Palace in front of a capacity crowd. Holmes defeated Cooney in the grueling fight, and walked away with a ten-million-dollar purse.
Holmes had a run of 48 consecutive victories, one shy of Rocky Marciano's 49 wins, before losing a very controversial fight with Michael Spinks in September 21, 1985. He finally ended his stellar, professional career with a record of 69-6 record.
While talking with Larry, he stated that there are no great heavyweight fighters today the likes of what he had to deal with in his career. The tough ones now are the middle and lightweight professional boxing contenders.
As we ended our lunch conversation with Mr. Larry Holmes, I couldn't help thinking - his moniker might have been the "Easton Assassin," but I found him to be a humble "Gentle Giant" who loves his roots - Easton, Pennsylvania.
(Dr. Bill Welker is a retired K-12 Reading Specialist, who was named "Teacher of the Year" by the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce. He was also honored by WVU with the Jasper N. Deahl Award. Welker is also a nationally-recognized amateur wrestling expert who has published over 600 articles and three books on the subject. He is a member of both the National Wrestling Hall of Fame and the Pennsylvania Wrestling Hall of Fame)
