St. Paul recorder. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1934-2000, 1960-01-01

ed St. Paul and Minneapolis tc
battle Minnesota's wonderful ar
ray of pubihsts
Boxing in Minnesota experienc-
ed other prosperous eras at diff
ferent periods later on with Ny
Sullivan, Billy Light and Al Van
Ryan leading the parade in st.
Paul; and the sensational Jackie
Graves drawing capacity crowds
in Minneapolis.
More recently. Del Flanagan
has been carrying the burden alone
and drawing gates in St. Paul that
have caused eyebrow lifting among
| devotees of the cauIiflower-ear cult
in much larger cities like New
York. Chicago, Philadelphia, Bos-
ton, st. Louis, Los Angeles and
San Francisco.
The Upper Midwest Golden
Gloves Program sponsored by The
Minneapolis Star and Tribune
since 1885 has contributed approx
mately S15O.OOO to the tubercul-
osis fund during the past % years.
Affiliated with this program are
American Legion, fraternal and
civic groups of St. Paul, Duluth,
Rochester, Hibbing Slayton, Blue
Earth, Wadena and numerous
smaller municipalities"
The State of Minnesota. from
a boxing standpoint, is unique in
another phase. It's State Athletic
Commission, which supervises box
ing. is one of the few boards in
existence in America whose MEM
bers, other than the executive sec
rotary. serve without pay The
five members of the Commission
are paid only SIS per meeting,
not to exceed 16 meetings an
nually.
The executive secretary is paid
$4,000 year This salary was es-
tablished by law in 1915 and never
was increased.
Moreover, the Commission, since
the inception of the boxing law in
1915, has been required by law to
be self-sustaining. Even during
lean years in boxing in Minnesota,
due to the inroad made upon gate
receipts by nationally televised
fights twice weekly the Commits
sion never has received a penny
of appropriation from the State.
The State boxing law stipulates
the Commission must operate in a
budget of $4,000 annually. In
addition to the Executive Secre-
tary's salary of $4,000 a year, the
following operations must be main
tanned: salary of one full-time
civil service employee; deputy COM
office supplies, travel,
telephone and incidental expenses.
An office also must be maintained
and must be in operation five days
a week from 8 am. until 4:3O pm.
Due to rigid adherence to econ
omic measures by the Commission,
the boxing boards annual expense
seldom exceeds $4,000.
Current members of the Com
mission are: James NJ. Waters Of
st. Paul, chairman; DR.. Cyril NJ.
Smith Of Duluth, Vice-chairman;
Judge L. Howard Bennett Of Min
neapolis; Jack Gibbons Of st. Paul,
Bruno C. Lisi Of Rochester; and
George A. Barton of Minneapolis,
executive secretary and commits
sioner.
That boxing has been efficiently
conducted in Minnesota under the
guidance of athletic commissioners,
past and present, since the sport
was legalized in this state in 1915,
is proved by the fact boxing has
been free from scandal during the
past A years.
Also, despite the fact thousands
upon thousands of boxing contests,
professional and amateur, have
been held in Minnesota during that
lengthy period, only two fatalities
have occurred and very few ser
ious injuries have resulted. Few
other states can boast such an en-
Wable record.
The Commission has attempted
at every session of the State Leg
islature during the past ten years
to have the boxing law amended to
place professional wrestling under
its supervision and impose a five