Executive Board Meeting:

The monthly Executive Board meeting of the Veteran Boxers Association of NY, Ring 8, Inc was held on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at the Waterfront Crabhouse in Long Island City, New York.

Board Members in attendance: President Bob Duffy, V.P. Henny Wallitsch, Paulette Balog, Tony DiPippo, Tommy Gallagher, Henry Hascup, Jack Hirsch, John Labate, Vinnie Maddalone, Lenny Mangiapane, Tony Mazzarella, Frank Pena, Keith Sullivan and David Yatkowitz.

New Ring 8 President, Bob Duffy

The meeting was opened by V.P. Henny Wallitsch and he asked that we elect a New President. He then made a motion to elect Bob Duffy as the new President. All the Board members agreed and Bob accepted and he will serve a term of 2 years.

At that time, Bob Duffy took over the meeting as the New Ring 8 President.

The first order of business under our new President was to elect David Yatkowitz as a Board member, which was passed unanimously.

President Duffy then gave a detailed report on our Christmas Party and thanking everyone of the Board for their help.

President Duffy brought up the Monument at Sunnyside Garden and that this was a Ring 8 project. Tommy Gallagher talked on what it would cost and that he had a guy that can do it at a fair price.

The New York Hall of Fame For Boxing was talked about. We are going to have a special meeting on Tuesday, February 8th just for that. Special By-Laws will be made and a selection committee will be put in place. President Duffy stated that the first $15,000 would go to the Hall of Fame and the rest to Ring 8.

Former muli-time World Champion Emile Griffith is in need of “long time care.” Ring 8 has agreed to pay the fee of $126.70 a month to make this happen.

President Duffy stated that “Fightnews” ran 3 press releases for our Christmas Party and we got a lot of good feed back because of this. For their work, and future work, Ring 8 paid them $250.

Frank Pena brought up the Metro Amateur Boxing Show, and Ring 8 took the back page for $250. Pena stated that $500 would go to the “Wounded Warriors,” which was suggested by Board member Lenny Mangiapane.

President talked on the Ring 8 (Bill Gallo) Scholarship Fund, stating that it is for more then just College people; it’s also for young people that want to get out in the work force as well.

President Duffy stated that we would invite all the New York Golden Glove Finalist along with their coaches to the April or May meeting.

General Meeting:

V.P. Henny Wallitsch introduced our new President, Bob Duffy to the membership.

President Duffy led the membership in our flag salute and the 10 count in memory of Lou Raino.

President Duffy stated that we had 419 people at our Christmas Party, along with 43 guests. He also stated that at the party, Joe Frazier was our first inductee into the New York Hall of Fame For Boxing.

Mrs. Joe Miceli spoke on her husband Joe, a former World contender, and thanked Ring 8 so much for being such an important part of his life.

President Duffy read off a very nice letter from the family of Franz Szuzina, thanking all the members of Ring 8 for the Award they received at the Christmas Party. Ring 8 also honored the family of Johnny Colan. Our Amateur Official of the Year, John Holden donated $300 to Ring 8.

Frank Pena talked on the Golden Glove Show and the AD journal for the event. Ring 8 took the back cover for $250.

Jack Hirsch, the President of the BWAA, stated that the next awards dinner for them would be in Las Vegas on May 6th

President Duffy also talked on the Bill Gallo Scholarship Fund, and that Ring 8 has been awarding Scholarships for 14 years and has already given out over $25,000 to the cause.

President Duffy stated that Bill Gallo was recently in the hospital and that Ring 8 sent him a basket of fruit.

Tony Mazzarella talked on the Monument for Sunnyside Garden’s, which is now Wendy’s. He also talked on having a Long Island Boxing Show this summer.

Tommy Gallagher introduced a former middleweight standout, Danny McAloon, who fought Emile Griffith and Vito Antuofermo.

Keith Sullivan talked on the gravestone for Shamus O’Brien that Ring 8 donated. O’Brein fought nearly 100 Pro bouts from 1911 to 1928. He died in 1959 and was in an unmarked grave until now.

Keith then introduced our Guest Speaker for the Night, Teddy Atlas.

Guest Speaker, Teddy Atlas

Teddy talked about the Dr. Theodore A. Atlas Foundation that was in the honor of his father, who was a longtime doctor that helped out many people. You can go to the following web site to find out more about this Great Organization – http://www.dratlasfoundation.com/index.html

Teddy stated that his Foundation will give Ring 8 $1,000 towards the Scholarship Fund. Teddy talked on Scholarships for Boxing as well.

Teddy also talked on marketing the sport better, having boxing writers rate the fighters, he stated that they had better trainers back in the old days, injury’s in High School Football is 10 times greater then boxing. He stated that there should be one Body for Boxing that is in-charge; right now we don’t have a voice.

Teddy also told stories about Michael Moorer, Rocky Graziano and Cus D’Amato.

We then auctioned off a boxing glove that was signed by all the Champions at our Christmas Party.

Next month, our guest speaker will be Bert Sugar.

Posted under Meeting Notes