Executive Board Meeting:

The monthly Executive Board meeting of the Veteran Boxers Association of NY, Ring 8, Inc was held on Tuesday, February 15, 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, and David Yatkowitz.

President Bob Duffy opened the meeting and Tony Mazzarella talked on Mike Fisher who was asking for some help on getting a job.

President Duffy gave a report on our Christmas Party in which Ring 8 made a profit of $3,316. Duffy received a call from Frankie Russo saying that the dates that are still open for our next Christmas Party is either December 11th at Russo’s or December 18th at the Crabhouse.

The Board agreed to have a special meeting at Vinnie Maddalone’s place.

Frank Pena showed a plaque with possible names to put on for our Hall of Fame, which starts in 2012.

Tony Mazzarella talked on the monument at the old Sunnyside Gardens. Tony also talked on an outside boxing show in the summer.

Henry Hascup talked on the up-coming COMBATT affair in Newark, N.J., which one of the honorees is Joe Dwyer.

Tommy Gallagher talked on our 2010 Prospect of the Year Award Winner, Gabriel Bracero.

President Duffy talked on having a picnic for all the Ring 8 members on Sunday, July 31st at Massapequa Park. Tony Mazzarella suggested having a softball game at that time too. The cost would be $25 per person.

President Duffy talked on Rassan Kellan, who takes pictures and films at all the New York Golden Glove Shows and puts them on his web site. He also thanked Jack Hirsch on getting our guest speakers. Jack suggested that we have some of our own members, such as Vinnie Maddalone, who can talk about his recent bout with Tomasz Adamek.

Tommy Gallagher talked on fight tapes from New York.

Scholarship committee was put in place with Jack Hirsch and Frank Pena. Applications will be at every New York Amateur boxing show.

V.P. Henny Wallitsch talked on getting more Ring 8 shirts. Paulette Balog talked on Sugar Ray Robinson and his son, who was speaking at different places. Tony Mazzarella talked on Ring 8 and helping out Sugar Ray Robinson by selling posters.

Frank Pena brought up that we will be having all the New York Golden Glove finalist at a Ring 8 meeting.

General Meeting:

President Bob Duffy opened the meeting with a flag salute and the 10 count, in memory of Bennie Briscoe.

President Duffy stated that we had close to 500 people at our Christmas Party last December and we made a profit of $3,316.

Henry Hascup introduced former IBF Super Middleweight Champion of the World, Alejandro Berrio. He and his trainer talked on his up-coming bouts.

Tony Mazzarella brought the membership up to date on the monument at Sunnyside Gardens.

President Duffy introduced Rassan Kellan, who takes pictures and films at all the New York Golden Glove Shows and puts them on his web site. Kellan talked about his web site.

Lenny Mangiapane introduced a new member. Frank Pena talked on the up-coming Glen Cove New York Golden Glove Boxing Show and introduced a young Golden Glove boxer by the name of Joey. He also talked on the Scholarship Committee and that he has applications available at every Amateur show.

President Duffy talked on Ring 8 and what they do for the needy fighters.

Jack Hirsch introduced our guest speaker, Bert Sugar.

Bert talked about how he got started in boxing, first by listening to the Joe Louis/Buddy Baer fight on the radio. He then boxed on the University of Maryland boxing team.

He talked about some of his books that he wrote with Angelo Dundee and then Teddy Atlas. He talked about the Max Baer/James J. Braddock fight.

Frank Pena asked about why some trainers have scissors in their back pocket. He asked Bert what was the best fight he ever saw? Bert said the Hagler/Hearns and the Foreman/Lyle fights were. He then told several jokes.

He was then asked who was the Greatest Heavyweight Champion, and he said in his opinion it’s Joe Louis. 25 title defenses is enough for him.

He was also asked about the Greatest baseball player, and he named Joe DiMaggio was the Greatest player and Ted Williams was the Greatest hitter.

He also talked on Floyd Mayweather Jr., and Manny Pacquiao, as well as Rocky Marciano, saying that Rocky best opponents were past their primes and nearly 40 years old.

Bert also talked on several boxing movies, told a story on Toots Shore and Jackie Gleason.

At the end, he stated that he has his new book that he wrote with Teddy Atlas about lists, and book cost $20, of which he would donate $5 to Ring 8.

The meeting then was closed.

Next month our guest speaker will be Thomas Hauser, who is the author of 34 books including ‘Muhammad Ali: His Life And Times’.

Posted under Meeting Notes