Story written by Christopher Benedict “You know, this is a man’s world. We live in a man’s world. We have to constantly defend what we believe in,” Cora Degree, formerly Webber, said to me during our recent talk. “But that’s a good thing, because we’ve proven ourselves quite a bit from where it was.” She’s
Written by Christopher Benedict From Tobacco Farm to Moulin Rouge November 16, 1926 was opening night for the rechristened Seven-Eleven Club in midtown Manhattan, 47th Street and 7th Avenue to be precise, after having been padlocked by Federal decree back in March when it was known as the Chummy Club. An entirely African American revue
Written by Christopher Benedict Sometimes Truth is Stranger Than Fiction Shortly after Jackson Lake Park Ranger Harry Grace heard gunshots coming from up the mountain road, a distraught young man swinging a suitcase riddled with bullet holes burst through the door of his station house, babbling a breathless, barely coherent story about the gruesome discovery
Written by Christopher Benedict Known as ‘The Frisco Kid’ after the City by the Bay which was her hometown, flyweight Louise Loo made her boxing debut eight months after the release of the Western comedy movie of the same name featuring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford. Paula Trichel was Loo’s costar on March 6, 1980,
Written by Christopher Benedict Boxing and show business have long gone hand in hand. In many ways, the two are inseparable and sometimes indistinguishable. The roll call of professional prizefighters who appeared on film and television either during their career or after they hung up the gloves is a lengthy one and includes the likes
Written by Christopher Benedict “The majority of women in professional boxing is in it for the money. Otherwise, we wouldn’t subject ourselves to the catcalls and remarks on how undignified boxing is for young ladies,” Shirley Tucker wrote in an October 18, 1977 editorial printed in the San Francisco Examiner. The byline simply carried her
Written by Christopher Benedict By the time she turned eighteen, Lydia Bayardo had earned the hard-won reputation as a slugger on the softball field as well as in the boxing ring. Growing up in the coastal Los Angeles neighborhood of San Pedro, Lydia wielded one of the hottest bats on the Pirates, routinely responsible for
Article by Christopher Benedict The Bendix plant that opened in South Bend, Indiana in 1923 quickly established itself as the world’s largest manufacturer of automobile brakes. The factory soon began to incorporate the engineering and production of power steering systems, in addition to aircraft landing gear and controls for reciprocating gas turbine, rocket, and nuclear
Written by Christopher Benedict “Wow—Lookie Here For The First Time In Texas” screamed the bold-type print on the fight poster. Above small black and white photos depicting Barbara Buttrick and Phyllis Kugler (whose first name is misspelled as Phyliss), the ballyhoo advertising the October 8, 1957 boxing card at San Antonio’s Municipal Auditorium promised that “These
written by: Christopher Benedict (An elderly Polly with heavyweight contender Jack Doyle) As an esteemed pioneer of women’s boxing in the 1950s, Barbara Buttrick, known as England’s Mighty Atom of the Ring, broke a good deal of new ground in her heyday. Being a nonagenarian has done little to impede Barbara’s ability or desire to