Word: rawson
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Repeatedly during our discussion, Rawson takes the conversation off on tangents, and they inevitably involve the revisiting of his past glories. Still, he has a firm grip on the present, and the status of boxing within it. For example, when two women who missed the introductory meeting enter his office, he works hard to pique their interest in boxing, portraying the sport as above all a means to fitness and self-defense. After they leave he explains to me that as a club-level sport, boxing exists at Harvard only as long as there is interest in it; the club...
...shows me a bulletin board full of newspaper clippings, and the articles confirm that he hasn't been embellishing the past: "Tommy Rawson-A Credit to Boxing and to Mankind," reads one headline, and a blurb on another story touts him as the New England Lightweight champion, listing his career professional record...
...Rawson recounts dozens of fights, his tales of perseverance peopled with corrupt referees, dirty timekeepers and guys with names like "Patty Irish." Rattling off the records and weight classes of opponents the way a preacher might cite lines from scripture, he relives each bout for me, gesticulating with his thick fingers and dodging invisible punches...
...length we move on to a discussion of his coaching career, and Rawson reveals that he found his way to Harvard during World War II. "And I've been here ever since," he concludes. Which is both true and not quite true. Because while he has been coaching at Harvard for more than half a century, it trickles out that has also done a bit of work on the outside as well: chairing the Massachusetts Boxing Commission; coaching at the Olympics; taking Rocky Marciano to the Gold Gloves, ("Ali wouldn't have been able to lay a hand...
...more uplifting to watch Rawson as he takes me on a tour of the club's facilities: he pays special attention to a large room labeled "Women's Fencing," one which used to house boxing back when it enjoyed varsity standing. I ask him why the sport was relegated to club status, but he's caught up in a nostalgic thought about a return to legitimacy. "If the University would just okay it," he trails off, referring to intercollegiate boxing. "We have the ropes, the ring-it's all ready...