Legendary Boxing Trainer George Washington

By Kenneth Washington

As people of color, we arrived on a nightmare and never stop praying for the dream. George did not fret because of any evildoers neither envious against the workers of iniquities, asking God to give him grace to accept with serenity of the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other, keeping God first as the head of his life. Showing how the God of his weary years, the God of his silent tears, brought his family thus far. He proudly served his county in World War II and the Korean War, trying to make a difference for his life and his family's lives, always striving for perfection.

Kenneth Washington shares his experiences, knowledge, and understanding of being raised by this warrior, trainer, father, mentor, man of God, friend, awesome person, and legend. Legendary Boxing Trainer George Washington is a great read; it will guide you to living life on life's terms and walking by faith not by sight. It takes you from childhood to manhood basic training to basic boxing skills leadership and the dedicated life of Brother George Washington.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Aug 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781098058050

Book preview

Legendary Boxing Trainer George Washington

Kenneth Washington

ISBN 978-1-0980-5804-3 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-0980-5805-0 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Kenneth Washington

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgment

About the Author

Preface

Introduction

The Kid from Alabama

The Warrior

The Trainer

The Mentor

The Husband

The Father

The Friend

The Man of God

The Legend

Conclusion

Recommended Resources

Boxing Clubs

Dedication

To the Washington Family, my children and grand-children.

To the residents of Bedford Stuyvesant and Community Board 3 who voted to co-name Gates Avenue after my father to Bro. George Washington Way Legendary Boxing Trainer.

To the Boxing Centers fighters and the sports teams.

To all the individuals that lives were changed by Brother George Washington.

Acknowledgment

My Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the head of my life. I thank you for the unceasing grace and mercy you have blessed me with. You are the source of my strength and the strength of my life. Thank you for gracefully orchestrating my teachable moments to correct my wrongs and to make me a better person. You order my steps, you live in me, I praise you, and I pray without ceasing.

To Veronica, my wife, my rib. Thank you for supporting and encouraging me to write this book. Thank you for being in my life. God showed me favor when he blessed me with you. Thank You.

My daughter Tiffany. She was the first granddaughter that my father ever had and he loved her immensely.

The Toastmasters' Conference Procrastination workshop.

Loving and supportive role model parents. Family and friends too many to list. Thank you all!

About the Author

Kenneth is a remarkable individual whose confidence and clarity is reflected in every task that he puts his mind to. I am very fortunate to be a part of Mr. Washington's life ventures. He has managed to maintain a marriage, four lovely daughters, and a spiritual foundation. Kenneth Washington, like his father, continues to contribute to the community in which he resides. He is a proven leader and a force for justice. He is a man who is unashamedly Christian and unapologetically Black. While supporting both church and community in their times of need, he has enthusiastically supported Political allyship, and stayed grounded in his Nubian culture, as well as actively taking on challenges in racial equity and cross-cultural relationships.

It gives me great pleasure to share my knowledge of Kenneth Washington's character. I consider him to be of the highest order of brotherhood. He is Brooklyn's unsung hero. Kenneth Washington is a man with direction.

Jerome L. Taylor Krystal Clear Graphic Designer LLC.

Staying in shape physically requires constant practice and hard work. An athlete cannot train once and then think their work is done. The same is true for faith, which requires and involves constant renewal. And the same is true for our community. Kenneth Washington's father, George Washington, was the force behind the New Bed-Stuy Boxing Center on Marcus Garvey Boulevard starting in the 1980s, and Kenneth carries forward this tradition. He is a pillar in many parts of Brooklyn's Christian community and he works not only to heal and support our souls, but also our bodies with his enduring activism, fighting healthcare challenges from prostate cancer to gun violence to the lack of affordable housing.

Kenneth Washington combines body, soul, and community in this book. We must constantly fight the forces of entropy and this book is a tool for our times to keep our community and faith on track towards God. I feel blessed to continue to share his friendship, and I am grateful that this book provides a tool for us to support the community together.

Council Member District 36, Robert E. Cornegy Jr.

Preface

When I was a child, I remember waking up bright and early on a Saturday morning to find our living room full of kids from the area that my father had invited over to take them out to the Rogers Theater on Broadway in Brooklyn, New York. George Washington wasn't just a father to me and my older brother, he was a father figure to all the kids in our neighborhood. From an early age, I knew my father was a special person, and I learned to share him well with others.

My father was always a very outgoing man. As a result, my brother and I were actively involved in the community. We joined the Mt. Sinai Baptists Church Jr. Usher Board, and also performed in the Unique Gospel Choir alongside our mother. We were involved in Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts, Bombers Little League Baseball, and football. We also did boxing, track and field, karate, judo, and jujitsu. We had busy social calendars and became very sociable and well-rounded young men in the process. My FATHER ALWAYS ENCOURAGED US TO TRY NEW ACTIVITIES AND FIND ones that we enjoyed. One thing I loved about him was he never forced a sport down our throats. He wanted us to find ourselves in our own way, in our own time.

My father was very kind and friendly, he always made sure to be our father first. Even his disciplining was done in love. You know the saying, This is going to hurt me more then it's going to hurt you. His goal was to teach us in his corrections, not to harm or tear us down. I would tell him, Don't love me too much. I thank God for my father, George Washington. He was a great trainer and a loving father.

The one thing I know he loved almost as much as his wife and two sons was the sport of boxing. He worked hard for all that he achieved as a fighter and used his knowledge and experience to groom other young people into legends as well. Each potential fighter he came across, he always gave them 100 percent of his time, with or without pay. It was about the relationships rather than the compensation.

When it came to people, in general, he gave them all the same level of respect, whether you were from Park Avenue or the park bench. George Washington loved people and, more than that, he loved helping people.

I firmly believe that my father did not receive enough recognition for the work he did in his lifetime. His fate was much like Brother Moses in the Bible, who took the Israelites to the Promised Land but did not get to see it with his people. My father took fighters to stardom with his signature and stamp of approval on them. Unfortunately, some fighters didn't understand it or respect it enough, if they did.

Boxing is a cutthroat business and most managers and trainers were always looking out for finished product to seize and market. It is easier to invest in a boxer who has completed their training instead of developing a boxer from scratch. The Masters of Trickery saw my father's mark on his fighters and persuaded those fighters to think that their amateur days were over; that they had professional trainers that could get them to stardom faster than my father ever could. They could never be more wrong in thinking that. My father had the network, the knowledge, and the heart needed to transform the developing fighters into champions. What those tricksters didn't know was that my father evaluated his fighters on more than just their strength. My father wanted to turn them into good human beings.

Sometimes, the investment of our hard work does not reap a return in the way we expect it to. It has always been mind-boggling to me how my father could shape and mold a fighter in the way he did and still never receive the degree of reward that he richly deserved. My father had a family that he loved, with needs and sometimes desires, just like the fighters he trained. He worked so hard for so many years and still never saw the wealth and recognition that he should have gotten. The world did not recognize that George Washington was responsible for the successes of so many well-known fighters. This man would give you the shirt off his back even if you didn't ask. My father, like anyone, should receive flowers when they are around to smell them. Unfortunately, my father will never see this book, as he transitioned in 2006, but I choose to honor him just the same.

My father was a very special man, and I have never encountered a person who didn't love him or didn't feel inspired by him. There are many people in the world of boxing that recognized my father as the force he was and did what they could to solicit his expertise and provide him with big career opportunities for involvement on the national level. My intention is for this biography to show the impact my father had on fighters, old and new school. The people he mentored, worked with, or even just met over the years. My father's talent and influence took him around the world, touching the lives of so many people along the way.

I remember my father receiving a letter from the Olympic committee in Colorado Springs, Colorado, telling him that they were considering him for a position on the coaching staff of the 1980 boxing team. We were so happy for him when we heard the news. The process is selective, and some people only dream of making it to the Olympics, no matter the capacity. Eventually, they decided to take Thomas Sarge Johnson in his place on the committee. The decision came with disappointment.

March 14, 1980, was a sad day for the world of boxing. LOT Polish Airlines, Flight 7, crashed near Warsaw Poland, after aborting a landing attempt. Uncontained engine failure, killed all eighty-seven crew members and passengers that were on board. Of those passengers, fourteen of them were boxers and eight were Olympic staff members including Thomas Sarge Johnson. The families of all those aboard that fatal flight have our deepest condolences. My family, especially, will never forget that my father could have been one of the men on that plane that day. Tragedy has a way of bringing people together like never before.

Four years after this incident, the Olympic team came back stronger than ever and this time my father was on that staff. Below is a Throwback Thursday article from Team USA website with a boxing feature recapping the 1984 games that took place in Los Angeles:

"The 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles were the most successful Olympics for USA Boxing. The team won a total of eleven medals, including nine gold, one silver, and one bronze. Here is a look back at what happened that summer at the Memorial Sports Arena.

Paul Gonzales, Gold Medal

Gonzalez began his quest for the light flyweight Olympic title with a 5:0 victory over Korea's Kim Kwang-Sun. During the second round, Gonzalez picked up another 5:0 victory, this time over William Bagonza of Uganda. Gonzales secured his place in the semifinals with a 4:1 victory against Great Britain's Ricky Coleman, that was followed by his third 5:0 win in the semifinals over Marcelino Bolivar of Venezuela. He clinched the gold medal over Italian Salvatore Todisco by walk-over.

Steve McCrory, Gold Medal

McCrory started his Olympic journey with a first-round walkover victory against Grenada's Tad Joseph before taking a victory over Fausto Garcia of Mexico due to a referee-stopped contest. McCrory clinched a medal in the quarterfinals with a 5:0 victory over Malawi's Peter Ayesu. He took his second 5:0 victory of the Games during his semifinals match against Turkey's Eyup Can before winning the flyweight gold in a 4:1 decision over Redzep Redzepovkis of Yugoslavia.

Meldrick Taylor, Gold Medal

Taylor was granted a first-round bye during his run to Olympic gold in the featherweight division. He stepped into the ring for the first time during the second round, which he took a unanimous victory over Romania's Nicolae Talpos. He grabbed another unanimous decision during his third-round win against Francisco Camacho of Mexico before clinching a medal in the quarterfinals with a referee stopped contest against Kenya's John Wanjau. Taylor closed out his Olympic experience with two more unanimous decision wins over Venezuela's Omar Catari in the semifinals and Peter Konyegwachie of Nigeria in the finals.

Pernell Whitaker, Gold Medal

Whitaker also earned a first-round bye on his journey to the lightweight Olympic gold medal. He took unanimous decision victories in all rounds leading up to his final bouts. These victories included wins over Adolfo Mendez (Nicaragua), Geoffrey Nyeko (Uganda), Reiner Gies (West Germany), and Chun Chil-Sung (Korea). Whitaker grabbed the Olympic title by abandonment in the second round by Luis Ortiz of Puerto Rico.

Jerry Page, USOC Archives

Jerry Page, Gold Medal Page stepped into the ring in the second-round against West Germany's Octavio Robles to grab his first of four unanimous decision victories during his run to Olympic gold. Page faced Octavio Robles of Mexico in the third-round for his second 5:0 win, before taking a 4:1 decision over Kim Dong-Kil of Korea in the quarterfinals. Page concluded his Olympics with unanimous wins over Yugoslavia's Mirko Puzovic in the semifinals and Thailand's Dhawee Umponmaha in the finals.

Mark Breland, Gold Medal

Breland won his welterweight Olympic gold in dominating fashion. He began his path to the top of the podium with a unanimous victory over Canada's Wayne Gordon. Breland's second-round over Puerto Rico's Carlos Reyes was stopped by the referees in