Standing up for yourself is a combination of knowing when to fight and when to back off. I love to tell stories of when my parents owned a motel in Ponders Corner and I stood up to stare others down. I don’t like telling the story of standing up for myself, but it comes with details that make some sense.
As a young man I enjoyed watching boxing matches on TV. In 1970 I bought tickets for the Boone Kirkman vs. George Foreman boxing match for me and my father-in-law, Ike Harrington. My wife Peg and I were living on North Oakes, just a few blocks from the University of Puget Sound where I was a student. The boxing match was broadcast and shown on a big wide screen in the UPS Fieldhouse as I recall, the match started and Kirkman went down with a single touch of Foreman’s glove. That might be slightly overstated, but it was all over in one round.
As a member of the Tacoma Jaycees I became a licensed second in the State of Washington for one boxing competition, again at the University of Puget Sound. One of our members told me he thought he could win first place for the thousand dollar cash prize. He was a hard worker, so we backed him, with me. The event started with some cheering going on and then went wild.
If you would like to know more, I would love to speak to most any group interested.
