Winston Salem North Carolina 1977 that is me in the black beanie on the right at the AAU National Boxing Championships. Standing on the far left is Johnny Bumphus a National Champion that went on to become World Champion to his right Brett Summers a National Champion at the age of 16, to his right sitting next to me is Chucky Robinson, Chucky would die in the plane crash that went to Poland at 17 years of age, Chucky did not want to go to Poland, his parents literally forced him on to the plane. I’m sure they had a hard time dealing with that disaster. The Coach in the foreground is the legend Joe Cloud at that time he had coached 14 National Champions and 4 Olympians, he and Junior (my coach) were best buddies, that’s how I knew all of these guys and we roomed together. .
He is wrapping the hands of a fighter from Nigeria, can’t remember his name or how he finagled his way in to our tournament but he was in my weight class and he was eating 3 big meals a day and still making weight. A 165 pounds was my natural weight but I had to starve myself to make the 147 pound limit. With all of my medical issues starvation was the last thing I needed but the 156 pound weight class was where you started fighting guys 6 feet tall or better. I later saw him vomiting behind the restaurant, he was bulimic.