On the anniversary of Muhammad Ali’s death, a look back at Wisconsin boxing
A year ago today, the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time Muhammad Ali died. The Louisville Lip turned pro shortly after winning Gold at just 18 years of age the 1960 Rome Olympics.
A story from Fox 6 notes that former Wisconsin boxing champion Eddie “Bossman” Brooks was a sparring partner of Ali’s. The Journal Sentinel reports that Ali actually spoke at UW-Milwaukee student union in 1971.
Muhammad Ali didn't transcend race.
— John Dingell (@JohnDingell) June 4, 2016
He was Black. Powerful. Confident.
He was everything that hateful people feared.
He was the Greatest.
The Wisconsin Alumni Association has a feature piece about Wisconsin boxing. The article states that the “first boxing match on campus” was held in 1898. College boxing exploded after World War I, and Wisconsin had a team in the 1930s. UW recruited Joe Walsh to coach the new squad and he found tremendous success.
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"Under Walsh, UW boxing won eight NCAA national championships, starting in 1939. The Badgers also went unbeaten in nine seasons and didn’t suffer a home loss until 1945.By the late 1940s, big-name boxing matches at the Wisconsin Field House were drawing crowds of almost 15,000, and the sport was second only to football in popularity."
Raucous crowds and concerns over safety and the “tawdry image of professional boxing” engendered fierce debate in Madison over whether the team should continue. But it took a singular tragedy to end the program for good.
A young troubled boxer named Charlie Mohr was felled by some strong punches. He later suffered a seizure in the locker room and “never regained consciousness.” Just 12 days later Wisconsin shuttered the boxing program.
"The UW became the most symbolic domino to fall in what quickly became a cascade of university boxing bans. It took only a year after the UW ban for the NCAA to discontinue boxing entirely because so many schools had abandoned it."
Madison journalist has a thorough history on Charlie Mohr’s death.
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There is no NCAA boxing today of course. There is a boxing club at UW open to both undergraduate and graduate students. The National College Boxing Association (NCBA) was created in 1976 and hosts regional competitions. Boxing clubs affiliated with Penn State, THE Ohio State, Purdue, and Iowa all participate in the NCBA.
"The organization emphasizes the teaching of fundamental novice boxing skills while providing a safe, positive, and educational experience for student athletes. The NCBA encourages participation at the recreational, instructional, intramural, and competitive amateur boxing levels."
There is also an Intercollegiate Boxing Association started in 2012 with a similar objective to the NCBA.