Outline · [ Standard ] · Linear+ Rod Blagojevich In The Boxing Ring, once a Golden Gloves boxer

[daprofessor]

Illinois governor was once a Golden Gloves boxer

By Steve Schmadeke | Tribune reporter
January 4, 2009

Golden

Coach Jerry Marzullo works with Rod Blagojevich in a Golden Gloves tournament at a Chicago gym Feb.-March 1975, in Chicago. (Photo for the Tribune by Richard Younker)

More than 30 years ago, photographer Richard Younker stepped into a crowded St. Andrew's Gym on Chicago's North Side, looking to capture some arresting images from a Golden Gloves boxing competition.

He was standing ringside before a fight when a wiry kid with a sculpted helmet of hair—future Gov. Rod Blagojevich—asked him to take his picture. Younker remembers Blagojevich was the only fighter that year who asked—but without the request, Younker said he never would've snapped the pictures.

"I sort of pick out subjects whose faces look interesting," Younker said Friday. "I saw him there and said, 'This is definitely not somebody I'm going to photograph.' "

But Younker obliged, snapping three shots of the 18-year-old Blagojevich, including one in which he winks Palin-like while his coach appears to advise him.

Golden Golden Photo

(IMG:http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/photo/2009-01/44327604.jpg)



Through a spokesman, the governor confirmed Friday that it was him in the picture, and he identified his coach as Jerry Marzullo.

The future governor, in Younker's memory, lost his fight that March night. Another coach, Pat LaCassa, told the Tribune in 2006 that Blagojevich, who had a short boxing career, lost his final fight because he kept his gloves up to defend his face.

Younker has had several books of his photographs published; these photographs have never been published before.

Younker encountered Blagojevich twice more after he entered politics, developing a stronger take on the man now accused of corruption.

"My other impression was this guy's a hustler," Younker said.

[daprofessor]

CHICAGO GOLDEN GLOVES BOXING TOURNAMENT
Since 1923
Chicago Golden Gloves Charities is a registered 501C3

Since 1923, the annual Chicago Golden Gloves boxing tournament has been one of the great traditions of sport in one of the greatest cities in America. Over the past 80 years, just a few of the boxers who have won the prestigious title “Chicago Golden Gloves Champion” include Cassius Clay, Governor Blagojevich (say what you will...), Michael Flatley and numerous US Olympians.

Chicago Golden Gloves Charities believes that training in boxing instills a sense of self-respect and accomplishment in the youth of our community who, at this impressionable age, are choosing their path in life. Thousands of young men, and now some young women, have learned discipline, self-esteem and how to realize goals through daily training at various boxing clubs throughout greater Chicagoland and NWIndiana.

We understand that boxing can’t save every young man, but we know that given opportunity through sport, lives can be guided and shaped, resulting in positive, productive citizens.

Former Chicago Golden Gloves Champions
• Barney Ross (’29)
• Ezzard Charles (’39)
• Sonny Liston (’53)
• Ernie Terrell (’57)
• Cassius Clay (’59, ’60) later known as Muhammad Ali
• US Olympians from Chicago: LeeRoy Murphy (’80), Montel Griffin (’92), Donnell Nicholson (’92), Nate Jones (’96), David Diaz (’96), Michael Bennett (’00)
• Governor Blagojevich
• Former Illinois Attorney General Jim Ryan
• Tommy Zibikowski- Notre Dame & Baltimore Ravens football
• Michael “The Lord of the Dance” Flatley