A Visit to the Boxing Hall of Fame
It’s Induction Week at the International Boxing Hall of Fame and that means boxing’s luminaries will be descending upon the tiny central New York State hamlet of Canastota, population 4,425. The festivities officially started yesterday and plan to continue for the entire weekend and will be highlighted by Saturday’s 5K fun run with the greats and Sunday’s induction ceremony. Headlining this year’s class is heavyweight great Larry Holmes. Here’s Bad Left Hook’s recap of the inductees.
From 2004-2006 my wife and I traveled the United States aiming to visit all 350+ incorporated National Park, National Historic Site, National Monuments, etc… We also tried to see as many sports hall of fames as possible. In the first month of our trip we traveled to the Basketball Hall in Springfield, Mass. and the Baseball Hall in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Just two days after our uninspiring trip to the austere and reverential Baseball Hall we wandered into Canastota wholly unaware of what the this oft-mentioned boxing mecca would be like. So when we pulled into the parking lot we were shocked that the Hall was a pre-fabricated building and that its displays were stretched among only a few tiny rooms. We were a little underwhelmed especially after visiting Springfield’s mammoth basketball-shaped complex and Cooperstown’s sprawling three-story palace. The Boxing Hall wouldn’t even fill up either museum’s lobby. This visit couldn’t last more than an hour, could it?
We perused at the memorabilia awestruck at the World Championship Belts, the trunks and the robes that were worn by boxing’s greats. We compared our fist sizes to the plaster reproductions of pugilism’s most legendary figures. Then we started talking to the site’s one staff member.
She explained the story of the Hall, how for decades boxing had no place to honor its greats up until 1989. Nobody had created a Boxing Hall of Fame. No corporation, no promoter, no casino, no ex-boxing great. It was an oversight that would have continued had it not been for Canastota’s boxing-mad populace. They had already raised funds for statues of two native champions, Carmen Basilio and Billy Backus, and decided to extend their devotion to the sweet science by establishing the sport’s first historic shrine. Funds were raised and the first class was inducted in 1990.
The Hall wasn’t built with the gift of generous benefactors it was built with a town’s love. It wasn’t created to bring in tourism it was idealistically built to honor athletes. This aura of obvious love and respect for the sport its participants defined our visit. The Site was pure and innocent and such a refreshing departure from the corporate, pedantic sheen of Cooperstown.
We asked why there were so few videos and other interactive displays and were told that there’s just no money despite the fact that they own thousands of hours of boxing film. It’s all in storage. The Hall is a still a small local operation and the funds they do receive are better prioritized in the Induction Weekend events. The museum really is about its honorees.
We were told that during Induction Week the boxers take over the town and are showered with affection for fans and residents alike. This is their Valhalla, their place to be at ease and comfortable. Their place to be honored and to reunite with their fellow combatants.
After a few hour visit we walked over to the warehouse-like pavilion where the inductions take place. While we were peeking in windows a Hall employee wandered over and, naturally, started talking about boxing. He lamented the recent brain injuries to local favorite Joe Mesi and told us numerous stories about his interactions with the hall-of-famers.
Before we left he told us that while our visit today might have been great that we have to come back one weekend for the Induction. The town really does become a magical place.
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