Lavern Roach, tragic boxing stories: by brian zelley
Laverne Roach - BoxerRoach is a National Golden Gloves champion who made his professional
boxing debut in 1945.
Background of Roach:
* part of the background of Roach can be found in the above link.
But, there is another story that needs to told and that is the story of
his friend Georgie Small, who was the one that fought Roach in
1950 at the St. Nicholas arean, and would live with the shame, regret
and guilt of the loss of Laverne Roach.
The following is the opening piece by Brian Zelley, on the East Side
boxing web site:
The "Brownsville Banger is Georgie Small, the title
is from True Magazine and the '63 Boxing Annual.
But, more of my narrative:
between Lavern Roach and Georgie Small was the bout which
saw Roach stopped by the great middleweight Marcel Cerdan:
TRUE MAGAZINE and BOXING ANNUAL:
Jimmy Breslin interviews Georgie Small on the loss of Roach ten years
after that fight at St. Nicholas Arena:
Small's closing line was one of regret, pain and guilt:
"I wanted to be a fighter. All my whole life I wanted to
be a fighter,,,And see what happened. I'm broke and sick.
I got my wife broke. I ruined everything.
I guess the only thing I ever did in my whole life
was kill a friend<" - Georgie Small to Jimmy Breslin
on his boxing friend, Lavern Roach.
Mr. Zelley, I found the above articles about LaVern Roach most interesting. I have recently finished writing a manuscript of LaVern Roach's life. A local university press has reviewed the manuscript and is very interested in publishing it after I make some revisions. I would love to get my hands on the complete Georgie Small/Jimmy Breslin interview. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Sikesf@aol.com
ReplyDeletegeorgie was my great uncle and i am trying to find out about him. this is so sad
DeleteSikesf, I think if you would like to include details from this story, you are most welcome.
ReplyDeleteThe primary issue is the loss of Laverne Roach had an impact of the lives of others. The
above quote should be included somewhere in your Laverne Roach story. The date of the
specific True Magazine "Boxing Annuall" is documented above.
Georgie small was my uncle
ReplyDeleteA river of tears, teardrop by lnely teardrop, can never wash away the pain, but we should remember him beyond tomorrow.
Delete