a hat, a cigar, and a briefcase

[alocispepraluger102]

the boxing writer, historian, and raconteur bert sugar passed away today.

the last time i saw him on tv, perhaps a year ago, his cigar was gone. that told me something.

the newspaperman's hat, cigar, and gravelly voice, often visited a late night sports show with tony page.

bert sugar was real--a real newspaperman, his own man, a writer, and a passionate lover of history. i will miss him.

http://www.nytimes.com/1995/03/29/garden/at-lunch-with-bert-sugar-attention-fans-amazing-facts-fun-fictions.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm

By FRANK J. PRIAL

Published: March 29, 1995

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BERT SUGAR?"

"In the back, on the left. In the hat."

The waitress pointed through the lunchtime crowd at O'Lunney's, an Irish bar and restaurant on West 44th Street, just off Fifth Avenue.

And there, under the hat, he was. Holding court, you might say, with tie askew, stogie in hand, drink close by. His signature fedora, with a wide 1920's brim, framed a high forehead, a long, animated face and a mouth that, it soon became evident, rarely closed.

"She said to look for the hat."

"Join the party," he said, adding, "You know why old-time newspapermen wore hats in the office?"

"No."

"Because the old-time newspaper offices had cracks in the floor between the newsroom and the composing room above. When the typesetters dropped bits of lead on the floor they would sift down on the reporters' heads."

While his friends and anyone within hearing distance absorbed this revelation, Mr. Sugar charged off on another tack. "I love this place," he said. "I love Irish saloons. O'Reilly's, the old Costello's, Gallagher's. If I had to live my life over it would be over an Irish saloon."

Mr. Sugar is, as you may have guessed, a raconteur. After that he is editor, publisher and most of the staff of the influential Boxing Illustrated magazine. He is also a lawyer and a former advertising man. He is a Civil War buff and a Gilbert and Sullivan devotee.

He is a throwback to a more colorful era in New York and has been described, probably by himself, as a lineal descendant of Damon Runyon.

But most of all he is a living, breathing storehouse of sports history, sports trivia and sports memorabilia, which he collects with abandon. Stuff like Lou Gehrig's uniform and thousands of seats from Yankee Stadium. He also collects nonsports stuff, like a top hat once worn by W. C. Fields, John Wayne's saddle and Ben Hecht's typewriter.

Oh, and he writes books -- almost as many as his years. He's 57. Meeting him on the street a few years back, the press agent and wit Irving Rudd said, "Gee, Bert, I haven't seen you since two or three books ago." Sugar titles include "Great Baseball Players of the Past," "100 Years of Boxing," "The Baseball Trivia Book," "Who Was Harry Steinfeldt and Other Trivia Questions" and "The Baseball Trivia Book to End All Baseball Trivia Books. Promise!"

(article continues with link)

Edited March 26, 2012 by alocispepraluger102

[CJ Shearn]

RIP. As a boxing fan, always enjoyed his views on boxing history and today's fight game. He was a frequent guest on ESPN's Friday Night Fights in recent years.

[Jazzmoose]

One of the few boxing commentators that always had something interesting to add. I'll miss him.

[CJ Shearn]

The words he speaks on the heavyweight division could not be better said in that video. The current crop of American heavies is sad, did you happen to see Bryant Jennings on the Zab Judah undercard saturday night on NBC Sports Network? very athletic guy, but not excited to see him fight and he definitely cannot take Vitali or Wlad. We need the bigger fights to happen in the smaller weight divisions,too. It's just a shame the casual fight fan can only grasp Pacquiao and Mayweather and not be bothered to check out James Kirkland, Sergio Martinez, exciting but probably not world champ level fighters like Hank Lundy (who has a great fight on ESPN this week) Every fight fan knows that with the exception of some picking him to win, Miguel Cotto has no shot against Mayweather. Its not anything approaching the interest of the big 4 in the 80's, or the heavyweight division in the 90's when I was a teenager. I was watching a DVD of the Tyson-Spinks PPV the other night and it was so interesting because all involved on the card, Buster Douglas, Carl Williams, Trevor Berbick, it was the Mike Tyson sweepstakes. Back to the heavyweights, even that generation of so called "Lost heavyweights" (Douglas, Tucker, Smith, Biggs, Bruno, Witherspoon, Thomas) while not quite as competitive as the Holyfield-Lewis-Bowe era (the Golota fights destroyed him so much along with his work ethic, sad) of the 90's had more depth than this heavyweight picture now.

[alocispepraluger102]

there are many lucrative avenues for spectacular athletes not available generations ago.

his description of mma was sweet.

[CJ Shearn]

there are many lucrative avenues for spectacular athletes not available generations ago.

his description of mma was sweet.

Didn't agree with his MMA description as I'm also a fan.