Organizers' Love of Boxing Shines Through at Regionals

15 Fight Officials Work D.C. Area Championships

Tracy Thorpe sat at a ringside table Friday, stared at the pile of documents that required her attention and exhaled deeply. It was 6 p.m. inside a nearly empty Greater Waldorf Jaycees Community Center, two hours before the start of the Washington Golden Gloves Regional Championships, an hour before the doors would open to droves of boxing fans. As she turned her attention to the paperwork, Thorpe scarfed down a meal of fries and an extra-large fruit punch.

"It's all for the love of boxing," said Thorpe, chief official, as she raised her fists to her chin.

It had taken Thorpe two hours to navigate the rush-hour traffic from Baltimore, where she works for the Social Security Administration. By 8 p.m., she had steered through a stack of assignment sheets that spelled out which officials -- timekeepers, judges, referees -- would work each of the 19 fights on the card. There were nine bouts scheduled for the novice division and 10 bouts in the hotly contested open division. Each open division winner advanced to the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions, which will be in Grand Rapids, Mich., May 4 to 11.

The stressful hours of work put in by a team of 15 fight officials, including Thorpe, allowed for the near-capacity crowd of 800 to have a memorable experience. A relaxed community of fight fans schmoozed over crab cakes, hamburgers and beer and reminisced about the dozen or so past Golden Gloves national champions who emerged from the D.C. region. Sugar Ray Leonard captured national championships in 1973 and '74. Gary Russell Jr., the 2005 national champion, from Capitol Heights, will represent the United States in Beijing in this summer's Olympics.

Erick Cruz hopes to join those greats. The D.C. resident trains at Lime Lite gym in Northwest. He heard the spectators' requests to "Let your hands go!" and followed up with a solid right hook, fueled by speed and bad intentions, to the side of his opponent's head. Cruz won by a decision in the 119-pound division over Richmond's Henry Mekok in the opening bout.

James and Susie Proctor admitted to being casual boxing fans but were most interested in raising money for their charity through the 50-50 raffle. The van that belongs to St. Philip's Episcopal Church in Brandywine needs a new engine so it can continue to transport the elderly and the critically ill to doctors' appointments. The Proctors raised more than half of the $4,000 they were hoping for at the Golden Gloves.

"We got some private donations, plus we raised one dollar for every program we sell," Susie Proctor said. "It looks like it's going to work out just great."

Former Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington said he made a foray into sponsoring fighters about four months ago, when he took on Laurel's Thomas Williams Jr., who fought Friday in the 170-pound division. Williams's fight ended too late for the results to be reported in this edition.

"I see something really special in him, and I wanted to get in on it," Arrington said. "Whatever he needs, we're looking to move to the next level."