Tacoma Athletic Commission Has Proud History The Tacoma Athletic Commission is proud of its role of leadership in Tacoma-Pierce County athletics. The achieve ments of local athletes and improvement of sports f acilities have been major concerns of the T.A.C. for 55 years. In 197 4, we recognized the need for an all-sports facil ity, contributed $25,000 and helped lead bond drives which resulted in the 1983 opening of the Tacoma Dome. In addi tion, we led the campaign for the Shanaman Tacoma-Pierce County Sports Museum. Millions of dollars have been donated by the T.A.C. Thousands of dollars in scholarships have been provided for outstanding young athletes. Athletes like Olympic Gold Medalist Kaye Hall and box ing Gold Medalists Sugar Ray Seales, Leo Randolph and Bronze Medalist Davey Armstrong, golfer Mark Sivara, gym nast Roni Barrios and trackster Aaron Williams all were as sisted by T.A.C. funds en route to national and international championships. Baseball star Ron Cey and football's Ahmad Rashad (then Bobby Moore) began their careers in Boys' Club pro grams aided by the T.A.C. Travel funds also have been donated by the T.A.C., send ing Tacoma-area champs who quality to national competi tion. Improvements to athletic facilities - such as scoreboards and bleachers in many schools - can be traced to T.A.C. funding. Events and projects sponsored by T.A.C. include the Golden Gloves, Apple Cup luncheon and the Shanaman Sports Museum in the Tacoma Dome. The University of Puget Sound-Pacific Lutheran Univer sity football game, Tacoma-Pierce County Baseball-Softball Old-Timers Banquet and Tacoma-Pierce County Scholar Ath lete Banquet are co-sponsored by the T.A.C. All give oppor tunities and recognition to deserving athletes with empha sis on sportsmanship, scholarship and athletic ability. In the early years of World War II, the government's money was directed toward a war economy and production of weapons of war. There was a minimum of available sports and recre ation equipment. Tacoma Mayor Harry Cain formed a committee of prominent local businessmen to promote sporting events to
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fund athletic supplies for service teams. Doug Dyckman Sr. was elected first president of the group, which had changed its name to the Tacoma War Athletic Commission. Some of the promotions involved area military teams playing non-military teams brought to the area. Abe Saperstein, a Chicago businessman, was in the Tacoma area when he heard about the TWAC Saperstein promoted the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and House of David and Kansas City Monarchs baseball teams. Fort Lewis defeated the Trotters by a point before a packed gym at the military base. In 1945, the Trotters won a TWAC sponsored rematch, 52-46, at Fort Lewis. The TWAC promoted a boxing match with Commander Jack Dempsey and four others, with tickets being the pur chase of a War Bond. Gov. Arthur Langlie, in 19437, granted the TWAC its commission as an "an athletic fund-raising club dedicated to sports and civic betterment." Thus, the TWAC, renamed the Tacoma Athletic Commission, became the first - and still the only - state-recognized athletic club in Washing ton. The TAC increased its membership to 4,000 in the late 1940s. It promoted the Penn State-Washington State football game which drew a "reported" 20,000 fans to Stadium Bowl. Membership remained at 4,000 in 1956. Clay Huntington, under the TAC banner, launched his Washington State Sports Hall of Fame. The TAC, with inspiration of Tacoma News Tribune sportswriter Stan Farber, who originated the idea of a multi purpose domed facility, led the charge for what would be come the Tacoma Dome. Key members of Farber's dome committee were such TAC members as Huntington, Morley Brotman, Hank Semmern, Tom Paine, Morris McCollum, Wayne Thronson and Gregg Pratt, all of whom had been or went on to be come TAC presidents. The TAC is experiencing a re-birth at present, having moved its meeting location to Thursday noons at the Tacoma Elks Lodge No. 174.
Heavyweight Champs Have Ties to Tacoma Area By STAN FARBER Several professional heavyweight boxing champions have ties to Tacoma. Jack Dempsey fought in Tacoma. He also fought a Tacoman, Joe Bond, in the spring of 1916 in Ely, Nev. Dempsey, on his way to the top, later said he had "run out of opponents. Just when it looked like it was going to be permanent I got a fight that helped change my life. "Joe Bond, out of Tacoma, had just completed a good tour of Australia and was working his way through the West, picking up some easy money. I had read about Bond. He was far and away the best man I had signed up to face up to that time. "I don't think he read about me. When I was introduced bef ore the fight, he gave me a filthy look.He was so confident it was em barrassing. "Anyway, that brought Jack Kearns and me together. Kearns was Bond's manager. They had busted up before the Ely fight for reasons I never knew." "I liked Kearns' ex-meal ticket real good. Bond could take a punch well, and he boxed so well it was almost impossible to hit him two good shots in a row. But I had learned my trade pretty well, too, and there was no question who won the fight." Dempsey returned to the Tacoma area to referee the July 26, 1938 world middleweight championship fight in which challanger Al Hostak of Seattle took the title away from Tacoma's Freddie Steele via knockout after 1 minute 42 seconds bef ore 30,102 fight fans at Seattle's Civic Stadium. Another early heavyweight champ, John L. Sullivan, was too tipsy to show tor an exhibition in Tacoma. Recently, George Foreman staged an exhibition at Fort Lewis.
In summer 1970, Muhammad Ali, having his title stripped from him after he refused induction into the U.S. Army, sought to regain his professional license from the Woshington State Athletic Com mission in session at Tacomo's Winthrop Hotel. He signed his appli rntion using his real name, "Cassius Clay." Turned down by a 2-1 vote by the commission, Ali regained his license two weeks loter in Atlonta, Ga. Tacoma businessman Morley Brotman, a member of the Tacoma Athletic Commi�sion, heoded the Tacomo-Seattle group which sponsored Ali's bid in focoma. Afterward, he and partner Dick Francisco, a Marine fighter pilot in World War II, came up with another pion. Francisco researched the possibility of putting together an Ali Joe Frazier heavyweight title fight aboard a Boeing jumbo jet and no state then would have control of a license. "As long as the fight wouldn't be staged on U.S. soil, it couldn't be stopped," Francisco said. Boeing told Brotman it had one Boeing 747 jumbo jet trainer without seats available. It would rent for $8,000 an hour. Two-hun dred and fifty special seats would be installed at $1,000 per boxing customer and the fight would be beamed by closed-circuit televi sion. Earlier, Francisco had tried to launch Ali's comeback by offer ing to stage a match between Ali and Billy Schellhas on the Tualalip Indian Reservation near Marysville. Since it was federally controlled Indian property, Francisco argued that no state boxing license was required for Ali. The winter weather and outdoor arena facilities killed the plan. That set the stage for Atlanta.
Tacoma "Golden Boys" List began by Harry (Scotty) Weinstone 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973
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1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997
Dick Rall, Seattle Jackie Moore, Seattle Pete Rademacher, Washington State College Jimmy Damato, Fort Lewis Hugh Meikle, Vancouver, B.C. Phillip Moyer, Portland, Ore. Jimmy Walters, Vancouver, B.C. Bobby Hicks, Seattle Darryl McQuarry, Portland, Ore. Jimmy Sleeper, Portland, Ore. Quincy Daniels, Seattle Thad Spencer, Portland, Ore. Leo Dobbs, Tacoma Richard Sue, Portland, Ore. Richard Sue, Portland, Ore. John Howard, Portland, Ore. Freddie Fuller, Vancouver, B.C. Ralph Ungricht, Vancouver, Wash. Ernie Ivery, Monroe Clarence Hammick, Portland, Ore. Fred Hatfield, Chehalis Lou Cooke, Vancouver, B.C. Frank Armstrong, Tacoma Mitchell Mayes, Tacomo Dave Armstrong, Tacoma
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Tommy Sullivan, Portland, Ore. Dave Armstrong, Tacoma Tommy Sullivan, Portland, Ore. Doug Alt, Portland, Ore. Brett S,1mmers, Everett Brett Summers, Everett Todd Summers, Everett Joey Behne, Everett Vincent Jones, Tacoma Marco Rios, Tacoma Dan Vassar, Spokane Mylon Watkins, Tacoma Galen Brooks, Tacoma Frank Vassar, Spokane Manny Sabra!, Vancouver, B.C. Mark Romo, Bremerton Emmett Linton Jr., Tacoma Pat Briceno, Vancouver, Wash. Dan Vassar, Spokane Steve Van De Walle, Bellevue Robert Linton, Tacoma Martin O'Malley, Seattle David Jackson, Seattle Andre Haynes, Portland