Herbert Randolph Sugar (June 7, 1936 – March 25, 2012) was an American

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

writer and sports historian known for his trademark

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and unlit

cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

Biography

Early life and education

Sugar was born in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

on June 7, 1936. In 1953, he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School in Washington, where he was a reporter and columnist for the school's newspaper. His entry in the high school yearbook for that year predicted he "will become a radio announcer or sports writer." Sugar graduated from the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

before earning a JD and

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1960.

Career

After passing the bar, Sugar worked in advertising, including with the McCann Erickson agency. He was Publisher-Editor of Baseball Monthly magazine in 1962. Sugar bought ''Boxing Illustrated'' magazine in 1969 and was editor until 1973. From 1979 to 1983 he was editor and publisher of '' The Ring'' magazine. In 1988 he again became editor of ''Boxing Illustrated''. In 1998 he founded ''Bert Sugar's Fight Game''. Sugar wrote more than 80 books, focusing on his favorite sports of boxing and baseball. Among his boxing books are ''Great Fights'', ''Bert Sugar on Boxing'', ''100 Years of Boxing'', ''Sting like a Bee'' (with

José Torres José ("Chegüi") Torres (May 3, 1936 – January 19, 2009) was a Puerto Rican-born American professional boxer. As an amateur boxer, he won a silver medal in the junior middleweight division at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne. In 1965, he d ...

), ''The Ageless Warrior'' (Preface, with Mike Fitzgerald) and ''Boxing's Greatest Fighters''. Sugar was ranked as "The Greatest Boxing Writer of the 20th Century" by the International Veterans Boxing Association. In May 2009 Sugar published ''Bert Sugar's Baseball Hall of Fame: A Living History of America's Greatest Game'' through Running Press. With

James Randi James Randi (born Randall James Hamilton Zwinge; August 7, 1928 – October 20, 2020) was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. Rodrigues 2010p. ...

, Sugar co-wrote a book about

Harry Houdini Harry Houdini (, born Erik Weisz; March 24, 1874 – October 31, 1926) was a Hungarian-American escape artist, magic man, and stunt performer, noted for his escape acts. His pseudonym is a reference to his spiritual master, French magician ...

titled ''Houdini, His Life and Art.'' Along with

Lou Albano Louis Vincent Albano (July 29, 1933 – October 14, 2009) was an Italian-American professional wrestler, manager and actor, who performed under the ring/stage name "Captain" Lou Albano. He was active as a professional wrestler from 1953 until 1 ...

, he helped write ''The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pro Wrestling.'' He wrote a regular sports column for ''Smoke Magazine'', a quarterly cigar lifestyle magazine. Sugar was described by sportscaster

Bob Costas Robert Quinlan Costas (born March 22, 1952) is an American sportscaster who is known for his long tenure with NBC Sports, from 1980 through 2019. He has received 28 Emmy awards for his work and was the prime-time host of 12 Olympic Games from 19 ...

as being "Runyonesque" (in reference to

Damon Runyon Alfred Damon Runyon (October 4, 1880 – December 10, 1946) was an American newspaperman and short-story writer. He was best known for his short stories celebrating the world of Broadway in New York City that grew out of the Prohibition era. To ...

Representation in other media

Sugar appeared in several films playing himself, including ''

Night and the City ''Night and the City'' is a 1950 film noir directed by Jules Dassin and starring Richard Widmark, Gene Tierney and Googie Withers. It is based on the Night and the City (novel), novel of the same name by Gerald Kersh. Shot on location in Londo ...

'' (1992), ''

The Great White Hype ''The Great White Hype'' is a 1996 American sports comedy film directed by Reginald Hudlin. It stars Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Berg, Damon Wayans, Jeff Goldblum, Jon Lovitz, Cheech Marin, John Rhys-Davies, Salli Richardson and Jamie Foxx. The f ...

,'' and ''

Rocky Balboa Robert "Rocky" Balboa (also known by his ring name The Italian Stallion), is a fictional title character and the protagonist of the ''Rocky'' film series. The character was created by Sylvester Stallone, who has also portrayed him in all eigh ...

''. Interviews with Sugar feature in the documentary '' Unforgivable Blackness: The Rise and Fall of Jack Johnson''.

Death

Sugar died from cardiac arrest on March 25, 2012, at age 75. His family was at his bedside at Northern Westchester Hospital in

Mount Kisco, New York Mount Kisco is a Administrative divisions of New York#Village, village and Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The town of Mount Kisco is coterminous municipality, coterminous with the vil ...

. Prior to his death, Sugar had been battling lung cancer.

References

External links

Talkin' Boxing with Bert Sugar - Boxing Insider - August 12, 2011
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugar, Bert 1936 births 2012 deaths American sportswriters American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent Jewish American sportspeople Journalists from Washington, D.C. University of Maryland, College Park alumni University of Michigan Law School alumni International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Ross School of Business alumni American male non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews The Ring (magazine) people