Vasil "Chuck" Bodak (June 3, 1916 – February 6, 2009) 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 predetermine ...

cutman A cutman is a person responsible for preventing and treating physical damage to a fighter during the breaks between rounds of a full contact match such as a boxing, kickboxing or a mixed martial arts bout. Cutmen typically handle swelling, nose ...

and trainer who worked with over 50 world champions including Muhammad Ali,

Rocky Marciano Rocco Francis Marchegiano (September 1, 1923 – August 31, 1969; ), better known as Rocky Marciano (, ), was an American professional boxer who competed from 1947 to 1955, and held the world heavyweight title from 1952 to 1956. He is the onl ...

Tommy Hearns Thomas Hearns (born October 18, 1958) is an American former professional boxer who competed from 1977 to 2006. Nicknamed the "Motor City Cobra", and more famously "The Hitman", Hearns's tall, slender build and oversized arms and shoulders allowed ...

, Julio César Chávez, Evander Holyfield, Edward Necco and

Oscar De La Hoya Oscar De La Hoya ( , ; born on February 4, 1973) is an American boxing promoter and former professional boxer who competed from 1992 to 2008. His accolades include winning 11 world titles in six weight classes, including the lineal championshi ...

Bodak was born June 3, 1916, in

Gary, Indiana Gary is a city in Lake County, Indiana, United States. The city has been historically dominated by major industrial activity and is home to U.S. Steel's Gary Works, the largest steel mill complex in North America. Gary is located along the sou ...

where his involvement in boxing began circa 1929 at Schonfield's Athletic Club. In 1942 he enlisted in the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

. He survived the

Battle of The Bulge The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in ...

after being shot twice and was awarded two

Purple Heart The Purple Heart (PH) is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving, on or after 5 April 1917, with the U.S. military. With its forerunner, the Badge of Military Merit, ...

s. An amateur fighter himself, Bodak coached the

National Golden Gloves The Golden Gloves is the name given to annual competitions for amateur boxing in the United States, where they are awarded a belt and a ring. And the title of nations champion is awarded. The Golden Gloves is a term used to refer to the Nationa ...

team in the late 1950s and began working with young teenager named

Cassius Clay Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

who changed his name to Muhammad Ali. Bodak trained Ali for the last four years of his amateur career that culminated with the winning of a Gold Medal for the light-heavyweight competition at the

1960 Summer Olympic Games The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

held in Rome, Italy. He was known for his trademark headbands with photos of his fighters as well as his handmade jewelry and collages that he liked to give away as gifts. Bodak moved to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

in 1958 where he was a boxing coach for the Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) for many years before moving to California. Even though advancing in age, he continued to work in the ring and was active in the boxing community until he suffered a stroke in 2007 at the age of 90. He died in a motor accident on February 6, 2009, at the age of 92 in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...

Awards and recognition

Bodak was inducted into the

World Boxing Hall of Fame In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, "Expanded Category" (Managers & Trainers). In October 2008, he received a Lifetime Achievement Award in person at a WBC Legends of Boxing Museum ceremony. In 1993, he was honored by the

Cauliflower Alley Club The Cauliflower Alley Club is a non-profit fraternal organization, which includes a newsletter and website, comprising both retired and active professional wrestlers and boxers in North America. Established in 1965 by Mike Mazurki and Art Abra ...

Bibliography

Bodak co-authored ''Boxing Basics'', a book published in 1979 that outlines the fundamentals of boxing including psychological preparation, physical conditioning, offensive and defensive strategies, and ring psychology.

Acting roles

Bodak played the role of Cesar's cutman in the 1999 film ''

Play It to the Bone ''Play It to the Bone'' is a 1999 American sports comedy drama film, starring Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson, written and directed by Ron Shelton. It follows the adventures of two boxers and best friends who travel to Las Vegas in order t ...

'' and portrayed himself in two documentaries, '' More Than Famous'' in 2003 and ''The Distance'' in 2006.IMDb profile of Vasil Chuck Bodak
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References

External links

Boxing Loses True Hero in Chuck Bodak

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bodak, Chuck 1916 births 2009 deaths American boxing trainers Sportspeople from Gary, Indiana Sportspeople from California Cutmen Road incident deaths in California United States Army personnel of World War II American shooting survivors United States Army soldiers