The Harvard Boxing Club is a student organization at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. As part of the Boston metropolitan area, the cities population of the 2020 U.S. census was 118,403, making it the fourth most populous city in the state, behind Boston, ...

History

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 ...

has been a popular campus activity since the late 19th century. In the intramural tournament of 1879, future President

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

faced C.S. Hanks in the lightweight championship and lost, after a controversial late hit by Hanks. According to historian Edmund Morris, the crowd started booing Hanks, prompting Roosevelt to put up his hands and shout “It's alright, he didn’t hear he bell��. When Roosevelt campaigned for the Presidency, his supporters would frequently recall this anecdote as an early example of his extraordinary character. Boxing became an official varsity sport in 1922, per recommendation of the Harvard Athletic Committee, and Harvard boxers performed well against their

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight school ...

opponents (amassing a 25:11:4 record from 1930 to 1937). The team expanded during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, when all undergraduates were required to participate in intercollegiate boxing training as a way of improving wartime fitness. In 1961, the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

decided to discontinue boxing as an intercollegiate sport and the Harvard Boxing Team was replaced by the Harvard Boxing Club. Intramural tournaments continued until 1976 when Harvard banned them due to riotous crowd attendance, leaving the Harvard Boxing Club (in its current form) as the last remnant of the college’s proud boxing tradition. Notable coaches include Tommy Rawson, national amateur junior lightweight champion in 1929, who coached boxers such as Rocky Marciano, and coached at Harvard for 60 years from 1941-2001.

Today

The Harvard Boxing Club currently includes several dozen members, many of whom participate in the annual Harvard Boxing Club Exhibition Night (a tradition that was revived in 2009). The Club is now co-ed (since the merging of Harvard and

Radcliffe College Radcliffe College was a women's liberal arts college in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and functioned as the female coordinate institution for the all-male Harvard College. Considered founded in 1879, it was one of the Seven Sisters colleges and h ...

) and includes both undergraduates and graduates. The Harvard Boxing Club is managed by one undergraduate President and four undergraduate Captains. The Harvard Boxing Club is coached by former title-holding amateur fighter, Doug Yoffe, who assumed the position in 2001. Yoffe replaced Tommy Rawson—former national amateur lightweight champion (with a 223-4 amateur record), former chairman of the Massachusetts Boxing Commission, and one-time trainer of boxing legend

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 ...

. Rawson had been “Coach” since 1941. The Club practices two hours per day, six days per week. Skill days (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) are typically led by the Coach, while conditioning days (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) are typically led by the Captains.

Notable members

, 26th President of the United States, Medal of Honor, Nobel Peace Prize * John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States *

Thomas Mesereau Thomas Arthur Mesereau Jr. is an American attorney best known for successfully defending Michael Jackson in his 2005 child molestation trial, as well as representing many other celebrities. Legal cases Mike Tyson Mesereau represented former wo ...

, legal counsel for

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...

in 2005 child molestation trial *

Fred Joseph Frederick H. "Fred" Joseph (1937—2009) was the former president and chief executive officer of the investment bank Drexel Burnham Lambert during the 1980s. Biography ''The Wall Street Journal'' noted that he was, "The son of an orthodox Jewish c ...

, CEO of

Drexel Burnham Lambert Drexel Burnham Lambert was an American multinational investment bank that was forced into bankruptcy in 1990 due to its involvement in illegal activities in the junk bond market, driven by senior executive Michael Milken. At its height, it was ...

(HBC 1959) * Gerard Leone, District Attorney of Middlesex County, Massachusetts *

Alan Jay Lerner Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, and later Burton Lane, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre b ...

, lyricist, winner of three

Tony Awards The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual c ...

and three Academy Awards * Joy Liu, winner of the New England Golden Gloves (Women’s Lightweight Novice Division) (HBC 1999) * Alex Angarita, contestant on '' Survivor: Fiji'' (HBC 2003) * Rosalie Parker, US Amateur Women's Flyweight Champion * Patrick Rettig, winner of the Greater Lowell Golden Gloves (Men’s Heavyweight Novice Division) (HBC 2000) * Sam Sheridan, author of ''A Fighter’s Heart—One Man’s Journey Through the World of Fighting'' * Matthew Ross, film director and screenwriter * Matt Saha, actor and author *

Norman Mailer Nachem Malech Mailer (January 31, 1923 – November 10, 2007), known by his pen name Norman Kingsley Mailer, was an American novelist, journalist, essayist, playwright, activist, filmmaker and actor. In a career spanning over six decades, Maile ...

, Pulitzer-Prize winning author of '' The Armies of the Night'' and ''

The Executioner's Song ''The Executioner's Song'' (1979) is a Pulitzer Prize-winning true crime novel by Norman Mailer that depicts the events related to the execution of Gary Gilmore for murder by the state of Utah. The title of the book may be a play on "The Lord Hi ...

'' * Regan Coleman, tech entrepreneur (HBC 1986) * Anthony Braga, Professor of Criminology at

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest- ...

(HBC 1999) *

Michelle Rhee Michelle Ann Rhee (born December 25, 1969) is an American educator and advocate for education reform. She was Chancellor of District of Columbia Public Schools from 2007 to 2010. In late 2010, she founded StudentsFirst, a non-profit organizati ...

, Chancellor of D.C. Public Schools, Founder of

StudentsFirst StudentsFirst is a political lobbying organization formed in 2010 by Michelle Rhee, former school chancellor of Washington D.C. public schools, in support of education reform. The organization worked to pass state laws on issues such as expandin ...

(HBC 1999) * Tamsin Jones, Lecturer on Religion at

(HBC 1999)

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/boxing/ Sport at Harvard University College boxing teams in the United States Boxing clubs in the United States 1961 establishments in Massachusetts Boxing in Massachusetts

History

Today

Notable members

See also

References

External links