Olympic Auditorium.

The Olympic Auditorium...I am one of the dying breed that experience that Golden era of Los Angeles boxing.

My first time attending a boxing show at the Olympic Auditorium was in 1947. Some uncles of mine took me to see the rematch between Enrique Bolanos and John Thomas. They had fought earlier in the year. Their first fight which I also attended was at Wrigley Field which was won by Bolanos by 7 round KO. Bolanos also won the second fight by 4 round KO.

Within a couple of years the Olympic became my second home.

Among some of the fighters that I watch fight at the Olympic in those early years, beside Bolanos and Thomas were: Art “Golden Boy” Aragon, Jimmy Carter, Freddie Babe Herman, Keeny Teran, Carlos Chavez, Harold “Baby Face” Jones, Lauro Salas, Phil Kim, Eddie Chavez, Gil Cadilli and the Docusen brothers, Maxie and Bernard, and the list goes on and on.

In the mid-50s I was training my cousin Tony Adame at the Teamsters Gym when he was fighting in the juniors. In 1958 he fought in the finals of the Junior Golden Gloves which were held at the Olympic, he lost. That was the first time I worked a corner at the fame arena.

By the early 60s I started to get to know the management and was on a first name basis with some of them.

In the mid-60s the Olympic started holding public workouts on a Sunday a week or two before a big fight card. I would set-up 2 or 3 sparring matches between junior fighters to warm the crowd up before the big guns would take the stage. Give the fans free workouts, plus sell them beer and soon they would line-up to buy tickets. I would get free tickets for my doings. I did that for a number of years.

By the early 1970s I was firmly embedded with management. I became good friends with matchmaker Don Chargin. As hard as it was I got to know Aileen Eaton, not well though. I would take over for glove man Norm Lockwood when he had to be out of town with a fighter.

In 1976 my oldest son Frankie turned pro and became a favorite of the house. Tony turned pro in 1979 and he too became a house favorite.

Around 1980 after Aileen Eaton retired, Rogelio Robles became the promoter and I became the amateur matchmaker. Now I was working side by side with Don Chargin. The Olympic closed its doors for boxing around 1987. Some promoters tried to reopen it. Some held a show or two and then folded, including Oscar De La Hoyo