DUSTY FACES

By Roger Esty

"Can I help you sir?",asked the blond haired guy behind the counter.
"No,"I said,"I just came in to look at the old fight pictures on the wall."
Jerome's Furniture Warehouse used to be the Coliseum that featured a weekly card of boxing and wrestling matches. During the late 70's when Pay Per View and Cable came into existence,the small rings like the Coliseum dimmed their lights forever. After old man Navarro padlocked the door,he turned the responsibilities over to his son Jerome.

The family was in the furniture business. Jerome converted the old Coliseum into a furniture warehouse.
"Oh go ahead and look at them,"said the blond haired fellow."They've been up there ever since I started working here."

The pictures were hung behind the counter. A dusty film was on the glass frames. Some of the pictures were hanging crookedly.
"You know who those guys are?"asked the counterman.
I recognized all of the fighters.All the photographs were in black and white. There were several photographs of Archie Moore. One of a young Archie having his hand raised by the referee. A towel was draped around his shoulders and beads of perspiration were dripping down 'ol Arch's happy face.There was even one of Archie shaking hands with Doc Kearns. I saw the Hogue brothers squaring off against each other wearing big grins. Kenny Norton was posing his sculptured body with a regal aire. Muhammad Ali wearing a headgear was the first picture in the row.

There were wrestlers too. Blassie,Andre The Giant,and Mr. Moto. The guy behind the counter had addressed a customer who had walked in as I was looking at the old photographs. The customer had a receipt in his hand.

The blond hair guy got on a microphone and called the warehouse to say that the customer had come to pick up his sofa.I walked back towards the counterman.
"Yeah,I recognize them all."
"Who?" he asked squinting his eyes.
"The pictures on the wall."
"Oh yeah,they've been up there ever since I started working here,"he said.