Monday, Dec. 8, 2003 | 10:43 a.m.
It took longtime Las Vegas police officer and boxing judge Hal Miller 29 years to open the Golden Gloves Gym with the help of the Fraternal Order of Police Las Vegas Lodge No. 1, but it took a single vote by that organization to knock out the 23-year-old institution amid apparent infighting.
Plans are to close the Golden Gloves Gym at 1602 Gragson Ave., near Washington Avenue and Bruce Street, ending an area of teaching the so-called sweet science to thousands of area youths since 1981, said Metro Police officer David Moody, son-in-law of Miller, who died in 1997 at age 72.
"The Golden Gloves organization in Nevada will go on but, as it now stands, we will be closing our gym at end of the month," said Moody, who has been with the group since 1985 and run the gym since December 2001, when Hal's widow, Faye Miller.
The building's landlord, the FOP, of which Moody is president, voted at a recent meeting to not accept an offer to use a 7,000-square-foot section of a new building on the site where the 6,000-square-foot, metal-framed facility now stands.
The offer was made by James E. Rogers, chief executive officer of Nevada-based Sunbelt Communications, which operates KVBC-TV Channel 3. Three years ago Rogers acquired the land on which the gym sits from the city of Las Vegas and adjacent property to build his auto museum.
As part of the deal Rogers was required to honor the remainder of a 50-year lease the FOP got from the city in 1968 for $1 a year to build and operate a nonprofit gym on the site.
Rogers says he is dumbfounded that the FOP would turn down his offer that included connection to water and sewer, a new gym, a new FOP meeting room, modern air-conditioning and heating and new shower facilities -- all free of charge.
"They not only looked a gift horse in the mouth, they shot it in the head," Rogers said, noting that he planned to spend about $600,000 to build the gym as part of what would have been a $2.6 million facility that also would have housed more of his vintage auto collection.
Rogers said he withdrew his offer after learning that infighting within the FOP membership would result in the gym's closure. He did not want it perceived by the public that he had anything to do with that.
"I had made the offer because the building that sits on the land now is not the best use for it," Rogers said. "I offered to tear down that old building and build a new, bigger one, giving them 1,000 square feet more than they have now. The only thing they would have had to pay for was their utilities.
"But they have some kind of inside battle going on to kick the Golden Gloves out and I don't want to be any part of that. If they can resolve their issues, I'd be happy to reconsider submitting my offer."
Rogers said that while he cannot force the FOP to continue to allow the Golden Gloves to operate out of the building, he can stop the organization from running a for-profit business out of the facility or any other use that would be inappropriate.
"I won't let them put a used car lot there," Rogers said.
Moody said it is more of an issue of apathy that led to the organization turning down Rogers' offer.
"We have about 470 (FOP) members, but only about 12 showed up at the meeting (where the vote was taken) and at least seven of them voted against the offer," Moody said, noting that as president he has no vote unless there is a tie.
"Part of the reason is that some members don't want the Golden Gloves there anymore. Some members want to turn the place into a bar. Another reason is that some members don't like me."
The FOP is scheduled to hold a meeting 11 a.m. Saturday at the gym to vote for officers, including president. Another poor turnout -- either in-person or by mail-in ballots -- could result in Moody's ouster as leader.
Either way the Golden Gloves' days are numbered at the gym. Moody noted that under parliamentary procedure, the only way Rogers' offer can be reconsidered is for one of the FOP members who voted on the prevailing side to ask for a reconsideration. Moody said that is unlikely.
"Part of the reason we decided to close the gym also has to do with finances," Moody said. "We're not in debt -- not yet -- but donations to the gym are not as good as they used to be. The community's support for us is not what it was years ago.
"With the national Golden Gloves in May in Kansas City, and state and regional tournaments before that, I have to decide which is more important -- using our limited resources to get our 11-member team together or spending money to maintain a gym that we may have to close anyway."
The Golden Gloves Gym began as a dream by the Millers, who began working with amateur boxers locally in 1952 and put on their first major tournament in 1954. Hal Miller received the Golden Gloves franchise for Nevada in 1955 and directed the organization until his death.
A longtime member of the FOP, Hal Miller was its president in 1971 when the organization won the contract to bring the 1972 National AAU men's boxing championship and the 1973 national FOP convention to Las Vegas. Miller also brought the National Golden Gloves to Las Vegas in March 1971, a feat that was repeated by Moody and the FOP this past May at the Orleans hotel-casino.
In 1981 the Millers' dream of a gym to train local fighters preparing for amateur tournaments was realized when local plumbers, carpenters and other union members helped turn the acquired steel warehouse into a gymnasium that opened that January near Cashman Field.
Miller retired from Metro as a lieutenant in 1983 to devote his full energies to youth boxing. A simple white weather-beaten metal nameplate was placed on the entrance to the Golden Gloves Gym years ago to honor Miller, Today it is covered with rusted, etched graffiti and about half the letters of his name are missing.
Although the gym started as a facility for amateur boxers, Miller soon began welcoming pros for a $35-a-month fee to work out there and help defray upkeep costs. Over the years many top-ranked pro boxers including world heavyweight champions Larry Holmes and Mike Tyson used the facility, passing their wisdom on to the youngsters who yearned to follow in their footsteps.
Muhammad Ali visited the gym. Oscar De La Hoya, who won a 1992 Olympic gold medal and world pro titles in five weight classes, fought in amateur tournaments at the facility. Tyson donated $50,000 worth of weightlifting equipment that still is used there today.
Miller, who initially allowed amateurs to work out at the gym for free, eventually was forced by financial conditions to charge them $25 a month. The pro and amateur dues remain the same today.
With the assistance of nonpaid gym manager Jim George, Moody has managed to keep the operation going. George maintains that the gym can be saved with the public's help.
"I told David I think the public would come forward with donations if they knew the situation," said George, who trains five fighters and has been associated with the gym for seven years. "There is still time. It shouldn't end like this. It should be all about the kids. Don't put them out."
Trainer Stanley Gondolfo, who also volunteers at the gym, says that while there are about 12 boxing gyms in town today, including private facilities, the Golden Gloves has a tradition and ambiance that should not be overlooked. One of his fighters, 19-year-old William Sonetti, a native Las Vegan, agrees.
"I've been coming here since I was 16, and I like working out here because it is real spacious," said Sonetti, who has worked out three years in preparation for his first amateur bout. "So many other gyms are small and you can get claustrophobic. I want to see this one stay open."
Tracy Sneed, a 31-year-old pro junior middleweight from Oklahoma, said of the gyms he has been in, "this place just feels like home to me -- so friendly, so welcoming."
In the 1980s the Golden Gloves Gym had more than 100 fighters working out on a daily basis. Today, about two dozen fighters train at the Golden Gloves Gym on an average day.
"We have about 200 amateurs and between 30 and 50 pros come through the gym each year," Moody said. "We are now trying to help get them get set up at other places to train."
Moody said the gym's amateurs are being referred to Barry's Boxing, at 2763 Highland Drive.
That facility, five miles from the Golden Gloves Gym, is operated by Metro Police officer Pat Barry, a former amateur boxer who once trained at the Golden Gloves Gym.
Moody said, he did not approach the FOP this year for a donation even though that civic organization had long been a major sponsor of youth boxing.
"I am not going to throw out a pipe dream that we will have the resources to open another gym again soon, especially one that is rent-free like the Golden Gloves Gym," Moody said. "But we will hold Golden Gloves tournaments in other locations and we will continue to exist just like we did for nearly 30 years before we got the gym."
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