Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Columnist Jerry Fink: Quarry’s spirit lives on at Club Monaco

Jerry Quarry died in 1999, broke and suffering from boxing-induced dementia at the age of 53.

Tina Quarry, his ex-wife, still gets misty-eyed when she talks about her 10-year marriage to one of the most popular boxers of the '60s and '70s, a man once described as the greatest fighter never to have won a title.

"Jerry had a heart of gold," said Quarry, general manager of Club Monaco at 1487 E. Flamingo Road, between Maryland Parkway and Eastern Avenue.

But his bank account was all but empty when she first met him at a Special Olympics event in Los Angeles in 1983. She helped organize the event. The boxer was the guest of honor.

"He didn't have a cent to his name when I met him," Quarry recalled. "He was being exploited by people. Drugs and alcohol helped destroy him."

The outspoken ex-wife remembers first seeing Quarry in the ring on television when she was a child and living in Santa Monica, Calif.

"Growing up, my parents always held a fight party," she said. "I was 12 years old, watching Quarry fight. Who would have ever thought I would end up being married to him?"

It was an often turbulent relationship, one affected by booze and cocaine.

Quarry says they were separated five or six times during the marriage, which produced a son, Jonathan. He is 17 and a senior at Palo Verde High School in Summerlin.

Though their marriage was rocky (it was the third and final one for Jerry Quarry), the couple always remained friends, even after they divorced.

"He would call me all the time," Quarry said. "I was always there for him; he was there for me."

Jerry Quarry, born in 1945 in Bakersfield, Calif., became a Golden Gloves champion at age 18. His record as an amateur was 170-13-54. As a pro, it was 53-9-4.

Quarry fought in many great bouts during the heyday of his career, which was from 1965 to 1975. Among those he defeated was Floyd Patterson. He lost to Muhammad Ali in 1970, when Ali made his return to boxing after being banished from the ring for resisting the military draft into the Vietnam War. Quarry lost twice to Joe Frazier, in 1969 and 1974.

Quarry lost to Ken Norton in 1975, which prompted him to retire until 1977, when he fought Lorenzo Zanon. After the fight, which he won, Quarry retired again.

In 1983 he came back yet again, won two fights and retired again.

Quarry's last comeback was 1992, losing in six rounds to a club fighter. He earned $1,050, after winning about $1.2 million during his career. His biggest payday was $338,000, when he fought Ali.

Tina Quarry, who has lived in Las Vegas off-and-on since age 2, met Jerry Quarry just before he made his comeback in 1983. When they met, Quarry asked her for a date. She accepted, standing up a date she had already made.

Then, Quarry stood her up.

He tried to call her the next day, but she refused to take the call.

"Then, he sent four dozen roses to me at the store where I worked," Tina Quarry said.

That was it for her. She went to his training camp to watch him prepare for his comeback.

"From then on, we were together all the time," she said.

She saw him fight live for the first time in Bakersfield.

"Everytime he was hit, I felt it," Quarry said.

He won the fight, but afterward he couldn't see for several days. She had to guide him.

"I told him to hang up the gloves," Quarry said.

Quarry said she worked several jobs to help support them, including as a bartender and waitress.

They came to Vegas to marry on July 4, 1985, and then returned to California.

"We got married on a marker," Quarry recalled. "We borrowed $1,000."

The couple divorced in 1995 and Tina Quarry moved to Las Vegas with their son. She became a bartender at Club Monaco, a popular locals hangout noted for good music and gourmet finger foods such as oysters Rockefeller and escargot-stuffed mushrooms.

In January 1999, Jerry Quarry was hospitalized with pneumonia and suffered a heart attack. He was placed on life support. His family instructed doctors to take him off the machine.

Tina Quarry says she will always feel guilty about her former husband's death.

"His family made the decision to pull the life support," she said. "They shouldn't have done that. I asked them to give him some more time, but they said it wasn't my call.

"I wasn't married to him. I couldn't say anything, but he didn't deserve to die that way."

Two years ago Quarry married Paul Lang, a longtime boyfriend who helped raise young Quarry, treating him as he would his own son.

"Jonathan is a good kid," Lang, project manager for Mac Roofing, said. "I'm proud of him. I spent years of my life training that boy. He's not a wimp. He's a leader. His dad was a leader. The blood is in him."

Jonathan Quarry, who was 12 at the time, had difficulty coping with his father's death. Tina Quarry sent him to a military school for three months to help him regain his focus.

When he was a child he used to visit his father in California. The dementia was so far along that the elder Quarry couldn't drive to Vegas.

"I used to lead him around," young Quarry recalled. "I felt like the father in the relationship."

Jonathan Quarry wears his name proudly, but he has no interest in boxing as a career.

"Judging by what it did to my father, that would be a tough decision," he said.

His experience at the military academy helped shape his career goals -- he plans to be a professional soldier.

For the past three years he has been a member of the Junior ROTC program. He is Cadet Chief Master Sergeant and Commander of the Armed Drill Team -- recently winning third place in individual rifle twirling competition sponsored by the school district.

On July 1 he leaves for Fort Benning, Ga., where he will receive basic training before entering jump school and the Ranger program.

Jonathan Quarry will be fighting for his country instead of for a title.

Lounging around

Actor Robert Conrad, along with about 20 friends and family, attended the Bootlegger's "Off the Cuff" revue Saturday night.

The City Lights Bistro (formerly the Kitchen Cafe) will host a grand opening on Wednesday. Owner Michael Karafantis says the venue will celebrate with lots of jazz, featuring keyboardist Dennis Mellen and a host of other local musicians.

Outstanding vocalist/pianist/writer/composer Tim Boatman entertained a roomful of fans over the weekend at Club Monaco. Boatman has been a fixture at the Four Seasons' Verandah Room for several years. Off-duty, he relieved the Monaco's vocalist Diane Hall and pianist Doug Taylor for a few numbers.

Catch saxophonist Rocky Gordon and his band at the Neonopolis' Saloon Bar & Grill during the venue's New Jazz Sunday Brunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

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