Ed Sanders (boxer) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ed Sanders
Sanders (right) against Jack Scheberies during the American Olympic Boxing Championships in June 1952
Statistics
Nickname(s)	Big Ed
Rated at	Heavyweight
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Born	March 24, 1930 Watts, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	December 12, 1954 (aged 24) Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	9
Wins	6
Wins by KO	3
Losses	2
Draws	1
Medal record Representing the  United States Olympic Games Gold 1952 Helsinki Heavyweight

Hayes Edward "Big Ed" Sanders (born March 24, 1930 – died December 12, 1954) was an American heavyweight boxer. He famously won a gold medal at the 1952 Olympic Games.

About Ed Sanders

Ed Sanders was the oldest boy in his family. When he was a child, he was very big and strong for his age. People remembered that at 12, he looked like an 18-year-old!

Ed and his younger brother, Donald, even made their own weights. They filled coffee cans with cement and connected them with a steel bar. As Ed grew, he became faster and stronger. He was great at football and track and field at Jordan High School.

Outside the boxing ring, Ed was known as a kind and smart person.

On May 26, 2012, Ed Sanders was honored after his death. He was added to the Compton Community College Athletics Hall of Fame for boxing. He was also inducted into the Idaho State University Athletic Hall of Fame.

Ed's Early Life and College

After finishing Jordan High School, Ed Sanders went to Compton College. There, he continued to be excellent at football. He also started a new sport: boxing.

In 1950, Ed competed in the National Junior College Boxing Championships in Ogden, Utah. He was six feet four inches tall and weighed 220 pounds. He caught the eye of boxing coach Dubby Holt and football coach Babe Caccia from Idaho State College. Coach Holt said Ed had a good left hand and was a very skilled boxer for his size.

Soon after, Ed received a sports scholarship to Idaho State College (now Idaho State University). This college was in Pocatello, Idaho. He played football and boxed there.

Ed did very well at Idaho State. In his first college boxing match, he knocked out the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Champion. He also set a record by never losing a match in a college dual meet. While at Idaho State, Ed met and fell in love with Mary LaRue. She worked as a secretary in the athletic department. They later got married.

Amateur Boxing Career

In 1951, Ed Sanders was supposed to join the U.S. Army for the Korean War. But his coaches convinced him to join the Navy instead. He then continued his boxing career with the U.S. Navy Boxing Team. His coach was G.E. “Moose” Detty.

Ed won many important fights. He beat the Navy Heavyweight Champion, Kirby Seals, in San Diego, California. He also won the Los Angeles Golden Gloves and Chicago Golden Gloves Tournaments. After these wins, he traveled to Europe. He won the Golden Gloves Tournament in Berlin, Germany. This made him even more famous as a strong heavyweight boxer.

When he returned to the United States, Ed trained at Navy bases in Maryland. He was getting ready for his big dream: the Olympics.

The Olympics Dream

The Olympics seemed very close for Ed. But first, he had to pass the Olympic trials. This was a tough challenge, as many strong boxers from all over the country wanted a spot on the U.S. Team.

In a regional competition in Omaha, Nebraska, Ed lost to Army Corporal Lloyd Willis. But he still moved on to the finals because he had beaten Navy Champion Seals before. Ed and Willis met again in a fight in Kansas City, Missouri. This match would decide the last spot on the Olympic boxing team. Even with a broken hand, Ed knocked out Willis with a powerful left hook in just one minute!

The 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki were not very hard for Ed. He knocked out his first three opponents. This brought him to the final match against a boxer from Sweden named Ingemar Johansson.

Their final match was unusual. For the whole first round, Johansson avoided Ed by moving around the edges of the ring. The crowd became impatient and wanted Johansson to fight. In the second round, Johansson kept doing the same thing. Finally, in the third minute of the second round, the referee disqualified Johansson for not fighting. Johansson was led out of the ring by police officers. He was not given the silver medal.

Ed Sanders stood on the winners' platform with the spot for the silver medalist empty. The Swedish flag was still tied up. Johansson later said he was not running away from Ed. He claimed he was trying to make Ed tired for a big attack in the third round. He finally received his silver medal 30 years later.

Ed Sanders became the first African American Olympic Heavyweight Champion. He was also the first American to win gold in this division since 1904. He returned to the United States as a national hero. His strong fighting style, confidence, and humble personality made the media pay a lot of attention to him. The City of Los Angeles even named a day in his honor. He received many invitations to sports, social, and religious events.

After the Olympics, Ed's amateur status made it hard for him to earn enough money for his family. His wife, Mary, and young son, Russell, were born in 1953. Ed's Navy duties took him to San Diego. There, he trained with his mentor and friend, Moose Detty. Ed was later transferred to Maryland and then to Boston. He rented an apartment there with his wife and son.

As a Navy man, Ed was not allowed to box professionally. So, he continued to box as an amateur.

Ed entered the 1953 Golden Gloves Tournament again. He fought against future World Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston in the 1953 Chicago Golden Gloves Championship fight. Ed had a broken thumb during this fight. This made it harder for him, but he still performed well. Liston won the fight. However, some people who watched the fight said Liston held Ed illegally. Others in the audience felt Ed should have won. Ed was invited to another tournament, the Intercity Golden Gloves, but he could not go because of his thumb injury.

Ed Sanders finished his amateur boxing career with a record of 43 wins and only 4 losses.

Professional Boxing Career

After his Olympic victory, many people were interested in Ed Sanders becoming a professional boxer. But Ed was still in the Navy, and active Navy members were not allowed to box professionally. Also, Ed was living near a Navy base in Boston. He did not have a regular trainer or enough heavyweight sparring partners. Ed wanted to become the Heavyweight Champion.

Ed asked many people for advice, including his Navy Captain. His main advisor was Detty, who wrote letters telling Ed not to turn professional yet. Even though Ed was an Olympic champion, he had only been boxing for four years. He needed more practice before becoming a pro.

Ed was famous and had a gold medal. He felt a lot of pressure from the boxing world and the media to turn professional. He also needed to earn money for his wife, Mary, and baby son, Russell. Ed tried hard to leave the Navy, but he could not. The Navy said he had to stay until at least 1955. So, Ed still lacked professional experience.

On June 17, 1954, Ed Sanders went to a big boxing match between Rocky Marciano and Ezzard Charles in New York. He was a guest of the International Boxing Council. This group was very interested in Ed. Earlier that day, Ed watched a baseball game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Boston Braves. He saw Jackie Robinson hit two home runs!

Ed turned professional in February 1953. He acted as his own manager to meet Navy rules. Ed's advisors from the International Boxing Council were Truman Gibson, Nuno Cam, Sam Silverman, Frankie Carbo, and Johnny Dundee. These people were connected to the boxing world. This might seem strange for someone like Ed, but it was perhaps necessary for success in boxing in Boston during 1953–54.

Ed's first professional fight was on March 8, 1954, against Sonny Nichols. Ed won in the first round by TKO (Technical Knockout). Ed won his next two fights by knockout. Then, he lost a five-round decision to Willie Wilson. In private letters to Detty, Ed said he was shocked and sad. He felt he did not have enough good training or sparring partners, except for a respected local heavyweight named Willie James. Ed also complained about severe shoulder pain and mentioned that he had it X-rayed.

Ed won a fight on May 22, 1954, against Jack Flood. Then, he got revenge for his earlier loss to Willie Wilson later that summer in August 1954. He won an eight-round decision. On October 5, 1954, Ed fought to a draw with Bert Whitehurst. Ed and Whitehurst had a rematch just three weeks later, on October 26, 1954. Ed won that fight by a ten-round unanimous decision. It was a busy year for Ed. He fought eight professional fights in only nine months. He lost two fights in close decisions.

Last Fight and Passing

On Saturday, December 11, 1954, Ed Sanders fought his sparring partner, Willie James. James was the New England Heavyweight Champion. The fight took place at Boston Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. This was Ed's last fight. James was a highly regarded heavyweight. He had done well in sparring matches against Ed in February 1954.

Ed had complained about headaches before. He also had his shoulder X-rayed just a few weeks earlier. Some people watching the fight thought Ed seemed unusually tired. James and Ed exchanged strong punches for ten rounds. In the eleventh round, James thought Ed looked "tired." Ed was knocked down by a simple combination of punches. He fell to the canvas and immediately lost consciousness. He was breathing heavily while lying on his side. Ring staff carried him out of the ring on a stretcher.

Ed Sanders never woke up. He passed away after a long surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. The coroner believed that Ed likely made a previous injury worse. Doctors and trainers thought Ed probably had an old injury that became more serious during the fight with James. Ed was buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica, California. He received a 21-gun military salute.