“You wanna join us for lunch?”
The invitation was from George Chuvalo. The most iconic figure in the history of Canadian boxing.
The man who fought the legendary Mohammad Ali twice. And went the distance. Both times.
Refusing to fall. Never ‘kissing the canvas’ once during his remarkable professional ring career that featured almost 100 fights.
Chuvalo died on Sept. 12. It was his 89th birthday.
The lunch invitation occurred sometime in the late 1990s when the former longtime Canadian heavyweight champion had finished speaking to students at Quinte Mohawk School about the dangers of drug abuse. Wow. If anybody knew anything about that, it was, sadly, Big George.
Chuvalo had lost three sons to drug abuse. His grief-stricken wife had committed suicide.
The kids at Mohawk School were understandably restless when Chuvalo walked into the packed gymnasium and took to the podium. Except for what their teachers probably told them, or maybe their parents or grandparents, they really had no clue who this sturdily-built older man was. The man with a head that looked like it was carved from granite.
Then, Chuvalo spoke. He opened his speech by telling the kids he woke up every morning and looked at four of his family members. All in separate urns on a table in his bedroom.
Dead silence. Every kid in the room was focused on Chuvalo. How could they not be?
I was there as sports reporter for The Intelligencer. I spoke to Chuvalo after his speech, then he was off to eat at a nearby diner in Tyendinaga with some local luminaries. Maybe even the Chief.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t accept his offer to attend. I had another assignment. But I always wish I could’ve gone.
Imagine the stories he might have shared?
Chuvalo fought 93 times from 1956-78, compiling a professional record of 73 wins (64 by knockout), 18 losses (15 by decision) and two draws. Six times, Chuvalo was ranked in the top-10 of world heavyweights, the highest (3) coming in 1965.
But it was Chuvalo’s iron-jawed toughness for which he’ll be best remembered. He once said his ability to take a punch — or several — overshadowed his boxing skills. He was probably correct.
Years before interviewing his dad, I’d met Chuvalo’s oldest son, Mitch, while I was sports editor of the Georgetown Herald. Mitch was teaching and coaching at nearby Acton High School.
We had a Belleville connection. Mitch’s offensive backfield running mate when he played university football at Guelph in the late 1970s was also a Belleville native, John Lowe.
Shortly after George Chuvalo’s death last weekend, Mitch Chuvalo spoke to the media about his father’s legacy. He told Canadian Press reporter Michael MacDonald that his dad’s boxing life and post-boxing life were indelibly connected.
“He will always be remembered as a very giving individual,” said Mitch. “Giving his emotions, giving his time, giving up his story, even though to recount it over and over again was torturous for him.”
The World Boxing Council issued a statement after George Chuvalo’s death. It said, simply and correctly: “Canada’s greatest warrior.”
Amen.
