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PDF Version Team : District Enablers
Illustration for Speakers - Were all important! Los Angeles police officer Al Stankie was helping break up yet another gang fight in a ghetto, Aliso Village, where gang warfare was rife. He came across ten year old Paul Gonzales, fighting for his life in the street. Stankie was a boxing coach, was impressed by Gonzales as a fighter, and managed to persuade him to join his boxing club in the police station basement.
As he grew older it became clear that Gonzales had a real talent for boxing. To the derision of his mates he gave up drinking and started training seriously. He became successful in the light flyweight class, and at age 18 fought the Russian Olympic champion Shamil Sabirov. He caused a sensation by beating him and raising hopes that he might win a medal at the forthcoming 1984 Olympics, due to be held in Los Angeles, near Gonzales' home.
He fought his way through to the final and won the gold, and also the Val Barker award for the best boxer at the Olympics. He said later, "I won this gold medal, not just for myself or my mom or my coach, but for the kids like me who are always told, 'You're nothing.'" |