When professional boxer David Diaz spotted policeman Brian Farrell in the crowd Saturday night at Windy City Gym, he exclaimed, “This guy is a legend.”
That was high praise for Farrell, who won four Chicago Golden Gloves amateur titles and has been with the city Police Department for 13 years. Diaz, a Chicago lightweight pro, now holds a World Boxing Council title belt.
As Diaz introduced him to others, Farrell credited the landmark gym where they were standing with “keeping me out of trouble. Amateur boxing and this place have been very good to me.”
Farrell and Diaz stood amid dozens of fighters and friends who could say the same thing about the historic gym at 4401 W. Ogden Ave. With relatives and children, they came to Windy City to say goodbye–not to each other, but to the gym.
When 2006 was counted out at midnight, Windy City was officially shuttered.
While 2007 is a certainty, Windy City’s future is not.
“We’re hearing from people, but [there’s] no definite offer of a new location,” said attorney Ed Pacer, a supporter who represents the gym pro bono. “We have proved that a boxing gym is a good neighbor. This building had trouble with vandals before the gym moved in and hasn’t had those troubles since.”
The place began as Coulon’s Gym 85 years ago on East 63rd Street, where it hosted the likes of Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Robinson, Ezzard Charles and Ernie Terrell. It moved to Ogden Avenue in 1981, and Chicagoans Diaz, Andrew Golota and Montell Griffin frequented the gym.
But now the gym and all its equipment and memorabilia, including two historic rings and rafts of old fight posters, are homeless.
Building code and zoning violations plus a new buyer for the building led to an eviction notice. The process begins Tuesday.
So Saturday was for celebrating and remembering.
The festive atmosphere was sustained with food ranging from meatballs, peppers and sub rolls to cookies, cake and champagne. The resultant aroma overwhelmed the gym’s signature odor of sweat. The place never smelled so good.
But the perspiration and dedication of those who worked out here, many with trainer Sam Colonna, was nonetheless palpable in their remembrances. The place never seemed so funereal.
“I’ve got mixed emotions,” said heavyweight pro Les Brown, who has trained at Windy City since 2002. “It’s great to see all these people here. But the reason they’re here is a sad one.”
Brown and Doug Matuch can say they were the last fighters to spar here, finishing four rounds just before the farewell party began.
“It’s a shame to think this place and all the people who worked out here will be gone,” former heavyweight champion Ernie Terrell said. “Where will these people go?”
“I haven’t got a clue what I’m going to do when this isn’t here,” said gym manager Willie Williams, a Windy City fixture before and after he retired from the vending business six years ago. “The sadness hit me in May, when I first read about the threat of us closing. I knew it was just a matter of time.”
“This is the place where I’ve been the happiest,” said Amber Gideon, a women’s national amateur champion turned pro. She made a 70-mile round trip from Warrenville as often as five days a week to train until she ended her pro career last summer.
“It’s kind of like leaving your home,” said Jason Cook, who will make his pro boxing debut Jan. 13 in his hometown of La Porte, Ind. For now he will have to train there full time. He used to make a commute similar to Gideon’s to train with Colonna at Windy City.
Colonna greeted policeman Farrell and said: “His story is an example of what a boxing gym can do. It kept Brian off the streets when that would have been nothing but bad and has put him there now in a good role.”
Farrell, who first came to the gym when he was 14, agreed. Windy City has lived the equality that so many only preach, he said. “Whatever you were on the outside, white-collar or blue-collar, you leave that all outside when you come through the door,” he said.
As an example, he noted, “In the ring with me, that’s the only time you get to hit a policeman and not go to jail.”
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mhirsley@tribune.com
