Ed Sanders (boxer)

Sanders was the oldest male child of the family. His older sister, Winifred, died in a Scarlet Fever epidemic, in 1939. As a child, Sanders was very large for his age and physically strong. At age 12, he was recollected to be the size of a normal 18 year old. Sanders and his younger brother, Donald, collected coffee cans, filled them with cement and connected two of them with a steel bar to make a weight set for exercising. As "Big Ed" grew bigger, faster and stronger, Sanders excelled in football and track and field at Jordan High School.

Outside of the ring, Sanders was known as affable, gentlemanly and highly intelligent.

On 11 December 1954, he faced Willie James for the New England heavyweight title. James knocked out Sanders in the 11th round and Sanders had to be carried from the ring. He never regained consciousness and died 18 hours later.

On May 26, 2012, Sanders' son Russell presided over his posthumous induction into the Compton Community College Athletics Hall of Fame, under the category of boxing. He also was inducted into the Idaho State University Athletic Hall of Fame.

After graduating from Jordan High School, Sanders attended Compton College, where he again excelled in football and a new sport, boxing. In 1950, at the National Junior College Boxing Championships in Ogden, Utah, the six-foot four-inch, 220 pound Sanders attracted the attention of Idaho State College boxing coach Dubby Holt and football coach Babe Caccia. "He had a good left hand, and for the big man that he was, he was a real orthodox, skilled boxer," Holt recalled. Shortly thereafter, Sanders was awarded an athletic scholarship to Idaho State College (now Idaho State University) in Pocatello, Idaho, where he boxed and played football.

Sanders flourished at nearly all-white Idaho State. In his first collegiate bout, Sanders knocked out the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Champion. Sanders also set a record by never losing a bout in a collegiate dual meet. While attending Idaho State, Sanders fell in love with Pocatellan Mary LaRue, who was then a secretary at Idaho State's athletic department. She later became his wife.

In 1951, Sanders was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Korean War, but was convinced to join the Navy by his coaches. He then continued his boxing career as part of the U.S. Navy Boxing Team under G.E. “Moose” Detty. Sanders scored a string of major victories when he defeated the Navy Heavyweight Champion, Kirby Seals, in San Diego, California and won both the Los Angeles Golden Gloves and Chicago Golden Gloves Tournaments.[2] He subsequently toured Europe, winning the Golden Gloves Tournament in Berlin, Germany, which enhanced his reputation as a dominant heavyweight. Upon his return to the United States, Sanders trained at Naval facilities in Maryland for his dream—the Olympics.

After the Olympic victory, Sanders’ pro career became an intriguing prospect, but Sanders was still in the Navy, which did not allow active duty personnel to box professionally. Additionally, Sanders, now living near a Naval base in Boston, lacked a consistent trainer and heavyweight sparring partners. Sanders set out to become Heavyweight Champion.

Sanders turned to many people for advice, including his Navy Captain. Sanders primary confidante was Detty, who in letters cautioned against turning pro. Though Sanders was an Olympic champion, he had only been boxing for 4 years and needed more seasoning before turning pro.

Sanders, famous and holding a prized Olympic gold medal, faced immense pressure to turn pro from the boxing world and media. Sanders also needed to provide financially for his wife, Mary, and infant son, Russell. Sanders tried desperately but failed to obtain a discharge from the Navy, which considered him committed until at least 1955. Still, Sanders lacked experience.

On June 17, 1954, Sanders attended the Rocky Marciano-Ezzard Charles fight in New York as a guest of the International Boxing Council, which courted Sanders heavily. Earlier that same day, Sanders attended a game between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the Atlanta Braves and witnessed Jackie Robinson hit two home runs.

Sanders turned pro in February 1953, suspiciously acting as his own manager to satisfy Naval requirements. Sanders’ IBC advisors, Truman Gibson, Nuno Cam, Sam Silverman, Frankie Carbo and Johnny Dundee, were all allegedly connected to the boxing underworld - strange bedfellows for a man like Sanders, but perhaps unavoidable for success in boxing in Boston 1953–54.

Sanders’ first pro fight took place on March 8, 1954 against Sonny Nichols, with Sanders winning in a first-round TKO. Sanders won his next two fights by knockout before being stunned in a five-round decision loss to Willie Wilson. In private correspondence to Detty, a shocked and saddened Sanders confided that he felt he lacked adequate trades and sparring partners other than highly regarded local heavyweight Willie James. Sanders also complained about intense shoulder pain, and mentioned in letters that it had been x-rayed.

Sanders won a May 22, 1954 bout against Jack Flood and then avenged his earlier loss to Willie Wilson later that summer in August 1954, winning an eight-round decision. On October 5, 1954, Sanders fought to a draw with Bert Whitehurst. Sanders and Whitehurst fought a rematch only three weeks later on October 26, 1954, with Sanders winning a ten-round unanimous decision. Concluding a turbulent year, Sanders fought eight professional fights within only nine months, losing two fights in close decisions.[5]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ed Sanders (boxer).

• Boxing record for Ed Sanders from BoxRec

• Ed Sanders at Find a Grave