To the editor:
It has been announced that Michael Moorer, former world heavyweight boxing champion, will be inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame as part of the distinguished Class of 2024.
Local fans of the squared circle may recall the soon-to-be hall-of-famer appearing at local amateur tournaments. Moorer won the 139-pound Junior Olympic title in Weirton at the Thomas E. Millsop Community Center. Then-U.S. Rep. Allan Mollohan, D-Fairmont, donated the trophies and was on hand for the events that night. Proceeds benefited the largest ESOP in the history of the United States, the Weirton Steel Corp.
This earned Moorer the right to advance with the other champions to the Junior Olympic regionals in Philadelphia during the Memorial Day weekend of 1983.
I had the honor of being the head of the Junior Olympic Program that year in the Allegheny Mountain Association. I was the champion coach, and recognized in the May 27, 1983, edition of the Herald-Star.
Once in the City of Brotherly Love, local champions enjoyed weigh-ins held in a small local gym where world-class boxing champions were working out to benefit the young USA Boxing athletes. They included heavyweight Jimmy Young and Jeff Chandler, the WBA world bantam-weight champion from November 1980 to April 1984.
The scene was the gym in the original "Rocky" movie, and the matches for the local team were held in the hall where "Rocky" fought in a boxing scene from the movie -- and all of this came just a few years after the film was a big success.
Moorer won the regional title, advancing to the nationals held in Texas, if my memory served me correctly. I was the coach on the team that traveled to the regionals when I was quite young. Because the team had a winner, I was a regional USA Boxing Junior Olympic boxing coach.
I had invited Henry Smith, Moorer's grandfather, to bring Michael to Follansbee in 1982 to Carlin Dodrill Field House. Smith would call the house after the rate changed at 11 p.m., and my dad worked in the mill. My mother would always ask if I could please ask Mr. Henry Smith to call at a more reasonable hour.
I was the matchmaker for the bouts that night. I had a chance to know Moorer growing up. He was an outstanding young man, I recall sitting at a local show and enjoying the camaraderie of Henry and Michael. I received my 50-year certificate from USA Boxing in January 2022 as a coach.
At present, I am still in contact with Michael's family as an inspector for the West Virginia State Athletic Commission when they bring boxers to local fight cards.
Michael Traubert
Wellsburg