Charley Burley, The Life & Hard Times of an Uncrowned Champion
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
There has long existed a mystique regarding Charley Burley, the Pittsburgh boxer who, long after his career was terminated, enjoyed a notability allowed to few men in his chosen profession.
When his name was mentioned in the company of fellow practitioners, it had the ring of eminence. He was so esteemed as a ring man it brought his contemporaries to their feet tipping hats to him.
Palpable evidence extends the mystery of Charley Burley to later life. Record keepers proved he demonstrated his talents against most of the worthy contenders plying their trade in his weight category, enough at least to have obtained a chance at a world title, but failed in that aim.
The acknowledged middleweight crown-bearer of his time, Sugar Ray Robinson, spurned offers for a sporting encounter in center ring against the Pittsburgher, according to ring mythology which lends credence to such refrain.
That he became one of the earliest non-world champions to gain entry into the prestigious International Boxing Hall of Fame was a remarkable show of respectability, given that few, if any, of the electorate ever saw Burley perform, either live or on film. Boxing contests in small clubs of his generation were witnessed by hundreds and occasionally several thousand, as opposed to millions today. Neither were film-makers generous in recording his bouts for further scrutiny.
Ringside reporters prior to the advent of television gave more in-depth coverage to local boxing shows. Also, sports editors were generally more considerate in providing space to accommodate more comprehensive reports. Boxing also enjoyed a wide range of interest among sports fans, and newspapers complied with the vigorous search for information.
A long, well-preserved trail of boxing results have remained since Pierce Egan, boxing’s first ringside scribe, showed them how to do it. In these accessible reports are the only clues by which we can learn of boxing’s long history. The magnificent ringside wordsmiths of the 1930’s-1940’s, were careerists who could partake of their sports specialty for a lifetime of work, who painted a picture of leather-slinger activity, much in the same way as the ringside illustrators did prior to the popularization of the camera.
When I examined Allen Rosenfeld’s roughly hewed manuscript I was fascinated by the technique with which he utilized the writers who covered Burley’s ring action, to follow every episode of his career. Interesting too is the way he integrates his hosts and interprets their respective determinations.
Since so few of Burley’s opponents are available to interview, and experts who saw him in ring action are as rare as the Dodo Bird, Allen searched out ringsiders who gave accounts of Burley’s bouts. They became his actors. He assembled a cast of characters befitting a classic movie, chosen from sports pages beginning in Pittsburgh, and going on to San Francisco and all the pit stops enroute. Allen assigns each writer to a role in every episode of Burley’s career.
He must have reasoned: "I’m dependent on them. They are my most important resource. They were there. I will let them tell the story of Burley’s ring career. The words of the boxing chronicler are lasting, uncompromising and final."
Burley’s boxing adventure is like a stage play. It has all the ingredients of an emotional drama. He was a poor kid during the depressed Thirties, who had oodles of natural talent, hunger, ambition, determination, courage, then struggle and despair, encouragement, and back to despair.
Rosenfeld senses the despair that Burley felt. He sees the logical opportunities which should have fallen in place for him in accordance with natural order, yet failed to materialize. Burley was not a stepping stone in his division; he was too talented for that role, and was a constant threat to the leadership of his day. He was bogged down as if in a sphagnum swamp.
The most robust of Rosenfeld’s sensibilities involves the probability of ascendency for his subject. Burley flourished among the highly esteemed artisans, and his ability retained him as a perennial contender.
Rosenfeld’s book is a researcher’s dream come true, and will answer many questions of the curious. It is doubtful if a boxing career was ever treated in such depth for each and every contest.
Hank Kaplan
Internationally recognized
Boxing historian
Formats
Book Details
About the Book
Before I checked out the Charley Burley book, I visualized it to be another life story of a great fighter whose name I became familiar with during the days when I was getting my feet wet in boxing.
As I examined the book there was an explosion of names like Billy Conn, Fritzie Zivic, Georgie Abrams, Ezzard Charles, Jimmy Bivins, Cocoa Kid, Holman Williams, Sugar Ray Robinson, and many others who brought back memories of my earliest days around boxing.
In addition to thorough coverage of Burley’s career, author Allen Rosenfeld gives you a panoramic view of the exciting middleweight picture of the late thirties and forties, which was loaded with nostalgia.
I have read lots of boxing books in my time, but this one was hard to put down. Charley Burley’s name was ever-present among the leaders of the golden age of middleweights.
About the Author
Allen Rosenfeld earned a Master’s Degree in History from Wayne State University in Detroit. He then completed the necessary hours for a Ph D at that university, lacking only a dissertation.
For the most part he supported his wife and children as a member of the family business—residential construction. But, during slow periods, he worked as a journalist—as a reporter or editor—winning several awards including that of the Michigan Press Association, and as part of a team that won a Neiman for excellence in the field of labor press.
In the 1940s and 1950s, he competed, undistinguishedly, as an amateur boxer. And during this period he worked as an assistant to the very distinguished trainer and cornerman Theodore McWhorter, who handled among others George Chuvalo.
In the 1950s, Mr. Rosenfeld covered Michigan boxing for the magazine Boxing and Wrestling Illustrated. And during the Thomas Hearns era Rosenfeld was Michigan correspondent for The Ring.
His biography of Charley Burley is the product of about five years of work. But in a larger sense it is the product of a youth misspent in gyms and arenas.