Flyweight Dream of Silk

Smitty was a flyweight with dreams of becoming a middleweight. He had made his way out of the Black Bottom of Detroit into Harlem but far from Duke Ellington and closer to razors and blades. His single mother forced him to go to churches where men like Adam Clayton Powell preached another chapter of Harlem Renaissance. Some churches sponsored basketball teams. Smitty was quick but too short to compete with the dark redwoods on the hardwood.. Wandering from church to church to stay out of the cold and the danger, Smitty met Big George who ran a church club of his own.....this club was all about boxing.

Smitty walked into the church club gym. Big George liked the way that Smitty walked with his combination of swagger, stealth, alertness and purpose. The purpose was new and was born by the sights, sounds and smells of the training center where other faithful honed their dreams of sweet science...some even dreaming of becoming heavyweights.

Smitty found a home and in Big George, he found a father figure. George had plenty of other adopted children but there was something about Smitty that Big George recognized and welcomed.

Smitty asked a lot of questions. He watched. He listened. He learned. Smitty was shitty in the public schools but here in the gym his aptitude for kinetic education exploded. He was more than a pupil. Smitty was a student.

The older pupils had won a reputation for this brand of education and were proud to wear their silk robes when they entered the halls and rings of other clubs and churches. Smitty carried those robes and hoped that someday he would wear one.

Big George kept Smitty out of the ring, fearing that some older welterweight might beat the learning attitude out of Smitty. He started Smitty running through the streets of Harlem and then back to the gym for some work with the speed bags and the shadows.

Smitty kept coming back, always hoping for more. Finally George put him into the ring for a workout with headgear and padded gloves. Smitty took his streetwalk into that ring and everybody noticed his quickness the way he avoided the incoming leather and launched lethal returning fire 

On the next visit to the next ring in the next church, Smitty carried the robes as usual. The minister of the home church had lined up a boxing card to match his converts to those silk robed pilgrims of Big George. George had registered his converts with the license of the AAU but so he always carried a couple of extra AAU passes with him in case one of the boys "forgot" to show up or had somehow misplaced his card in an alley.

That night, the other church had a flyweight that needed a match. The flyweight that George had intended to bring had gottten caught up in a dice game and didn't make the trip. George asked Smitty if he wanted to take up the spot on the card and wear a silk robe instead of just carrying one. Smitty was thrilled but reminded Big George that he hadn't earned his card yet. George had an easy solution to that problem. He used the other kid's card.

So Smitty went into the locker room and put oh the available gear. He danced and shadowboxed, not nervous at all. He felt great pride when just before his match, someone slipped the silk robe on his shoulders. He waited for his name to be announced. He heard the announcer read off another name. Smitty didn't move until somebody tapped him on the shoulder and said; "get out there, that's you". The announcer was calling  for the name on the AAU card given him by Big George, the name of the kid who was playing dice, the kid who would never get past flyweight. 

The name of that kid...the kid who wasn't there was given to Smitty. As he walked to the ring, Big George said, "Smitty, nobody's gonna ask but in case they do tell 'em you're Ray Robinson."