It's been over a month since the last time I posted here.  So I thought now might be a good time to start up again as it's the first anniversary of the first and only book talk I gave on Norvel.  Soon after this event COVID-19 hit with its full unmerciful fury and the other scheduled talks were cancelled.  The image above was taken at that well attended event.  It was put on by the Botetourt County Historical Society and hosted by the Fincastle Library.  It seems strange not to see any masks being worn by the closely gathered crowd.

 

The occasion was the kickoff of Black History month in Botetourt County coupled with an ongoing series of events marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the county.  For me, however, it was the coming out party for NORVEL.

 

In the front row from left to right are Lisa Telles – "Bout's" daughter, Danielle Anderson –Norvel Lee's granddaughter, and Ken Floyd - Norvel Lee's nephew (son of his brother George).  Danielle and Ken drove down from Maryland to attend, while Lisa came out from California.  Danielle and Lisa stayed with us at our home that night. 

 

You can imagine what it meant to all of us there that night to have the granddaughter of the 1951 AAU's national heavyweight champion and daughter of the national light heavyweight champion be introduced for the  first time at that event.  You will recall that in the book Norvel and "Bout" became friends on the 1951 Duals Tour together in Europe representing their weight classes in matches against the teams of several European countries.  The finale of the trip took place in Gothenburg, Sweden, where Norvel was matched against a young promising Swedish boxer by the name of Ingemar Johansson before an overflow audience.

 

Next time I will post details about a specific memorable moment that took place later that evening.  Stay safe everyone!

 

Those who have read NORVEL will recall that the above photo is included in the book.  It was also included with a Roanoke Times piece that was published just before the first book talk I gave (more on that in a future post). 

 

This photo was taken at the White House on June 18, 1953.  I obtained it from the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas.  I didn't actually have to go to Abilene to obtain it.  After a few email exchanges with the museum I was sent a digital copy of one that was in the public domain because it was shot by the National Park Service.  There were several other photos that the museum did not have permission to distribute. Such are the intricacies of intellectual property.

 

This photo shows President Eisenhower in the front row and center with Norvel standing over his left shoulder.  In the front row on the right side is the boxer Rocky Marciano who is standing next to the baseball great Joe DiMaggio.  The golfer, Gene Sarazen, is on the other side of DiMaggio.

 

The occasion was an event driven by Eisenhower himself for prominent athletes to be hosted for lunch and photos shoot with the president.   This was before it became commonplace for world champions of certain sports such as baseball and football to be honored at the White House.  Eisenhower insisted that Black athletes be included in the event.  The other Black in the photo is Art Bragg who was also on the 1952 U.S. Olympic team as a sprinter.

 

During July in this space I posted how I learned about John Boutilier, aka "Bout", one of Norvel's contemporaries on the amateur boxing scene in the early 1950's. In 1951, when Norvel was the AAU's national heavyweight champion, Boutilier was the national light heavyweight champion.  Chapter 18 of the book is about the European Duals Tour for the 1951 AAU boxing champions. 

 

The July post explained how I connected with Bout's daughter, Lisa Telles.  A native of Boston, her father eventually settled in El Cajon in San Diego County California, where Lisa grew up.  She lives in Southern California with her husband Mark.  I am a California native and get out there at least once a year.  Well, "once a year" when a pandemic isn't in play.  On our 2019 trip Lisa invited Barbara and I to visit her and Mark at their home.  The image above was taken during that visit. 

 

When Lisa and I first contacted each other she indicated that her mother had stored a couple of suitcases full of memorabilia and newspapers about Bout's boxing days.  After she knew I was writing the book Lisa and her brother Peter went through the archived material that eventually served as treasured source material for the book.  When we arrived at Lisa's home it was very heartening to see the nostalgic collection laid out on the table. 

 

In early February I was asked by our local historical society to talk about the book at our library in Fincastle.  Lisa came out from California to participate in that first book talk, pre-pandemic.  It was there that she met Norvel's granddaughter Danielle and nephew Ken.  I'll have plenty more to say about that unforgettable meeting in a future post here.

Soon after the previous post Mike Mehalic's daughters contacted me to confirm that he had received his copy of NORVEL and was looking forward to reading it.   I was touched to know that he was well and that he will be able to share this story with his family.  They also sent me the above image, one that I hadn't seen previously. 

 

Standing from left to right are Frank Torcisi, Al Maltz, and Mike Mehalic.  Seated are Bill Shook and Norvel Lee.  Mehalic is holding his nephew and, appropriately, what looks to be a playing card.  For four decades these pinochle pals played important roles in each other's social circle and career pursuits. 

 

I sent Mike Mehalic a copy of NORVEL today.  You will find him mentioned as a source in the acknowledgements section of the book. 

 

During the initial meetings and conversations with the family I learned that Norvel Lee played the card game pinochle with a group of men on alternate Friday nights.  They called themselves the "pinochle gang."    

 

In early January of 2017 Norvel's granddaughter Daryn contacted me saying she had found one of the pinochle players and that he would enjoy talking with me about Norvel.  On January 23, 2017, Daryn and I met Mike Mehalic at his Washington D.C. home.  The ensuing conversation, which I recorded, was packed with anecdotal colorful stories that helped inform the latter chapters of the book.

 

We learned (and this was news to Daryn also) that Mehalic and another member of the pinochle gang, Al Maltz, met Norvel at the National Training School (NTS) for Boys in Washington D.C. in 1953.  All three men were instructors at this institution for juvenile delinquents.  (The cover of NORVEL is a photo of Norvel Lee in his classroom at NTS.)  They began playing pinochle together during their lunch breaks before establishing the Friday night games.  The pinochle gang held together for nearly forty years.  Both men, introduced at the beginning of Chapter 24, went on to play important roles in Norvel Lee's life.  The image above circa 1990 includes members of the pinochle gang.  Mike Mehalic is second from the right of the top row and Al Maltz is next to him on the end.  Norvel is seated at the front left.

 

And, remarkably, it was me that told Mehalic about Norvel's act of civil disobedience described in the Prologue of the book.  During all those many years they knew one another Norvel never mentioned the incident.  That said so much about Norvel Lee's character.  At one point during our talk Mehalic told us that Norvel was "the nicest person he had ever met."

 

I had always wanted to follow-up with Mehalic after the book came out, but couldn't find him.  He was 85 at the time of the interview and moved from his home shortly afterward.  Just recently I learned that he was residing at a senior living facility in Maryland.  He will have his copy of NORVEL in a few days.  I hope the book brings back fond memories of his friend Norvel Lee and of the "pinochle gang."

 

Through a series of improbable events that are described in NORVEL, Leslie Jackson and Norvel Lee are introduced by her brother, Robert Jackson.  They fall in love and marry in 1951.   Chapter 10 of NORVEL takes place at the Jackson family home on Ayr Street in Leesburg, Virginia.    This is where Norvel meets the family who become a significant influence on him for the rest of his life.

 

Margaret Jackson (aka Weekie), Leslie's sister, told many stories from her childhood when I interviewed her, including those about the diverse acquaintances the family had in the Leesburg area.    It was clear from talking with her that the Jacksons of Leesburg were well-liked and respected.  Her father and mother were active in the community and attended both the Methodist and Baptist churches.  There was not enough space in the book to tell all the Jackson family stories so I focused on the ones that directly influenced Norvel Lee's life.  But I did feel compelled to briefly introduce their cousin, Mervin Jackson.   The image above is of the charming park in the center of Leesburg named after Mervin Jackson.  He continued the Jackson's tradition of community service and serving on the Leesburg City Council. 

 

While I was in the middle of writing Norvel, Barbara and I have made it a point to visit Leesburg.  We drove by the Jackson's Ayr Street home and, of course, walked through Mervin Jackson Park.  It was my plan to introduce NORVEL when published to active Leesburg history groups, but the pandemic has constrained those efforts so far.  If any of you reading this are aware of people in Leesburg who would be interested in this story I will appreciate you bringing the book to their attention. 

 

Stay healthy, stay safe.

 

This latest post pays tribute to the great actor and humanitarian Chadwick Boseman who died of cancer this past Friday at the age of 43.  Like Norvel he was a graduate of Howard University.  Although they were five decades apart they share the honor of being Howard alumni who went on to doing good in the larger world.  Plus, in my mind, Boseman would have been perfect for the lead role in a movie about Norvel Lee.  

 

The link below is a 35 minute video of the 2018 commencement address Boseman gave at Howard University. Please set aside the time to watch the entire video.  It's very inspirational.  And listen as he talks of his brief encounter with Mohammad Ali. 

 

Chadwick Boseman - 2018 Commencement Address at Howard University

 

In the spring of 2018 I reached out to the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO).  Their website says they were established in 1982 "for the express purpose of establishing an accurate history of boxing; compiling complete and accurate boxing records; facilitating the dissemination of boxing research information and cooperating in safeguarding the individual research efforts of its members by application of the rules of scholarly research." 

 

I asked IBRO for any information they had on Norvel Lee, especially regarding the Dual's Tour and the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.  Shortly thereafter I received an email from Petri Paimander, Finland's boxing historian.  After a few email exchanges he sent me a series of emails with attached photographs and newspaper clippings (mostly in Finnish).  The image above is one such photograph.  The book has scenes set in several of the locations shown:  The Olympic Stadium, the Messuhalli - where the boxing events took place, and the Velodrome.  Those of you who have read the book will recall the Velodrome is where the athletes would go and socialize.  And the label "Vanha Olympiakyla" is the Olympic Village.

 

The information that Petri provided compelled me to obtain a copy of the official Olympic report published by the Finnish organizing committee.  It proved to be a wealth of information.  Later, I asked and received permission from the Sports Museum of Finland to use several of the photographs found in that report. 

 

My communication with Petri only lasted about a month.  After our dialogue and information exchanges I was ready to continue with the writing and other research.  I reached out to him again when NORVEL was published but have not heard back from him yet.  I just want everyone to know the information he provided helped provide the descriptions and many anecdotal stories found in the chapters about those 1952 Olympics.

 

I can't say that I was an avid fan of boxing when I set out to write NORVEL, but I wasn't ignorant of it either.  I sparred a bit with a former Golden Gloves champion while serving in the Army and had watched some of the highly publicized televised matches when I was growing up.  And then of course there were the classic movies such as Rocky, Raging Bull, and Requiem for a Heavyweight where boxing served as the platform from which a story of an individual could be told.  

 

Compelled to know how Norvel Lee became involved with boxing led me to learn more about the sport in general, especially the paths other young men took to become involved in boxing and the organizations that supported them.  I found plenty of print media information available from the early 1950's when Norvel was the national heavyweight champion for both the Golden Gloves and the AAU while on the Howard University boxing team. Using old newspaper articles and other sources I dug into the lives of boxers he encountered. I was looking for someone I could interview who knew Norvel at the time. 

 

Those of you who have read the book will recall that in Chapter 11 (page 118 in the hardback) the boxer from Boston, John Boutilier, is introduced. "Bout" as he is known goes on to play an important role in subsequent chapters, especially the one on the 1951 Duals Tour in Europe. 

 

Employing my first pass at research (Google) on the boxers who may have known Norvel I came across a 2012 obituary on John S. Boutilier of El Cajon, California.  It began with "Loving husband, father, and grandfather, remarkable teacher, athlete, boxer, artist, farmer, handyman, builder, golfer, party-giver, star-gazer, and hammock swinger." That description went along with the colorful newspaper articles that were written about him during his boxing days.  More importantly, in the obituary I found the names of his two children and subsequently connected with Lisa Telles, John Boutilier's daughter. 

 

After the first email exchange with her I asked for any information she had on her father.  Here is what she sent me:  "I do remember my dad talking about boxing in Europe, but I don't recall if he ever talked about the specifics.  I will ask my mom when I see her this weekend.  The stories I recall were about the relationship between my dad and his father, who had also been a boxer.  We have two suitcases of memorabilia and newspaper clips from his boxing career."

 

The image above is on one of those clips:  John Boutilier and his father. 

 

I will have much more to say about Lisa and her contribution to the making of NORVEL.  Those of you that attended the book talk I gave at the Fincastle Library will remember seeing her there.  Suffice to say she and her family will be lifelong friends of ours.

 

In the last post I reported on my visit to Howard University to see if I could find any paper trail amongst their impressive archives regarding Norvel's act of civil disobedience.  I spent the next day, May 24, 2017, nearby at the Library of Congress (pictured above), to continue the quest by searching the NAACP records archived there.  It was the NAACP through the law firm of Hill, Martin, and Robinson, that defended Norvel and took the case through the appeals process.  I was hoping those records were preserved in the Library's collection.

 

Several weeks earlier while preparing for the visit I received an email from Edith Sandler, a Manuscript Reference Librarian from the Manuscript Division at the Library.  I learned that the Manuscript Division was a special section in the Library of Congress that required credentials to access.  The reason for vetting is that individuals granted access handle valuable historic documents while conducting their research.  She also provided an extensive list of topic headings the manuscripts were filed under, and labeled boxes in which they could be found.  There were many such items on the list I was interested in.  An example was:

 

BOX II:B1-B221 Part II: Legal File, 1940-1955 Correspondence, memoranda, briefs, transcripts, proceedings, affidavits, reports, lists, notes, newspaper clippings, and printed matter. Arranged alphabetically by name of individual or court case or by type of material or subject and there under chronologically.

 

After arriving in the morning and securing my credentials I entered the manuscript room, took a seat at a desk and submitted a request for a box of manuscripts.  They were delivered to my desk and I began reviewing each one, handling them by the edges as required. 

 

I was looking for:

 

   Ties/links between the NAACP and Howard University in 1948 and 1949.

   Ties/links between the NAACP and the Hill, Martin, and Robertson law firm.

   Any evidence of Norvel interacting directly with the NAACP.

 

I spent hours upon hours mesmerized by what I was handling.  I had in my hands many original letters written by future US Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall responding to various civil rights cases that the NAACP was considering becoming involved with.  The stories behind each one of those would likely be a book in itself.  There were letters from other NAACP luminaries at the time, including Lester Banks who makes a brief appearance in NORVEL.  But most moving were the numerous notes and pleas from individuals looking for the NAACP for help dealing with racial injustices they had experienced.  It was clear they had nowhere else to turn. 

 

I was easily distracted by what I found and had to remind myself why I was there.  By the end of the long day I didn't find any documents related to Norvel Lee or his attorney, Martin A. Martin.  It was at this point I decided to just relate the incident the way it was described in the court documents and not to speculate myself what was involved.  I'm still hoping someday to stumble upon Martin A. Martin's archival records.

 

Next time I will talk about meeting a person who, since the time of reaching out to them, not only gave me key information for the narrative on Norvel's AAU boxing years but provided key support in the roll out  and ultimate success of NORVEL.

 

Stay healthy, stay safe.