In 1996 the offices of Taylor George Design were on the 7th floor of the Ryan Building on Princess Street in Winnipeg’s Exchange District. The 6th floor was occupied by an accounting firm, owned and operated by one Harry Black. I’d see Harry occasionally coming in and out of the building. To be honest, I was a little frightened of him. He’s a bit shorter than me, but you could just tell – even in a business suit — he was built like a brick shithouse. If you gave him a flick on the shoulder you’d no doubt hear a metallic ktang.
One hot, July day, the small, ancient elevator in 100-year old Ryan Building broke down. It was about 40º C in the stairwell. As I was coming down to leave for lunch I ran into Harry running up the stairs two at a time. After six stories, he hadn’t even broken a sweat. And he was wearing a suit.
“Shitty day for the elevator to break down.” I wheezed as we passed each other.
“The elevator has broken down?” was Harry’s cheery reply. Turns out he had no idea because he took the stairs up six stories every day, every single time he went in and out of his office. That was my first clue that I was dealing with someone with extraordinary fitness and a degree of eccentricity.
Shortly after that encounter, we engaged Harry’s firm, F.H. Black and Co., to be our accountants. Not long after Harry returned the favour, and in June of 1998 Taylor George Design was engaged to work on some promotional material for a boxing event Harry was putting on with the boxing gym he ran (in his spare time), Pan Am Boxing. I’ve been a huge boxing fan since I was a teenager, so we took on this pro-bono project enthusiastically.
The creative work on the project was done by Brent Morrisseau, who at that time had just recently joined us. I’ve had the great pleasure of having Brent as my colleague for almost 12 years now. He’s one of the best graphic designers I know, and really great guy. His work on this project was fabulous. Brent even came up with the name for the event Altercations between the Nations — and when he pitched me on the name he did a fantastic Mohamed Ali impression. It was perfect. I like this work so much I have one of these posters hanging in our hall at home. It’s a great work of art.
But back to boxing. Harry was eventually successful in getting me down to the gym once or twice in the early 2000s. Once a year (or so) I’d go down for a workout. Then, the next day, I’d be in so much pain I wouldn’t go back to the gym for another year. Or two. Lets face it — when you can’t lift your arms high enough to wash your own hair, you know you’ve had a humbling workout. Pan Am is famous for that.
Harry also got me involved in the boxing promotion business — for a time, anyway. I had a great time working with him and the volunteers at Pan Am in putting on amateur and professional bouts at the Convention Centre and then the baseball park here in Winnipeg. I bailed in 2003. It was just too risky for me, although I did love being involved in the business.
Several years later — just last May — I took up training at Pan Am boxing. Harry convinced me to sign up
for an intensive eight-week program they put on at the club called FIGHT CLUB. It was an amazing program — challenging and humbling but also inspiring and effective. The combination of leadership and support at Pan Am was something I had never experienced in this kind of context, and it turned out to be just the ticket. There is also something about the rhythm, movement and impact of boxing that make it fun and addictive. And the gym is filled with supportive people who want to see you succeed. As one leader said to me the other day, “boxing at Pan-Am is like doing an individual sport in a team environment.” Very true.
As a final word, my one year anniversary of joining Pan Am is approaching and I’m scheduled to have my first fight this coming Saturday, April 16th. Pan Am is putting on what they call a “White Collar Brawler.” White-collar boxers are fighters who are amateur, inexperienced, and hopefully over the age of 35.
I’m determined to get in at least one actual bout in my life, and experience the real thing. I’ve been in the ring sparring for several weeks now. I’m pretty fit and technically able to put a few punches together. So I feel ready. I’ve been sparring mostly guys who are 30 years younger than me, and I suffer no illusions that I’d be able to beat a guy whose record would indicate that he lost to a fifty year old man in his first or second bout. And strangely, as I’m writing this entry, I had a call from Harry, and apparently, there are a couple of technicalities with my boxing association registration, and a problem finding a suitable opponent nearer to my age and weight. So all that just might derail my amateur boxing debut.
We’ll see. If not now, then some other time, I’m sure. But after losing about 35 pounds in four months over last spring and summer at Pan Am — and keeping it off since — I’m definitely glad for the long-term nature of my association with the business and sweet science of Pan Am Boxing.
And I still get a kick out of seeing posters we designed in 1998 on the walls all over the gym.
