KEY WEST LOU / SUGAR RAY ROBINSON

Sugar Ray Robinson was born this day in 1921. Considered by many to be the greatest boxer of all time, pound for pound. Six times a world champion. Once as a welterweight, five times as a middleweight.

I got to see the man at least a dozen times. Not as a boxer, but as a fellow on his way to visit his Mom

I attended Manhattan College. Located at 246th Street, just off Broadway. His Mother lived on 238th Street, just off Broadway. Sugar Ray used to park his 1950 “pink” Cadillac convertible on Broadway when he visited. My friends and I would occasionally walk Broadway. Not to see the Champion. Merely to take a break from studies.

On those walks, we were fortunate a few times to see Sugar Ray getting in or out of his car. He always gave us a “Hi, guys!” We always returned with a “Hi, Champ!”

Later years I learned the color of his car was not pink. It was reported he would never drive a pink car! It was fuchsia.

On this day in 1765, the first North American medical college opened in Philadelphia.

Fires were difficult to control 100 plus years ago. In 1901, one fire alone destroyed 1,7000 buildings in Jacksonville, Florida.

For sports fans…..On this day in 1936, Joe DiMaggio made his major league debut. He got 3 hits.

On this day in 1937, Margaret Mitchell won the Pulitzer Prize for her novel “Gone With The Wind.”

An oldie movie favorite is Going My Way. Premiered this day in 1944 starring Bing Crosby.

American citizens sacrificed big time during World War II. Rationing, for example.

I remember. My Mother had a book of stamps which were to be used for certain purchases. One was meat. It was a rarity at meal time. Little was available. Pasta was the frequent meal of choice.

No one complained. It was one of the ways everyone contributed to the war effort.

Meat rationing finally ended in June 1947. Rationing of many items continued for a time after the War.

Fred Klein leaves Key West tomorrow to return to New York City. From being a Snowbird to a Metropolitan New Yorker. A good man. The best! Hopefully, I will be able to spend more time with him next year.

Janis Paige. Retired actress and singer. A beauty, a talent. Her career spread 60 years.

She is now 101 years old. God bless!

One of her hits was Pajama Game on Broadway.

Brittney Griner says she considered suicide while imprisoned in Russia. She said, “I wanted to take my life more than once in the first weeks.”

She described her time in the Russian corrective colony 300 miles southeast of Moscow as “really cold. It’s a work camp. You go there to work. There’s no rest.”

She added, “The mattress had a huge blood stain on it, and they gave you these two thin sheets, so you’re basically laying on bars.” She described conditions as “unsanitary…..prisoners using long-expired toothpaste…..to clean off mold in their cells.”

Glad Brittney is back and her life normal again. May all U.S. citizens imprisoned in Russia be returned to the U.S.

Enjoy your day!

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