When he entered this world, nothing about who he was would have led anyone to predict his future. With what he accomplished in his life, it would be reasonable to expect him to be a household name. He influenced arguably the most widely known athlete, Muhammad Ali, in American history. He has a couple of monuments erected in his memory and a street named for him, but Ezzard Charles, one of the greatest athletes the world has ever known, is known to only a few.
Ezzard Mack Charles was born in a shack in the Rocky Knob section of Lawrenceville in 1921. The community had a wooden frame schoolhouse for black students, which was destroyed by a tornado in 1924. Even though the neighborhood was only a couple of blocks from the county courthouse, for young Charles, it was a different world. His parents didn’t have the money to pay the doctor who delivered him, so they chose his first name as a tribute to Dr. Webster Pierce Ezzard.
Lawrenceville, GA, was not then the type of town where a black child was born into a life of opportunity. A black man, Charles Hale, was lynched on the courthouse square only ten years earlier. Ironically, this horrific crime took place on the same property where today, a monument honors Ezzard Charles.
Charles’s father, William, was a truck driver for a local cotton mill. He abandoned the family when Ezzard was five, leaving his mother, Alberta, with the challenge of providing for herself and her only child.
Charles had his first “bout” when he was around nine years old. A makeshift ring was put up on the lawn of the city’s Mayor, Grover Montgomery, and neighborhood kids would square off there. Despite being smaller than many of his opponents, he was reportedly successful in his first fight and others after. Along the way, Charles acquired the nickname “Snooks.”
Not long after his introduction into boxing, Ezzard’s mother decided to send the youngster to live with her mother, Maude Foster, in the West End of Cincinnati. It was considered a very rough and poor part of town, but the influence of his grandmother pretty much kept him in line. Mrs. Foster worked as a maid and, by all accounts, ran a tight ship in her home.
When Ezzard entered school there, teachers quickly discovered that he had never learned to read in his Georgia schools. Three months in a remedial program allowed him to catch up with his classmates and return to the student body.
Read about the private side of Muhammad Ali, from those in his inner circle
As a teenager, he convinced his grandmother to give him fifty cents for boxing training. After being rejected at the gyms he first visited, he connected with trainer Bert Williams. In a magazine article, Williams said that he first thought Charles was too small and weak to be a fighter but added, “He had the heart and determination. He wanted to live in the gym.”
His first time sparring in an actual ring pitted him against a local fighter, Sam Rutledge. Charles held up to what was described as a “pretty good beating .” Next came his first official amateur fight against Al Jackson. Charles was knocked down in the first round but won the fight in the third round. Just a few months later, Charles could easily handle Rutledge.
Ezzard began fighting in amateur bouts as a welterweight, winning each time he stepped into the ring. He progressed to Golden Gloves. In 1940, he turned pro. He knocked out Melody Johnson in his first pro fight. World War II soon entered the picture, and Charles enlisted. He served as a driver and boxed for troops.
There was much more to Brian Piccolo than what we learned in Brian’s Song. Read the story here.
After returning from his military service, he resumed boxing and put together a 20-1 pro record. Two of those wins were against “The Old Mongoose” hard-hitting Archie Moore. Moore became the world’s longest reigning light-heavyweight world champion in 1952. He held the crown for ten years. Charles’s third fight against Moore resulted in a ninth-round knockout. He picked up the nickname “The Cincinnati Cobra” around this time.
The fight after the third victory over Moore impacted Charles for the rest of his life. He squared off against a young man named Sam Baroudi. He knocked Baroudi out in the tenth round, and the young fighter later died of his injuries. Charles considered retiring, but Baroudi’s family convinced him to continue.
In 1949, Charles was awarded a fight against Jersey Joe Walcott for the National Boxing Association crown. He won the decision and became the world champion. Next, he fought his idol, Joe Louis, winning on points to become the Lineal Champion, or “The Man Who Beat the Man.”
Click to read some interesting facts about Joe Louis.
Charles won four fights in defense of his title, including another challenge from Walcott, but lost the title in his next match against Walcott. Soon after, he was diagnosed with a heart murmur and took a short break.
Ezzard fought his way back to earn a title shot at the great Rocky Marciano. On June 17, 1954, the two squared off in Yankee Stadium in what was likely the biggest fight of his career. Charles fought a great fight and became the first fighter ever to go fifteen rounds against Marciano, but he lost in a decision.
The two met for the championship again in September of that same year at Yankee Stadium. Marciano knocked Charles out in the eighth round. Many boxing writers have called the first fight one of the most significant heavyweight bouts of all time.
Marciano fought once more, then retired. Mainly for financial reasons, Charles fought seventeen more fights in the next two years before retiring. He came out of retirement a year later and had six more fights. He lost four of those.
Charles had gone through the money he earned from some bad investments and supporting extended family members. He took a job with a youth program in Cincinnati but lost it when co-workers discovered he did not have the requisite college degree. He took a shot at professional wrestling, but the income wasn’t enough to avoid foreclosure on his home.
A few years later, Ezzard was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). A friend helped him get a job in Chicago and spent his last time there. In 1975, not long before he passed away, Muhammad Ali raised $100,000 in a fundraiser to help with Charles’s expenses. At the event, Ali pushed Ezzard’s wheelchair into the hall. Charles died soon after.
Charles returned to his native Georgia only once, in 1949. Arriving in Lawrenceville by train, he visited his namesake, Dr. Ezzard, spoke at a local school, and returned home to Cincinnati.
In life, Charles was admired and respected. Friends offered that he never drank, smoked, or swore. He played the cello. A chance meeting with a well-dressed fighter when he was young left him with a penchant for finely tailored suits. Brooks Brothers were a particular favorite.
In his autobiography, Muhammad Ali said of Charles, “Ezzard Charles was a truly great fighter and champion. He was the only heavyweight champion, other than a young Sonny Liston, who I think would have really troubled me at my best.”
Charles’s hometown of Lawrenceville erected the monument to him in 1979. Several boxing publications have listed him as one of the greatest fighters of all time.
