His doctors had been telling him to take it easy, but there George Chemeres was, whizzing punches by my 20-year-old ears as part of an impromptu sparring session inside the publisher’s office at the old Enterprise Newspapers offices.
There was still plenty of snap left in those tan, 84-year-old paws of his. Any of my co-workers who passed by the window could attest to that.
Plus, Chemeres clearly preferred action to words, though I soon found out his storytelling abilities were second to none.
I could tell George Chemeres was a character from the moment I first met him three summers ago and was saddened to hear of his passing Nov. 15 at the age of 87. He is survived by two sons, a daughter and two sisters. Services will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23 at Columbia Funeral Home (4567 Rainier Ave. S., Seattle).
In a luminous career that spanned eight decades, Chemeres circled the boxing bases, starting out as a fighter before excelling as a manager, trainer and promoter. The business card I keep on file touts Chemeres as a “Professor of Boxing Science,” an apt description of the classy ring veteran who spent his later years living in a Shoreline apartment.
When I asked about his background, Chemeres told me that if he hadn’t dropped out of school in the 10th grade, “I maybe would have been a genius. Some kind of lawyer, or surgeon, or a professor of something.”
Part of the inaugural class of inductees to the Northwest Boxing Hall of Fame, Chemeres operated the esteemed Cherry Street boxing gym in downtown Seattle. He was in Pete Rademacher’s corner when he floored heavyweight champion Floyd Patterson in a losing effort at Sicks’ Stadium in 1957.
Greg Haugen was his project throughout the 1980s and the Auburn lightweight claimed the IBF world title twice under Chemeres. And most recently, Chemeres managed and trained John John Palaki, turning the Tongan into a hot ticket at the Lucky Eagle Casino in Rochester, Wash. and a top lightweight contender.
It was one of Palaki’s upcoming fights that brought Chemeres (aka “the Greek”) to our old office that August morning. He talked at length about retiring for six months in his late 70s — “I’m sitting at home in my apartment on my butt doing what, waiting to die?” — and how he transformed Palaki from a brawler to a boxer.
“I’m spending my golden years with this hamburger,” Chemeres joked, nodding his head in Palaki’s direction.
His jibes and jabs were a tough one-two combination indeed.
A few months back, Chemeres came up — as he often does — while I was interviewing ex-fighter-turned-referee Bobby Howard at his Mill Creek home. Howard’s wife heard the two of us talking about Chemeres and chimed in that he and Howard share a birthday.
“George calls Bobby every year to wish him a happy birthday,” she told me. “Every year.”
At a fight card this summer in Tacoma, it didn’t take me long to spot Chemeres in the darkened ballroom. The marquee events always brought him out.
He was just as I remembered: slicked-back hair, stylish, gold-rimmed glasses framing his face, dress slacks and a sharp, button-up shirt buttoned only two-thirds of the way up to keep from blocking the gold necklace with golden gloves charms that dangled to his chest.
He looked like a high-roller or an old-time movie star. Like a professor of pugilism if there ever was one.
Charlie Laughtland covers sports for The Enterprise Newspapers. Questions and comments may be sent via e-mail to entsports@heraldnet.com, by fax to 425-774-8622 or by mail to: Sports editor, The Enterprise, 4303 198th St. SW., Lynnwood, WA 98036.
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