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'I fought, I bled, I cried'

QUARRY: Fighter suffered dementia before death

The Bakersfield Californian | Friday, Mar 19 2010 05:56 PM

Last Updated Friday, Mar 19 2010 05:56 PM

Bakersfield heavyweight Jerry Quarry was a great fighter: He beat champ Floyd Patterson, legend has it he broke Muhammad Ali's jaw, and George Foreman admitted to ducking him.

The only person tougher than Quarry was his mother, Arwanda. No matter how many lips he busted and fights he won, he was always a mama's boy.

"Before he died, he told me 100 times a day, if he told me once, that he loved me," said the 83-year-old Arwanda.

Bakersfield has had some good fighters: Dennis Mulholland, Ruben Castillo, Larry Frazier and Ted Lidgett.

But none were better than the Quarrys, Shafter boys by way of Eden Prairie, Ark.: Bobby, Mike, and, of course, Jerry, rated No. 1 heavyweight in the world six times.

"The fights in the rings were only part of it," said Wilma, one of eight children born to Arwanda. "The Quarrys stuck together. The best fight was often in the audience after the fight."

In the '60s and '70s, the Quarrys were everywhere -- in the news, on TV and around town. But Jerry and Mike, both stricken with boxing-related dementia, died young. Bobby, the youngest, who used to

run along city streets shadow boxing a ghost fighter from a distant past, is in prison. Only the stories remain.

Stories and good memories of the Quarry family taking beach trips to San Clemente with picnic lunches of balogna sandwiches, chips and soda.

Bakersfield's Blake Chavez is writing a book on Jerry Quarry called "Hard Luck." Chavez has partnered with Steve Springer, a former sports writer for the Los Angeles Times. (Chavez has an interesting story himself. He was knocking down $250,000 a year selling cars, but he wanted to write, so he churned out a couple of screenplays and now is doing this book.)

Jerry Quarry was known as "The Great White Hope," a clever marketing scheme in an era of great black heavyweights and lingering racism, but Quarry didn't care for it.

"Jerry was gracious and intelligent," Chavez said. "He didn't have a racial bone in his body. He took issue with The Great White Hope nickname."

Although Quarry might have been gracious and intelligent (he wrote poetry) Quarry was also underconfident, said his sister Wilma.

"Jerry always felt he was the bridesmaid of the heavyweight division, but never the bride," said his sister Wilma.

"When I was 15, before he fought Frazier, he asked me if I thought he could win."

At 195 pounds, Quarry was not quite big enough to be the best. However, he was dangerously powerful. He knocked out Earnie "Acorn" Shavers, one of the hardest hitters in heavyweight history, in the first round.

Quarry fought "Mandingo" Ken Norton, Muhammad Ali and Smokin' Joe Frazier twice each. Quarry beat Floyd Patterson once and drew with him once.

"I don't want to fight Quarry again," Patterson said, "Because even he doesn't know when he's going to throw his left hook."

By the time he was 30, Quarry had made millions, met the queen of England, was a friend of Lee Majors, Farrah Fawcett, Robert Conrad and Elvis (his portrait hung in Graceland) and had a glamorous wife.

Quarry guest starred in "I Dream of Jeannie," "Batman," "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "Adam-12," was a sports broadcaster for ABC, had made a light beer commercial with his brother, Mike, and was a road manager for Three Dog Night.

No matter how famous Quarry became, he was unfailingly kind to his mother, Arwanda, whose husband, Jack, had left her in 1969.

"He'd give me $5,000 after a fight," Arwanda said. "When I came to see him fight in New York, he'd lift me to the ceiling and say 'Momma, I'm so glad you're here.'"

Watching the boys fight was not easy. For the tougher fights, Arwanda took tranquilizers to make it through. But that's not to say the Quarry matriarch wasn't tough: After her son Mike's bout with Bob Foster in Las Vegas, she slapped the chief of police. Arwanda also had an ongoing feud with Howard Cosell.

Jerry Quarry retired in 1975 but came back for a couple of bouts only to get pounded. Finally, at the age of 47, Quarry was pummeled in his last fight and required 100 stitches.

In boxing, fame and money has a price measured in punishment. After quitting, Quarry developed memory problems and was diagnosed with Dementia Pugilistica. His family nursed him through the illness. Quarry died in 1999 at 53 in Templeton. Irish Jerry Quarry was buried in Shafter with bagpipes playing "Danny Boy."

"We didn't know then what we know now," said his sister Wilma. "These fighters take a beating. We go to these events where the fighters gather and these heavyweights are gone. There is nothing left of their minds."

Jerry's brother Mike, himself a former light heavyweight No. 1 contender, was similarly afflicted with dementia and died in 2006 at the age of 55.

"It's not just the fights, it's the training," said Robert Pearson, who is married to the Quarrys' sister Wilma. "Jerry pounded Mike in practice because he wanted to make sure he was tough enough. They say that for every round in the ring, there are 100 rounds of sparring."

Arwanda, who lives with her daughter and Pearson in Oleander, says she is finished with boxing. Wilma introduced her boys to every sport but boxing.

"I don't want any more boxers if we can help it," Arwanda said.

"I have 15 grandchildren and 17 great grandchildren and there isn't one boxer in the bunch."

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The Shafter Cemetery is surrounded by almond trees soon to be in bloom. The grave is simple. Chiseled on his headstone is:

"In Loving Memory

Jerry L. Quarry

"The Great White Hope

May 15, 1945-Jan. 3, 1999.

"The Best of All Times."

Jewell Baggs-Busch, Wife-Mother-Grandmother, is buried to his right. To Quarry's left, the grass is smooth and the ground empty. Nothing to block that deadly left hook.