![]() ![]() Castle originally came to Southern California to work with Charlie Chaplin at Essanay Film Manufacturing Company, one of the pioneering silent-movie studios on the West Coast.Ĭastle left motion pictures for photography and, beginning in 1944, taught the craft at what was then Loyola University-Marymount College. Andrew Castle dreamed up the entire endeavor, dubbing it, grandly, the Avenue of the Athletes. In search of an organizing principle, some rhyme or reason for this esoteric boulevard of bronze, I turned to Fred Claire, the former general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who immediately knew what I was talking about.Ĭlaire told me that a local entrepreneur by the name of L. ![]() win the first gold medal awarded in basketball in 1936 and sprinter Wyomia Tyus, who won back-to-back gold medals in the 100 meters (1964, 1968).īut I also noticed several outliers, like Babe Ruth and Joe Louis, icons both, but athletes with little connection to L.A. The city has hosted the Summer Olympics twice, in 19, and is currently bidding for the 2024 Olympics.īesides track star Jesse Owens-whose triumph at the 1936 Berlin games humiliated Adolf Hitler and his Aryan doctrine-there were plaques for divers Pat McCormick (four gold medals at the 19 Games) and Sammy Lee, the first Asian-American to win Olympic gold (1948, 1952) 1960 decathlete gold medalist Rafer Johnson 1968 pole vault winner Bob Seagren swimmer John Naber, a five-time Olympic medalist Frank Lubin, who helped the U.S. L.A.’s dedication to the Olympic Movement runs deep. Olympians seemed to dominate the plaques, which made sense at this local level. and broke the NFL color barrier a year before Robinson integrated baseball. Here also were Pasadena’s own Jackie Robinson, who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers, and his UCLA teammate, Kenny Washington, the Rams running back who grew up in L.A. This was reinforced when I came upon other greats who made their reputations in Southern California, including Dodgers pitching ace Sandy Koufax, Lakers legend Elgin Baylor, and boxer Armando Muniz. McLarnin didn’t fight here, but he spent most of his post-ring career in L.A. My first thought was that the plaques must have some connection with Southern California. But now that I had noticed them, I set about trying to figure out their relevance to each other and Los Angeles. Many are blemished with graffiti or dirt. ![]() Measuring approximately 17 by 16 inches, about the size of a coffee table book, they don’t exactly pop out of the pavement. I quickly discovered McLarnin was not alone-his was just one in a series of similar homages to former sports stars. I’d walked this stretch of the boulevard, through L.A.’s Echo Park neighborhood just north of downtown, countless times but I’d never noticed it. ![]() Which left me to wonder about this mysterious plaque. Age did do him one favor: his “new” claim to fame was that he was the world’s oldest living boxing champ.ĭespite an impressive career, McLarnin wasn’t exactly a household name. But by the time I met him for an interview in 2004, not long before he died at 96, age had knocked about six inches off his height, and arthritis had turned his powerful fists into gnarled claws. I’m a sports writer and author, and a longtime admirer of McLarnin’s ring reputation. His handlers, always eager to build up the gate receipts, dubbed him “The Jew Killer.” A two-time world champ, he fought at a time when the best Irish boxers were routinely pitted against the top Italian and Jewish pugs. In his prime, in the 1920s and 1930s, McLarnin was one of the baddest welterweights to climb into the ring. On a small bronze plaque embedded into the sidewalk was the name Jimmy McLarnin, alongside a set of boxing gloves. Walking along Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles the other day I stumbled across an old acquaintance. ![]()
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