Unless you pass by the Columbus street sign that now bears his name, you might not know who Henry Armstrong is.
When it comes to famous figures from the Friendly City, most people know Tennessee Williams. Many know Eudora Welty.
And that might be it.
“We’ve had a lot of other people born and raised around here who nobody knows of,” Columbus resident Mark Sanderson said.
Armstrong is one of them.
Sanderson, along with local sports history buff Glenn Lautzenhiser, want to change that.
Less than five months after Third Street North from Main Street to Seventh Avenue was christened Henry Armstrong Way, the Columbus native’s name will be the talk of the town once again.
One of the most decorated boxers of the 20th century, he is the namesake of the Henry Armstrong Boxing Classic, which will be held March 4 at Trotter Convention Center. Sanderson is putting on the event with assistance from Lautzenhiser and the Columbus-Lowndes Convention and Visitors Bureau.
“This was a tremendous fighter and a great human being,” Lautzenhiser said. “We’re just trying to do everything we can here to keep his memory alive and remind people of what this man accomplished and how significant he was.”
‘A relentless puncher’
Born Henry Jackson in 1912 in Columbus, Armstrong moved with his family to St. Louis at a young age. When he was 18, he hopped aboard a freight car and made his way to Los Angeles with no money and nowhere to stay.
Armstrong found a temporary home at LA’s Midnight Mission and began training at the nearby Main Street Gym. In 1931, he began his boxing career, fighting under the name “Melody Jackson” early on. He fought primarily in California, Nevada and Mexico, and the matches south of the border skewed his record.
“Down there at that time, if you didn’t knock the other guy out, you were not going to win a decision down there,” Lautzenhiser said.
In 181 career fights, Armstrong’s statistics speak for themselves: 151 wins, 21 losses and nine draws. He won 101 of his fights by knockout.
Armstrong is the only boxer to hold three world championships simultaneously, accomplishing the feat in August 1938. Jumping from weight class to weight class, he once held the featherweight (126-pound), lightweight (135-pound) and welterweight (147-pound) titles all at the same time.
Two years after his death in 1988, Armstrong was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
His New York Times obituary called Armstrong a “relentless puncher” and said he is “considered by many ring analysts to be, pound for pound, the greatest fighter in boxing history.”
“People have heard the name, but so many people really don’t know how great he really was,” Lautzenhiser said. “He was a great individual.”
A ‘stepping-stone’
Armstrong’s legacy went far beyond the ring.
A few years after he retired, he became an ordained minister. As a youth advocate, Armstrong made visits to the Boys and Girls Club and the YMCA and helped mentor at-risk children. In 1952, he founded the Henry Armstrong Youth Center.
Now, his grandson Edward Scott Jr. runs the nonprofit Henry Armstrong Foundation in Los Angeles with the same mission: to “empower and enhance the self-esteem of youths by providing entrepreneur/vocational training and sports programs,” per the foundation’s website.
The March 4 event will be along the same lines, as Sanderson said he hopes to promote boxing as an option for area children to get into organized sports.
The sport can help relieve aggression, too, said Dispatch customer service agent Dustin Nichols, who will box in the March 4 event.
“It helped me work on my temper a lot because you get to hitting on that bag in training, and it won’t go nowhere,” Nichols said. “You can hit it as much and as hard as you want to. I wish every kid had one at home they could work with.”
Eight fighters from Oliver Miller’s College Street gym, Miller’s Tae-Kwon-Do, will compete in the event. There will be three amateur fights and six professional fights in the middleweight, light heavyweight, cruiserweight and heavyweight classes.
There will be a weigh-in at Regal Hall at 6 p.m. March 3. Doors open at Trotter at 5 p.m. March 4 for the fights, which begin at 6 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at sandpromotions.com or at the door.
Tuscaloosa-based fighter Deon “The Equalizer” Nicholson will headline the cruiserweight co-main event, while Nichols will compete in the heavyweight fight.
Jay Deas, the trainer for both Nicholson and former WBC heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder, will be in attendance. Airmen from Columbus Air Force Base have volunteered to help staff the event.
Scott and his wife will also be in town, hoping to establish a connection between his grandfather’s birthplace and the foundation bearing Armstrong’s name.
Sanderson said donations to the Henry Armstrong Foundation are encouraged. He and Lautzenhiser made it clear the boxing event is merely a “stepping-stone,” not their final effort to honor the legendary boxer.
“One of the greatest people ever born in Columbus, no question about that,” Lautzenhiser said.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 24 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
