Billy Graham (September 9, 1922 – January 22, 1992) was an American boxer from New York City who had a professional record of 102 wins and 15 losses. Though a leading lightweight contender, Graham was never the recipient of a world title. Graham did however, have the remarkable distinction of never having been knocked off his feet in his long career. He was elected into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1987, and is also in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.
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Early life and career
Graham was born in the Murray Hill neighborhood of Manhattan on September 9, 1922. Billy's father operated a candy store on Second Avenue between East 35th and 36th streets, which later became a bar after the end of Prohibition and moved to the corner of Second Avenue and East 36th Street. His early life centered on the neighborhood surrounding his father's saloon, which included St. Gabriel Church and St. Gabriel's Park.
At the age of ten, Billy began learning how to box at the Catholic Boys' Club, which was a converted tenement on East 37th Street between First and Second avenues and included a gym on the top floor. He later boxed for the Madison Square Boys' Club. Graham defeated Walker Smith Jr. (Sugar Ray Robinson) in a three-round decision at Greenwich House in the West Village for the Boys' Club Athletic League championship when they were both amateurs in New York City. At the time, Graham was thirteen years old and both kids weighted about 90 pounds (41 kg). Years later, after Robinson had become a boxing legend, Graham saw him and reminded him of their fight. Robinson smiled and responded, "Lots of people beat Sugar Ray Robinson. But you're the only man who ever beat Walker Smith." Graham went on to compile a record of 80–2 as an amateur boxer.
Graham left high school after two years and decided he wanted to be a fighter. He was turned down for the Golden Gloves four times due to a heart murmur. Graham spent three months working as a stock boy at the Lord & Taylor department store before becoming a professional boxer.
Graham temporarily paused his boxing career during World War II, serving in the United States Coast Guard along with fellow boxers Johnny Colan and Artie Tedesco. He resumed fighting in April 1944.
Graham met his future wife through her father, who was a regular customer at his father's bar on Second Avenue. Graham and Lorraine Hansen were engaged in February 1948 and the couple got married later that same year. They had four children.
Boxing career
He was undefeated in his first 58 fights, going 52–0–6, until he fought Tony Pellone, where he lost by a split decision.
Graham was known as a welterweight with stylish and subtle moves that made him a difficult target in the ring. He fought the legendary Kid Gavilán (commonly spelled Kid Gavilan) four times. In the first fight, held at Madison Square Garden, he beat Gavilan by a split decision. In the second fight, he lost at Madison Square Garden by a medical decision. The third fight was for the National Boxing Association World welterweight title and was again held at Madison Square Garden; this time, Gavilan won by a split decision. The final fight was for the World Welterweight Title in Havana, Cuba at Stadium Ball Park; Gavilan was again the victor, winning in a unanimous decision.
In a 2002 interview with The Observer, Budd Schulberg talked about mob involvement in boxing in the 1950s and how Gavilan both won and lost the welterweight championship due to mob interference.
"...Frankie Carbo, the mob's unofficial commissioner for boxing, controlled a lot of the welters and middles.... Not every fight was fixed, of course, but from time to time Carbo and his lieutenants, like Blinky Palermo in Philadelphia, would put the fix in. When the Kid Gavilan-Johnny Saxton fight was won by Saxton on a decision in Philadelphia in 1954, I was covering it for Sports Illustrated and wrote a piece at that time saying boxing was a dirty business and must be cleaned up now. It was an open secret. All the press knew that one - and other fights - were fixed. Gavilan was a mob-controlled fighter, too, and when he fought Billy Graham it was clear Graham had been robbed of the title. The decision would be bought. If it was close, the judges would shade it the way they had been told."
Graham's controversial loss to Gavilan in 1951 earned him the nickname "The Uncrowned Welterweight Champion of the World". Matchmaker Teddy Brenner commented, "If a fighter ever won a fight, Graham won that fight. It ranks among the worst decisions I've ever seen." The decision was reviewed by the New York State Athletic Commission in 1985, but was not overturned.
Billy Graham also fought Carmen Basilio three times in his career. The first fight was held at Chicago Stadium; Graham won by a unanimous decision. Basilio won the second fight, held for the New York State Welterweight Title at Memorial Stadium in Syracuse, by a unanimous decision. The third and final fight was deemed a draw; Basilio kept his New York State Welterweight Title.
Life after boxing
After retiring from boxing, Graham moved to West Islip, New York in 1955. He spent 35 years working as a representative for liquor companies, including 25 years for Seagram's. Graham also worked as a boxing judge and referee.
While employed by National Distillers, Graham made a guest appearance as an imposter for a police officer on the August 18, 1960 episode of the CBS game show To Tell the Truth. He fooled the panel into thinking he was the officer, garnering two of the four possible votes from Kitty Carlisle and Jim Fleming. After all the votes were cast, Tom Poston recognized Graham's true identity. Graham had also appeared on CBS' Name That Tune game show on April 23, 1957, when he won a jackpot of $25,000 along with a 14-year-old contestant. On May 27, 1957, Graham met the evangelist Billy Graham at Madison Square Garden and presented him with a recording of a semi-religious song he had helped write called The Man.
W. C. Heinz's 1958 novel The Professional was written about a sportswriter covering a boxer training for a fight, and the character of middleweight Eddie Brown was based on Billy Graham.
Graham died of cancer at his home in West Islip on January 22, 1992.