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By Kellan Davidson
ITHACA, NY – Under the cold glow of bare halogen bulbs, 14-year-old J.C. Rumsey glares at his own reflection in a chipped mirror propped up against a wall. He carefully adjusts his footing and puts up his dukes.
The swaying rhythms of soul music drown out the buzz of an old space heater by the door of the small 3-room warehouse turned boxing gym.
Three beeps from a timer, measuring the 3-minute rounds of a boxing match, are the pacemaker for the gym. The first beep serves as the cue for Rumsey’s orange, pre-wrap bound fists to begin flying toward his likeness in the fogged mirror.
Behind him stands his trainer, David Brown. As he watches the young man he thumbs his cap that has “JESUS” boldly embroidered across it above his hairline. He says Central New York is ripe with talent and young Rumsey shows a lot of potential.
The Greater Ithaca Activities Center has served Ithaca’s boxing culture for 38 years and is the oldest boxing program in the area, according to GIAC Program Coordinator, Michael Thomas.
This past year, the GIAC’s primary location at 318 N. Albany St. was temporarily closed for renovation. The building is a former school that was built in 1922 and converted into the GIAC’s headquarters. Given few renovations to serve programs specifically, the building began to deteriorate. Now, thanks to a $4 million grant from the Ithaca City Council, the changes are beginning to happen and the building is being restored.
Though the boxing rooms had been renovated only 2 years prior, the new renovations will improve the room’s ventilation and upgrade its restroom facilities.
Forced out, the dedicated training staff found a new location. Starting in September 2009 the program temporarily moved to a small warehouse off of Route 13.
The unfinished building holds 3 heavy bags, a floor-to-ceiling dodging bag and a portion of the floor roped off and padded, to serve as a practice ring. The conditions are tight for now, but Brown says it gets the job done, calling the room “the home of champions.” Brown says, “We accept this, it’s a hole in the wall, but it’s some place the kids can come.”
Brown is a former boxer himself, forced into retirement due to eye damages from fighting. Two cornea transplant surgeries later, Brown began training a new generation of boxers alongside his childhood friend, Danny Akers. It is Brown’s job to take the younger fighters that show up to the gym and teach them proper footwork and punching form.
Brown has come to the gym to train with the fighters from 5 to 7 p.m. every Monday through Friday for years. Only recently has the GIAC proposed to put him on the payroll, before, Brown was doing it solely for the love of the sport and desire to help the community.
Brown’s fellow trainer, Akers, is in Florida with a product of the boxing program, Willie Monroe Jr.
Monroe Jr. is an idol around the GIAC gym. He is currently in Florida as the sparring partner for World Boxing Council welterweight champion, Andre Berto, before his fight against challenger Carlos Quintana on April 10. Monroe Jr. is the success story many of the GIAC fighters strive to match.
“A goal of ours is to help facilitate [kids'] growth in the world of boxing, as well as real life; to see [our fighters] take it to that level is awesome,” says Thomas.
The no-nonsense approach around the gym has produced successful fighters since its inception. Brown makes it very clear that the program requires a lot of discipline and obedience. “What you put into training is exactly what you’ll get out of it,” says Brown.
This year alone the GIAC boxing program has produced 7 fighters that will be traveling to Buffalo, N.Y., for the New York State Gold Gloves Championship in April.
The GIAC is also a member of the U.S.A. Boxing Association, which enables them to coordinate their own events. Other programs from Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse and Geneva all send fighters to compete in the Chester “Chet” Cashman Classic boxing tournament, held in Ithaca’s Cass Park. The event is named after a former GIAC trainer, who has recently gone into a nursing home, only 5 years after retiring from training.
Rumsey hopes to compete in the tournament sometime soon. He represents the future of the GIAC boxing program as he trots around the makeshift ring and throws his right-hook at an invisible opponent (a punch he takes particular pride in). “That’s it, cut him off,” says Brown as he leans on the top rope, fixated on the boy’s footwork.
“I want to take it big,” says Rumsey; when asked how he plans to do it, he simply says, “Keep coming here.”
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