>> Surrounded by books and a laptop, notes in Mandarin Chinese and economics, UW-Madison sophomore Chandler Davis is a typically hard-working double-major. But when he first came to campus he had more in mind than just hitting the books. >> I figured why not just see if there's interest. >> Chandler wanted a venue for his right jab and left hook. >> I started inquiring about it. You know, what does it take to get boxing as a club sport? They said, well, there's the history. >> That history of UW boxing was new to Chandler, but not to the old-timers. >> Wisconsin probably was the best intercollegiate school for boxing. >> It was once bigger than life on campus. >> There'd be about three home matches per year, three or four, and all of them would have eight to ten thousand people crammed into the old field house for the shows.
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>> And in the late 1950's Varsity boxer Charlie Mohr was the star. Bob Lynch was his friend and sparring partner. >> Charlie Mohr was the best known person on campus. But with Charlie, when he's walk across campus, just hundreds of kids would be, "Hi, Charlie." >> But intercollegiate boxing here and across the country abruptly ended when Charlie Mohr died after taking a hit in the national tournament ring at the UW-Madison field house. >> Stu Bartell caught Charlie with just a real good, hard right-hand shot. But he was, obviously, knocked off balance, but didn't appear really to be hurt. >> But he was, gravely hurt. The blow to the head had caused massive bleeding on the brain. Days later the young star boxer succumbed. Charlie Mohr's death in 1960 marked the devastating demise of boxing on campus. Chandler Davis may not have known the painful history when he started, but he learned it. And respectful of Charlie Mohr's legacy, persisted. After more than five decades of a boxing ban on campus, the sport is back.
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>> Two minute rounds. Beware of leading with a bent-arm punch. Good work, good sparring, gentlemen. Keep it up. >> And coming full circle, Charlie Mohr's old sparring partner is now a coach of Chandler Davis' new team. >> Chandler, I just have a awful lot of respect for him. As a university sophomore, he's accomplished something that probably hundreds, if not thousands of people wished took place. >> It's really cool to see, like, old alumni come back. Yeah, there's a lot of enthusiasm. You know, you don't know what you've done. This is great. It's great to see this back on campus. And it's great to see them, you know, enthusiastic. I feel like they're more than I am. My goal is just to see it as an activity on campus. I think it deserves its rightful place among the 41 club sports that we have. >> But thinking it and making it happen were two very different things. >> I talked to the rec. sports department saying, what does it take to get a club sport? >> And thus began his dogged year-and-a-half long mission. >> You're going to have to go to risk management, the Dean of Student's office. I went back to rec. sports. They sent me in a loop. They sent me in one big bureaucracy loop. >> Chandler also made multiple formal presentations to university officials and answered their most essential question. >> They wanted to know what I was going to do to improve safety, what safety was different. I emphasized tit was, you know, headgear. >> Coach Lynch describes the difference between old-style headgear and new. >> This is a 1960 head guard, exactly the type of thing that Charlie was wearing when he was hurt. The emphasis really was across the forehead and over the corner of the eyes to protect from cuts more than absorbing the power of punches. This is a head guard that's used currently. It's pretty thick padding up through the forehead area, the side area, the back is padded as well. That's some of your best movement ever, Chandler Keep it up. >> With their questions answered, university brass finally voted to approve the boxing club on campus, with Chandler Davis as it's president. Around 50 students now spar and train with mostly donated equipment under the watchful eye of seasoned coaches.
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>> Time! I would think Charlie would very much approve of it. >> Just the fact that I kept-- was determined to keep going, I think, really taught me something that this determination can actually do something.
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