Before I get to that however,let me provide some background. Muhammad Ali first turned me on to Boxing.It wasn't that I enjoyed seeing guys pounding each other that drew me to the sport,but rather the persona of Ali,and his willingness to go against the grain. If someone like that was a boxer,then maybe,I thought,boxing was worth following.
I saw the first Ali-Norton fight on TV. It was apparent early that it wasn't Ali's best fight,but as an Ali fan I continued to hope that somehow he would pull off the decision. That didn't happen. Ken Norton beat Ali and from that day on,I knew I'd never become a Norton fan.
I moved to Brooklyn from Palmer Alaska in September of 1976. Sometimes I feel like I still reel from the culture shock of that move! Within those first few weeks in Brooklyn,I had been nearly killed by merely crossing the street,was the cause of a theft at house I lived in for failing to lock the door,and had the car I was responsible for stolen. Welcome to New York.
Ken Norton was to fight Ali again in September of '76. This time at Yankee Stadium. Ali won a close decision,but as big a story that day was the muggings and robbings that took place outside of Yankee Stadium after the fight. New York City Police,preparing to go on strike,for the most part stood by as it all was happening. Welcome to New York.
When living in Brooklyn,I was part of a group called Gospel Outreach. G.O. as we called it was an outgrowth of the "Jesus Movement" of the late 60's and early 70's. It was a group mostly populated by countercultural types,and it brought a countercultural touch to Evangelical Christianity. G.O. was founded in Northern California,and one of the things it was noted for was its communal homes. Now in Northern California,Oregon,Washington State or even Alaska where I first encountered G.O.,communal living was not going to seem all that much out of the ordinary,after all during that time period,that's what a lot of "hippies" did. Brooklyn was not Northern Cali however,and Brooklyn was not the small town or rural community that G.O. tended to be located.
G.O. had 2 houses in Brooklyn, both in the Park Slope neighborhood.One we called "The Shepherds House" the other "Sterling House". I started my life in Brooklyn at the Shepherds House,but most of my time there was spent at the Sterling House.
Park Slope in the 70's was not the gentrified neighborhood that it is today. It was part of the 'hood. Never saw what the cashier at the corner store looked like. Across the street from the Sterling House was an apartment building where one would be greeted upon entering with the aroma of piss in the hallways and where it was best for many reasons not to use the elevator. People would hang out in front of their brownstone buildings in Spike Lee "Do the Right Thing" fashion,and if you were walking down Sterling Place,one might never know that a service,complete with acoustic guitars and the like was taking place inside the Sterling House,because it was likely being drowned out by large speakers as "Disco Wars" were commonplace in the day.
Up till around 1978, television was not allowed in G.O. communal houses. In Alaska,my buddy Richard Twiss and I would arrange to be in Anchorage so we could watch Muhammad Ali fight at the Downtown J.C. Penney store.
Sometime in 1977,a man named Robert Wren came to live with us at the Sterling House. How he came to live there I do not recall. Like most of the rest of us living in the communal homes, he was not from New York. Robert Wren was not some ex-hippie. Robert Wren came from Oklahoma where he had been a biker and had previously been in a motorcycle gang. He was one big dude. Highly opinionated,and one not afraid to voice his opinions in a setting where voicing one's opinions was not particularly valued. One thing was for certain,even in the 'hood,someone was going to need to think twice before messing with Robert Wren.
Robert and I came from completely different backgrounds,but perhaps because of that inner rebel spirit,we became fast friends.
September 1977 Muhammad Ali was to fight Earnie Shavers in a bout that was to be nationally televised. TV's were still not allowed at the Sterling House,but there were few worries about missing the fight. Muhammad Ali fights were by then cultural events and one just had to walk the streets of Park Slope to get a glimpse of the fight from some TV or hear the cheers for Ali. Doing the same thing though we didn't do it together was Robert Wren.
By 1978,TV's were allowed in the G.O. Houses but what was watched and how much time spent in front of the television was tightly monitored.
Robert Wren would like to think it was his voicing of opinion that got it done,and who knows? maybe there was a fear of God involved in saying no to Robert,but of my fondest memories of Robert and of the Sterling House was that of myself,my other buddy Keith Marquette,houseleader Gary Crouthamel and Robert Wren watching the Ken Norton-Larry Holmes championship fight in the basement of the Sterling House.
To this day,the Norton-Holmes fight is considered to be one of the most exciting fights ever..
R.I.P. Ken Norton,and Robert Wren? I hope you are well wherever you are
