Bert Randolph Sugar, Boxing Expert and Native Washingtonian, Passes at 75!

The boxing world, indeed the sports world has lost one of its true historians and I have lost quite a friend.

Legendary writer Bert Randolph Sugar passed away today in New York at the age of 75. Sugar passed away from cardiac arrest and was suffering from lung cancer. He had family nearby.

To say that Sugar was an expert on the history of boxing and was a great ambassador for the sport is an understatement. He was constantly sought after for his views on boxing, past and present. He wrote numerous books on the sport like Bert Sugar: on Boxing and 100 Years of Boxing. He also wrote books on other sports like baseball (Bert Sugar's Baseball Hall of Fame: A Living History of America's Greatest Game) and he co-wrote a Complete Idiot's Guide to Pro Wrestling with legendary manager Captain Lou Albano) Sugar wrote 80 books in all.

What many people along the Beltway may not know is that Sugar was a native of Washington, DC born on June 7, 1937. He attended Wilson Senior High School here in town and also graduated from the University of Maryland where he was a member of the university's boxing team. He was a staunch supporter of the University's boxing club attending many of their events.

Personally, Bert was one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to meet in a business where there are so many nice people. I first met Sugar almost 20 years ago at the Simon Brown-Tyrone Trice rematch at the DC Armory in April of 1990. We talked briefly during the event, but afterwards, my father and I gave Bert and a mutual friend of ours a ride to his hotel. What I remember most about that ride was listening to the radio (WTOP) and they ran a story about a magician who did magic tricks over the radio. Sugar thought it was just incredible and had everyone in the car cracking up over his comments about the story.

I interviewed Bert numerous times over the years. I had a great interview with him in 1995 at my first Fight Night event at the Washington Hilton Hotel and Towers -- the year Muhammad Ali was a special guest. Sugar came down to this area numerous times to come to Ballroom Boxing in Glen Burnie, in which he said it was the best club show in the country.

The last time I saw Bert was when the University of Maryland hosted the National Collegiate Boxing Championships in April of 2009. I had a chance to interview both Bert and sports talk show host and Washington Examiner columnist Thom Loverro, who like me, was a relative newbie to collegiate boxing. It was a great interview with a lot of fun and laughter -- just like the man himself.

Bert Randolph Sugar will always be known for his fedora, his cigar and his knowledge. Bert Randolph Sugar will also be known for being a true original who left a legacy that all of us who write about this sport will find hard to follow.