Alan "Goldy" Goldstein, Legendary Baltimore Boxing Writer, Passes At 82!

He was truly a legendary writer in the boxing business and he put boxing in Baltimore on the map.  He was also a mentor to many, including myself.

Alan "Goldy" Goldstein, a retired sports reporter and columnist for the Baltimore Sun, passed away on February 29 of liver failure.  He was 82.

Mr. Goldstein covered basketball and professional boxing primarily throughout his four-decade career.  His boxing era included covering legendary boxers like Sugar Ray Robinson, Muhammad Ali and Sugar Ray Leonard.  He wrote two biographies of fighters: "A Fistful of Sugar: The Sugar Ray Leonard Story" in 1981 and "Muhammad Ali: The Story of a Boxing Legend" published in 2007.  He also co-authored the book "12 Rounds With Oscar De La Hoya: An Illustrated Tribute to Boxing's Brightest Star" in 1998.

Mr. Goldstein was inducted into the Maryland Boxing Hall of Fame in 1976 and received the Nat Fleischer Award for Excellence in Boxing Journalism in 1997.

Born in New York City, Mr. Goldstein earned a bachelor's degree in journalism in 1954.  He served in the Army from 1954 to 1956 where he was a sports editor for Stars And Stripes.

After his discharge in 1956, Mr. Goldstein began his career as a sports reporter in Meriden, CT.  Four years later, he would join the Sun's staff.  He would cover just about any sport -- he covered the Orioles, the Colts and the Baltimore Blast.  But his true loves were basketball and boxing.

Mr. Goldstein is survived by his wife of 57 years, Rebecca, two sons, Joel and Jay and a granddaughter.  Services will be private.  There will be a celebration of his life on April 9 at his home in Brooklandville.

When I first wanted to expand my base of operations to include Baltimore back in the early 90's, Alan Goldstein was there.  He could not have been more welcoming to me.  I learned so much talking to him.  He was such a first-class individual and he was a huge point of reference for me when I started learning about the Baltimore part of the Beltway Boxing landscape.

In 2005, the year this blog started, I came across a Ring Magazine from 1996. This issue had a special section called "A Tale of 10 Cities" in which different boxing writers listed the top 10 boxers from US cities where boxing was paramount.

Baltimore was on that list and Mr. Goldstein's list looked like this:

1. Joe Gans
2. Harry Jeffra
3. Kid Williams
4. George (KO) Chaney
5. Joe Dundee
6. Vince Dundee
7. Vincent Pettway
8. Red Burman
9. Jimmy McAllister
10 Jack Portney

Such was the importance of Alan Goldstein's boxing writing. Thank you, Mr. Goldstein, for all you have done.  BATB sends its deepest condolences to the family.