Copyright © 1999-2003 by Robert Winker, Vermont Boxing History & International Pugilist Review

Golden Glove Narratives & News

Vermont Boxing Control Board - Jessica G. Porter, Director of Professional Regulation - jporter@sec.state.vt.us

2003 Vermont Golden Gloves - see championship pictures under "Photo Galleries" at Burlington Free Press

2001 Vermont Golden Gloves
The 2001 Golden Gloves will feature two boxing divisions for the first time since the early 1970s. The novice class will feature boxers who have had eight bouts or less and have not won a championship. The open class will feature the more experienced boxers who have had more than eight bouts. The Vermont tournament begins January 27th and continues on successive Saturdays until February 10th. All bout's are held at Burlington Memorial Auditorium. Open class champions from Vermont will advance to the New England Tournament of Champions in Lowell, Massachusetts on February 20-21st.The New England champs will participate in
the National Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in Las Vegas beginning April 30th.

Scveral training sites have been established. These include: The Bantam Boxing Club - with weekly training sessions at the Vermont National Guard Armory in Winooski. Call head coach and trainer Bill Lefebvre at 899-4421. The Tri-Town Boxing Club conducts sessions at the Vermont National Guard Armory in St. Albans. Contact Jim Sheridan at 933-2541. Call Shawn Morton at 467-1093 for the schedule at the Northeast Kingdom Training Center in Lyndonville. As always Ernie Farrar can be contacted for more information about the tournament or registration at P.O. Box 123, St. Albans, VT 05478.

Golden Anniverary - 50th Vermont Golden Gloves! Twenty-six boxers were looking to fight their way into the finals as the VGG boxing tournament went into its second round February 5th, at Memorial Auditorium in Burlington. The card included: 132 lbs - Duane Lefebve, Bantam Boxing (Williston) TKO-3, Heath Jewell, Middlebury; Tommy Ruggiero, Bantam Boxing Win-2, over Chris MacGilfrey, Hardwick. 139 lbs - James McMillan, Bantam Boxing won a Decision-3, over Ralph Bell, Villari's Self Defense; 147 lbs - Jason LeHoullier, Portland Boxing vs Josie Grandbois, Tri-Town Boxing; Chris Lane, Bangor P.A.L. received a Decision-3, over Burton Rockwell, Villari's Self Defense. 156 lbs - Lazio Beh, Putney vs Mike Riendeau, Tri-Town Boxing; Mario Andelic, Portland Boxing TKO-3, Henry Montoy, Bantam Boxing. 165 lbs - Jared Bouchard, Waterville, Maine defeated Paul Cherrier, Middlebury. 178 lbs - James Ploof, Jr., Tri-Town Boxing TKO-2, Lee Lamore, Portland Boxing; Phil Wills, Bantam Boxing got a Decision-3,over Scott Frost, Gamache Boxing. Heavyweight - Lyle Freedman, Putney vs Artie Overlock, Capital Area Boxing; Denis Brace, Bantam Boxing vs Paul Cyr, Gamache Boxing. The evening ended with Chris Slattery Bantam Boxing defeating Nicole Williams also of Bantam Boxing.

"Stand and Deliver" Story by Andy Gardiner, Burlington Free Press
The concrete walls of John Wood's basement are covered by a haphazard mosaic of yellowed boxing clippings and faded billboard fliers. The Lord's Prayer hangs alongside the military wisdom of Napoleon Bonaparte. The middle of the room is divided by a series of padded ropes into a 16-foot-by-16-foot square. Kidney belts, sparring gloves and leather headgear are piled in an open cupboard. The musty odor of dried sweat hangs over everything. It is a room born of substance, not style. It is the home of the Barton Boxing Club and it is the place where John Wood continues to do what he has done for more than a quarter-century...teach a succession of young Vermonters that the lessons learned within the unforgiving world of a boxing ring are the lessons a good man carries with him for life.

Training for Gold...Wood and his wife, Bonnie, live in a tidy blue house set on 10 acres halfway up a hillside in Barton. They have a small barn for their four horses and the view looking southeast toward Wheeler Mountain is the stuff of picture post cards. Wood is a custodian at Lake Region Union High School, but for 25 years he has devoted thousands of his off-hours to running the Barton Boxing Club. That is Wood's classroom. And the image he presents as a teacher is that of a much-loved teddy bear. Wood's squeaky laugh is infectious. The honest muscle on his 5-6, 209-pound frame is surrounded by a softness that begs for a hug. bu the hugs will have to wait on this cold winter evening. The annual Vermont Golden Gloves tournament has arrived and there is serious business to address in the basement. Wood normally holds training sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays. But during the mid-winter stretch leading up to the Golden Goves tournament in Burlington, the Barton Boxing Club rocks throughout the week. Most of the young men at the BBC aren't pointing toward the glory of the Golden Gloves. But on this night the three fighters receiving Wood's close attention are gunning for just that. Carmi Colburn is a rail-thin, high school senior with the youthful appearance of a paperboy. Reg Norris, a 26-year-old heavyweight, looks like a barroom bouncer with his shaved head and devilish goatee. They both have already won first-round bouts. Jesse Boutin, a junior lightweight with the slight build of a cross country skier, is preparing for his first fight that weekend. They join Wood in a tightly Choreographed rotation of movement. While one fighter pours body punches into a heavy bag, another hones his quickness on the speed bag. They take turns stepping inside the ropes for closely monitored sparring sessions with Wood. "Quicker! Be quicker with that jab," Wood snaps at Colburn like the Air Force drill sergeant he once was. "Come on...you couldn't break an egg with those shots!" Colburn has come to practice directly from playing in a North Country Union hockey game. He is struggling to find the energy Wood seeks. "Give me some respect!" Wood barks. "That's what you say when you throw that right hand!" Colburn responds and Wood smiles. His words now carry the encouragement of a father confessor. "That's it, that's it!," Wood encourages. "There's the power you want. Nice job!" Norris takes his turn in the ring, then Boutin. Wood's pattern is the same...he challenges, he cajoles, he praises. He leads them toward the philosophy spelled out in a motto on the wall: Always remember to "stand and deliver." "It's boxing, but it's discipline and confidence, too," Colburn says. "John pushes you to your limit but he's always there for you. He's like my second dad."

The Rumblers Four...Wood, 46, didn't take up boxing until after he left the service in 1971. At Lyndon Institute, his strengths were football and track, where he was a member of the Viking quarter-mile relay team that set state records four consecutive years. That's not to say Wood didn't know how to use his fists as a lad. One of seven brothers growing up on a farm in the remote Northeast Kingdom town of Sutton, he was constantly falling into scraps. "Oh, we were hellions," he said. "And back then there always seemed to be some sort of rumble going on." Wood, in fact, was a member of the "Rumblers Four" along with his older brother Edward, and boyhood friends Bob Sylvester and Artie Bickford. But the picture Wood paints of these periodic dust-ups is a relatively innocent one. "You didn't have all this stuff you have now," Wood said. "It was just, 'Meet me down by the gravel pit and we'll settle the problem.'" When he returned to Vermont after the Air Force, Wood was invited to try his hand at a boxing club in Hardwick. He was a regular there for five years. By then his interest had shifted to something larger...the creation of the Barton Boxing Club. The club's first home was Gilfillan's Garage in Barton. It later moved to Thibault's Barn and then the space above Bryce Elliott's milkhouse before finally settling in Wood's baement. bu the purpose has remained unchanged at every stop: to provide a place for young men to learn about self-respect, responsibility and sacrifice while discovering the secrets of the uppercut. "There were always a couple of kids getting into scraps," Wood said. "And I just said, 'Hey, if you guys have got all this energy, I've got a good place for you where you won't get into trouble. Come up with me and do some work on the heavy bag.'" There are no dues for the BBC. Wood meets most expenses by reaching into his own pocket. He doesn't think twice about stopping his car to pick up returnable bottles. Wood doesn't see a soda can, he sees a small down payment on a new pair of sparring gloves. There are rules at the Barton Boxing Club and those who don't abide by them answer to Wood. In the ring. "You don't pound up on your sisters and you don't start any crap at school," he said. "Because if you do, I'll hear about it and when I do, you go with me." Wood guesses more than 200 would-be fighters have walked into the Barton Boxing Club over the last 25 years. Every one, regardless of ability, has learned from a man who lives his life in the manner taught him by his parents: There is no room in life for hate. You give of yourself. And you share what you have.

Rural Life...It was 1933 and Edward and Josephine Wood had grown alarmed by the rough environment their Roxbury neighborhood in Boaston was providing their four young sons. They were eager to find someplace far removed from the pitfalls of big city living. They found it on 220 remote mountaintop acres in Sutton. A small house and a barn sat high up a logging trail and that's where the Woods put down their roots. "Woody" Wood stood 6 feet tall and had enormous hands well-suited to his trade as a carpenter. Josephine was more than a foot shorter than her husband and was a legendary cook. During their second winter in Vermont a chimney fire burned the house to the ground. There was never enough money to rebuild it so the family moved into the barn. That was where they would stay, as Woody kept expanding, remodeling and improving the space. But the building never had electricity or running water. John was the sixth of the eight Wood children and was born in the barn with his father serving as midwife. By family standards it was a fairly uneventful birth...one of his brothers had been delivered in an elevator and another in a taxi. The family made ends meet by logging, selling Christmas trees in the winter and haying in the summer. They had two working horses, chickens, pigs, goats and a milking cow. John's main family duty was cutting and splitting the wood. But there were also the haying and logging, and the elemental job of drawing water from a spring a quarter-mile down from the barn. "You put it on a sled if the snow crust was hard enough," John said. "If it wasn't, you had to carry it up. Try that at 10 years old." What little they had, the Woods shard. They took in Bickford as a foster child and Sylvester lived with them for two years in high school after a row with his family. "That's how they were...they loved people and they never had a bad word for anyone." Sylvester said. "You could see where John got his strength and character."

Dark Feelings...At 3 percnet, Vermont has the smallest black population of any state. The woods were virtually the only black family in the Northeast Kingdom when John was growing up. All of them had to deal with the prejudice that bubbled to the surface. Sometimes that prejudice came from fear. The Woods' closest neighbors would often use their horse and wagon to carry the children home after heavy snowfalls. But when one of the boys cut his leg badly, these same neighbors refused to take him to the hospital because they were afraid of black blood spilling in their car. Other times the incidents were more hateful. There was the night John was confronted by the father of the white girl he had come to take to the junior prom. No way was his daughter going to any dance with a black boy. The father wound up over the porch railing and John wound up stopped by the state police roadblock. The police sent him home, bu the father sent his daughter to school in White River Junction. Shortly after that confrontation John met Bonnie Ny at the Barton Fair. She was a junior at Lake Region Union High School in Orleans, a third-generation Vermont farmer."I was walking down the midway and she winked at me," John said. Bonnie blushingly admits that John speaks the truth. "He was just so cute," she said. "And he had that wonderful smile." John and Bonnie wrote to each other, dated, broke up, and began dating again. They were married after John returned from the Air Force in 1971, but not before John's mother tried to warn them against it, fearing the prejudice they were sure to face for creating a mixed marriage. And that prejudice did surface. The day Bonnie came home from the hospital after the birth of their daughter, Dionne, they received a threatening phone call. "We hid her behind the couch that night," Bonnie said. but John has always kept the prejudice in perspective. Most of his life-long friends, like Sylvester, are white. He sees the world through color blind eyes. "Nothing like that has happened in a long time; we've all moved on," John said. "It's just people being ignorant. I know they're not all like that." And John himself continues to bring a social maturity to this world. He gives free riding lessons and serves as an unofficial counselor at Lake Region. "John has that human dimension, a charisma that the kids relate to," said Lake Region principal Dick Aubuchon. "For an awful lot of our kids, John is the first black they have seen or touched. They know from him that a black person is no different frm a white person. There is nothing to fear."

The Bigger Prize...They are farm boys and construction workers, would-be lawyers and advertising salesmen. They are as young as 12-year-old Leo Davignon and as ancient as 32-year-old Bob Rockwell. They are the members and alumni of the Barton Boxing Club and their voices sing as a chorus when they talk about John Wood. "John inspires determination...he won't let you give up on yourslef and he won't give up on you," said Jake Mosher, a Golden Glove finalist who begins law school at the University of Montana in the fall. "He teaches accountability and sticking with something until you're satisfied with your effort." John Wood spent Saturday night guiding four of his fighters in the Golden Glove finals. But the young men who advance to Memorial Auditorium are no more important to him than the ones who never take their boxing any further than his basement. The Golden Gloves are nice, but there are bigger prizes to consider. "What I want them to take out of the ring is confidence...confidence in themselves as human beings," he said. "That's what I try to teach them because if they have that, they're going to make it through hard times."
Burlington Free Press, February 11, 1996, p. 1C, 4-5C

Local Boxer...For Burlington's Kevin Hatin, it wasn't a lack of experience or the unexpected discovery that his opponent was a southpaw that cost him a decision in the 165 lb championship bout of the Vermont Golden Gloves on Saturday (Feb. 10th). It was bronchitis. "That he was left-handed wasn't a factor...it caused a little bit of difficulty, but I still had troulbe with my lungs. I couldn't throw enough punches at one time to get something working," said Hatin, physical fitness director of the Burlington YMCA. The local favorite utilized his size advantage to take the fight to Sunkit, New Hampshire's Gary Bonenfant, but Bonenfact effectively landed enough punches coming out of clinches to outpoint Hatin. Bonenfant also had three years of boxing experience against Hatin's three career bouts. "I was a little nervous about fighting the hometown guy, but I've gone into other people's homtowns and beat them there," said Bonenfant. Hatin received the Sportsmanship award. The evening's most exciting fight saw Domingo LaBoy of Hoosick Fall, New York, decision Tri-Town Boxing's Stephane Monast. LaBoy won the 147 lb title by default, then faced the much larger Monast in an exhibition. "He weighed 20 pounds more than me," LaBoy exclaimed. "It was just exhibition, but they didn't tell me he was going to be 165. Some of the punches I was hitting him with...they would have took guys my size out." Still, Laboy was so fast and landed enough repeated solid blows that Monast did well to stay on his feet. Both boxers were rewarded by the crowd with a standing ovation, and LaBoy took home the Outstanding Boxer award.
Burlington Free Press, February 11, 1996, p. 6C

Golden Glove Stats

All bouts held in Memorial Hall, Burlington, Vt. Statistics taken from the Burlington Free Press and the Rutland Herald. These listings are not complete records of events, and have gone through successive updates since 1992.

1996 46thVGG

February 10, 1996. Ian Dube earned the evening's fist title in the 106 lb class. Dube used a series of sithering body punches to earn a first-round TKO over Winooski's Randy DeGraff. At 119 lbs, Daniel Audet decisioned Tri-Town training mate Billy Thurston. Sylvain Monast's decision over the Burlington YMCA's Kevin Grace at 125 lbs gave Tri-Town a clean sweep of the first three classes. Jody Cribbin...a four-time New England Junior Olympic champion...methodically landed punches from every angle in the 132 lb class and tore through the taller Jess Boutin like a thresher hitting a stalk of corn to earn a second round TKO. Barton Boxing's Carmi Colburn won a forfeit at 139 lbs, and Tom Hines of the Route 40 Gym earned a first-round TKO over Jim Sears of Arlington. Route 40 Gym's Dan Batchelder won the 178 lbs title and hevyweight Reginald Norris topped his Barton Boxing partner Alroy Johnson. Barton Boxing founder John Wood won the Manager/Trainer Award.
Burlington Free Press, February 11, 1996, p. 6C

January/February 1992
42nd Vermont Golden Gloves

Pete Adeson, hvywgt, TKO.

Chris Albee, Maine, 139 lbs semi loss to Dave Kinney, St. Albans, VT.

Ken Altshuler, Winooski, VT (Moriarty's), 178 lbs, quarter rd TKO, semi decision loss to Stephen Keach, Biddeford, ME

Martin Aubut, St. Albans, VT (Tri-Town), 156 lbs, loss.

Marcus Aylard, East Barre, VT, 139 lbs, loss.

Stacy Barcomb, Bethel, VT, 147 lbs, loss.

Jeff Batchelder (b. 1969), Bennington, VT (Greater Hoosick Boxing Club), 165 lbs final decision over Irwin Morits, Enosburg, VT, New England light hvywgt champion.

Frank Bertrand, (Granite State), 139 lbs, loss.

Mike Bevins, Ottaqueeche/Bridgewater, VT, hvywgt KO.

Jason Bosley, Richford, VT, 119 lbs, loss to John Carter, Barton, VT.

Martin Bouchard, St. Albans, VT, 125 lbs, decision loss to Charles Crews, Bennington, VT.

Willie Burbo, Burlington, VT, hvywgt loss.

Frank Cabana, (Tri-Town), St. Albans, VT, 132 lbs final loss to Bannon Corbett, Granville, NY.

John Carter (b. 1975), Barton, VT, 119 lbs, semi TKO over Germain Houle (Maine), final decision over Jason Bosley, Richford, VT (Tri-Town).

Beau Clark, Springfield, VT, 178 quarter final TKO loss to Rick Robitaille (Granite State).

Gary Colbert, Hartford, VT (Hartford Boxing), hvysgt loss.

Bannon Corbett (b.1972), Granville, NY, 132 lbs, final decision over Frank Cabana (Tri-Town), St. Albans, VT.

Brett Corbett, 112 lbs.

Charles Crews, Bennington, VT (Greater Hoosick Boxing Club), 125 lbs, Decision over Martin Bouchard, St. Albans, VT, Final Decision over Paul Phunef (Granite State).

Dennis Cribbin, Denmark, 106 lbs, Decision over Mark MacDonald, Lewiston, ME.

Tom Daniels, Scarborough, ME, 147 lbs, preliminary decision, quarter final TKO over M. Pero, final TKO over Terrence Pendleton (b. 1973), Proctor, VT (Garrow's)

Jeffrey Donahue, Plainfield, VT, 178 lbs, TKO loss to Billy Dunn, St. Albans, VT (Tri-Town).

Bob Dragon, Burlington, VT, hvywgt TKO

Billy Dunn, St. Albans, VT (Tri-Town), 178 lbs quarter TKO over Jeffrey Donahue, Plainfield, VT, semi final decision loss to Rick Robataille (Granite State)

Joey Gagne (b. 1976), Missisquoi, VT, 112 lbs, Decision over Jason Patenaude.

Paul Garrand, Winooski, VT (Moriarty's Gym), 125 lbs, quarter rd decision, semi TKO by Peter Phunef (Granite State)

Tim Gould (b. 1968), Woodstock, VT (Hartford Boxing) hvywgt win by decision, final TKO loss to Rick Sullivan, Hartford, NY

Joe Grandbois, St. Albans, VT (Tri-Town), 147 lbs decision.

Charles Greeno, Rutland, VT (Garrow's ) hvywgt loss.

Sean Harper, Colchester, VT (KO Boxing), 139 lbs, Preliminary TKO win, quarter final decision over John Roof, Rutland, VT, final decision loss to Dave Kinney, St. Albans, VT (Tri-Town).

Lewis Hemingway, St. Albans, VT ((Tri-Town), 147 lbs, Loss-3 to Kevin Smith, Winooski, VT.

Germain Houle, Maine (Rudy's), 119 lbs TKO loss to John Carter, Barton, VT.

Ron Johnson, Winooski, VT (Moriarty's), 156 lbs, loss

Stephen Keach, Biddeford, ME, 165 lbs, Semi-Decision over Ken Altshuler, Winooski, VT, Final Decision over Rick Robitaille (Granite State).

Dave Kinney (Tri-Town), St. Albans, VT (139 lbs) semi decision over Chris Albee, Maine, final decision over Sean Harper (KO Boxing), Colchester, VT.

Edwin Lazadeis, Bennington, VT (Greater Hoosick Boxing Club), hvywgt decision.

Mark MacDonald, Lewiston, ME (Lewiston Boxing), 106 lbs, decision loss to Dennis Cribbin, Denmark.

Brian Mayhew Jr. (b. 1976), Rutland, VT (Garrow's), 156 lbs, quarter final TKO over C. Safford, final TKO loss to John Webster, Lewiston, ME (Lewiston Boxing).

Rick Minkler, St. Alban's, VT, hvywgt loss.

Irwin Morits (Tri-Town)(1990 New England Champion), Enosburg, VT, 165 lbs semi decision over Brian Thurston, St. Albans, VT, final loss to Jeff Batchelder, Bennington, VT.

Joshua Nault, (Ruby's), 139 lbs, loss.

Dennis O'Brien, Seaport, ME, 147 lbs loss.

Jason Patenaude, 112 lbs, loss to Joey Gagne, Missisquoi, VT.

Terrence Pendleton, Proctor, VT (Garrow's), 147 lbs, final TKO loss to Tom Daniels, Scarborough, ME.

Dan Pepin, St. Albans, VT (Tri-Town), hvywgt loss.

Peter Phunef, (Granite State), 125 lbs, semi TKO over Paul Garrand, Winooski, VT, final decision loss to Charles Crews, Bennington, VT.

Robert Remillard, St. Albans, VT (Tri-Town), 125 lbs, loss.

Rick Robitaille (Granite State), 178 lbs, quarter TKO over Beau Clark, Springfield, VT, semi decision over Billy Dunn, St. Albans, VT (Tri-Town), 165 lbs, final decision loss to Stephen Keach, Biddleford, ME.

John Roof, Rutland, VT, (Garrow's), 139 lbs, quarter final decision loss to Sean Harper, Colchester, VT.

John Root, (KO Boxing), 156 lbs, decision win.

Paul Savage Jr. ( b. 1957), Ausable Forks, NY, 178 lbs, TKO 2 loss.

Ted Shumway, East Corinth, VT, 138 lbs, decision win.

Kevin Smith (b. 1968), Winooski, VT (Moriarty's Gym), 147 lbs, Decision-3 over Louis Hemingway.

Rick Sullivan (Hartford Boxing), Hartford, NY, final hvywgt TKO over Tim Gould, Woodstock, VT.

Brian Thurston (Tri-Town), St. Albans, 165 lbs semi loss to Irwin Morits, Enosburg, VT.

Shane Trombley, Ottaqueeche, VT, 156 lbs, loss

James Washington, Bennington, VT (Greater Hoosick Boxing Club), 147 lbs, loss.

John Webster, Lewiston, ME (Lewiston Boxing), 156 lbs, semi decision over Gary Wilcox, Saratoga, NY

Gary Wilcox, Saratoga, NY, 156 lbs semi loss to John Webster, Lewiston, Maine.