worthwhile cause
Charles Rice
Right or Wrong?
Seventy-seven thousand dollars is a lot of money, maybe even more than next year's Notre Dame tuition. Yet that is the record amount the Bengal Bouts raised in 2001 for the Holy Cross Mission in Bangladesh. In accepting the donation, Fr. Jose Peixotto, a 39-year veteran of the Mission, remarked that the conversion rate from the Bangladesh taka to the American dollar is 55 to 1. Seventy-seven thousand dollars will go a long way in a poverty-stricken country where many families live on less than $200 a year.
Bangladesh has 200,000 Catholics in a population of 130 million, 89 percent of whom are Muslims. Joe Zilligan, a 2001 Notre Dame grad, described his visit on a research project to the Mission: "I could write for days recounting the amazing tales of these men. Stories of men such as `the peanut butter priest.' I call him that because I did not catch his name. I just ran into him briefly during one of his quick stops in Dhaka to pick up some peanut butter at Notre Dame College, so that he may have some source of protein. He then continued to travel from village to village caring for and ministering to the sick, subsisting on bread, water and a little bit of peanut butter, as he has done for the last twenty or so years. I could tell stories of priests who have brought peace and understanding to villages consumed by hatred between Hindus and Muslims."
Knute Rockne initiated boxing at Notre Dame in the 1920s. The Bengal Bouts began in 1931. The program operates through the Recreational Sports office, headed by Rich O'Leary. The Boxing Club members themselves organize and conduct the daily training, fund-raising, ticket sales and promotion. The captains this year are: Matt Fumagalli, Mark Criniti, Rob Joyce, Brock Heckmann, Andrew Harms, Clay Cosse and Shawn Newburg. The recent success of the fund raising is due largely to the student managers, who this year are Mark Reynolds and Laura Anderson. The Women's Boxing Club, for several years, has played an indispensable role in fund raising and promotion.
There would be no Bengal Bouts, however, without the day-to-day leadership of the head coaches, Terry Johnson, a Chicago attorney, Tom Suddes, a Columbus developer and Pat Farrell, the University pilot. All are former Bengals champions. Assistant coaches include Sweet C. Robinson, and Bengals champs Ryan Rans, Chip Farrell and Roland Chamblee, a Superior Court judge.
The emphasis throughout is on safety. Emergency medical technicians Terry Engle, Sharon Farrell and John Osborn are present at all sparring. University physicians James M. Moriarty and Patrick Leary are present at ringside at the Bouts and supervise the training.
Jack Mooney, the only 89-year-old trainer in any sport anywhere, is the heart and soul of the Bengals. Jack is our link to Knute Rockne. He was the paper boy for Rockne who let him run with the team onto the sidelines for home games. Jack is assisted by Jack Zimmerman, a former South Bend boxer who is also a published poet and a concertina recording artist. We even have Holy Mother Church involved in Msgr. John B. Hagerty, who travels from his Notre Dame Parish in Pennsylvania to time the Bouts. And Fr. Bill Seetch, our chaplain, not only blesses the boxers, but he works out with them, too.
The boxers undergo training that caused one new participant to voice the old boot camp aphorism, "The first day I was afraid I would die. For the rest of that week I was afraid I wouldn't."
Why do intelligent and presumably sane students freely subject themselves to workouts including thousands of push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, endless running and sparring that sometimes rearranges one's facial landscape? After all that, he has to enter a ring all by himself, except that his opponent is there with a contrary intent. As the T-shirt says, "No substitutions, no time-outs, no excuses."
Why do it? As one boxer told me, "I signed up to get in shape and to see if I could really do this thing. Once-in-a-lifetime. But there's more to it. We can be the difference between living and dying for some kid in Bangladesh."
As Fr. Seetch put it, "They do it for bragging rights. It takes no small amount of courage to step into that ring in front of thousands of people. They can brag about that. Mostly, however, they do it because they believe in the program and the motto established by Dominic (Nappy) Napolitano, the Bouts founder: "Strong bodies fight that weak bodies may be nourished."
This year 175 students, a record number, began training for the Bouts. We hope the Notre Dame community will support this cause. It really does help people in need. Besides, we think you will enjoy the Bouts.
Prof. Rice is on the Law School faculty and is faculty advisor to the Boxing Club. His column appears every other Tuesday. He can be contacted at Plawecki.1@nd.edu. "Right or Wrong" appears every other Monday.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
All Viewpoint Stories for Tuesday, January 29, 2002
