A Golden Touch
Don Spinetti was always a boxing fan as a kid.
“We used to stage our own (boxing) matches on the tennis courts on Zeigler Avenue,” he said, smiling. “We were 13 or 14 years old, maybe.”
Now 89, Spinetti has been manager of the Butler Cubs boxing gym for 50 years. He estimates working with 700 to 800 kids during that time.
Billy Wolfe, longtime boxing trainer at the Cubs facility, disagrees.
“It's more like thousands,” Wolfe said. “Don has new kids coming in here all the time ... and he's been here a long time.”While the Cubs boxing program has turned out eight professional fighters — Mike McGrady, Bill Wolfe, Ryan Covert, Lucas Adams, Bob Osterrider, Donovan Malovich, Dave Cook and Brian Minto — and roughly 300 Golden Gloves fighters during Spinetti's time there, it is the numerous other youths he's worked with whom he cherishes most.“So many parents bring their kids in here when they're approaching middle school age,” Spinetti said. “They don't want them to get bullied in school. They ask us to teach them how to defend themselves.
“One mother brought her son here 17 or 18 years ago. She claims to this day we changed his life. She told me, 'Thank you for keeping my kid out of trouble.' Every year, without fail, she makes a donation to our gym.“It's nice knowing we can have that kind of impact. I am very proud of that. Kids need sports,” he added.Spinetti served in combat for the U.S. Army in the Korean War. He figured his boxing days were over at that point.But out of 700 troops, he was one of 20 chosen to attend Chemical Biological Radar School in Japan. The servicemen attended school during the morning hours.“We were free in the afternoon and they had a big gym there,” Spinetti recalled. “A few of us messed around with boxing as a way to pass the time and get our workouts in.“They wound up holding matches pitting us against U.S. soldiers from other military bases. I had six fights and won my first four. I got my nose broken, but I did OK.”His interest in boxing was refreshened. Upon returning home, Spinetti joined neighbor Rich Gregory — running the Cubs boxing program at the time — as an assistant.
Gregory retired in 1977. Spinetti has been running the program ever since.“I was playing basketball when I first returned home from the service, but I wanted to help Rich,” Spinetti said. “We didn't even have a ring back then. We used to spar on the handball court. We'd have to travel to other gyms to get our guys ready for Golden Gloves.”Spinetti spearheaded a small labor force to build a ring for the Cubs gym in the early 1980s. The inside of a railroad boxcar served as the base and he found some used canvas.Spinetti and the coaches worked on the ring after 8 p.m. each night, when the gym closed.“It took a long time, but we got it done,” he said.
The Cubs boxing gym has since acquired equipment through donations and its annual amateur boxing show, which serves as a fundraiser.“Years ago, we didn't charge anything for kids to work out here,” Spinetti said. “But we became babysitters. We started charging a little bit of money ... but anybody who wants to come in here and doesn't have the money ... we find a way.”Others will attest to that.
“I've seen him buy a kid a pair of shoes — just regular shoes for out on the street — because the kid needed them,” said Dan Kesten, a state trooper based in Clarion who volunteers with the Cubs boxing program. “Don didn't even know the kid.“If he sees a kid in here with a need, he provides it. He lives a life of honor. The word to describe him is generous — with his time, his money ... everything.”Covert was referred to the Cubs boxing program by the police when he was a kid, fighting in the streets.“I always fought on the side of the good, defending kids who were being bullied, taking on guys who were hitting their girlfriends, stuff like that,” Covert recalled.“The police told me I could fight in here and be praised for it. I weighed 300 pounds and my life was going nowhere. Don helped turn everything around for me.”Covert added that Spinetti has always been all about helping kids.
“None of us had any money,” he said. “Don would foot the bill to take us to boxing tournaments, feed us, put us up in hotels. That all came out of his pocket.“Now I've got a good life. I own a couple of businesses. I'm doing well. That doesn't happen without him.”Like Spinetti, Covert is in the Cubs boxing gym every night from Monday through Thursday, helping out.“I owe this place,” he said.Kesten said Spinetti “teaches the kids hard work and how it pays off.”Wolfe has been working with Spinetti for 35 years.
“He's a special breed,” Wolfe said. “I've never met anybody like him. He loves working with kids and he loves the sport of boxing. That's what drives him.“All this man does is give. No kid has ever been turned away from here. If I can help somebody like Don, it's a good thing for me.”Spinetti has no plans to give it up anytime soon.“I can't train guys like I used to,” he admitted. “If I hold the pads too long (for boxers to punch), I wind up at the chiropractor.“But this place ... helping kids ... has always been a big part of my life.”Covert isn't surprised Spinetti continues to maintain such an active role in the Cubs boxing gym at age 89.“Don stays active. He's always on the move,” Covert said. “Use it while you have it — and he uses it.“That man is a blessing to so many people, myself included.”
