William Michael Traubert

“’ Mike Traubert, Brooke County's preeminent boxing historian …”

Life and Boxing

Born William Michael Traubert late in the evening of Tuesday February 19, 1957 in the “Mobed up town” of Steubenville Ohio the oldest son of the late William F. and Mary Anabelle Maloney Traubert he would be known to the world as Michael. Growing up in the Northern Panhandle controlled by the Detroit Maifa who administered ‘’The Rackets” living in a town that could have easily been the set for On The Water Front 54’ the county had the highest unsolved murder rate in the United States the ladies had fine furs, perfume from Parris and the Mrs. Hugo A. C. Schoelkopfduring jewelry line. The turbulent 60’s boxing news was about a fighter named Cassius Clay as it flashed across a black and white TV screen mixed with moon walks, political assassinations, civil rights, peace demonstrations, and the Vietnam War. His best friend at St. Johns grade school in Wellsburg WV had immigrated from Italy as a baby his name was Joey Staffileno his father was not that enthusiast about American sports. So as Saturday May 8, 1971 drew near somewhere in between his Salami Sandwich and Michael‘s Baloney Sandwich the Middleweight Championship fight between Champion Carlos Monzon and the former Italian Champion Nino BenVenuti scheduled for 15 rounds at Soccer Field in Monte Carlo, Monaco came up in the conversation. He was exposed to stories about fisticuffs at an early age the family barber Mike Slavick who cut his hair before he was old enough to sit in the chair without a booster seat was a former local pro leather pusher and had been the judge at one of Sugar Ray Robinson 65’ Gray River fights in Steubenville, Ohio. So, he could hold his own in conversation with the patent leather kid followers of the 8th grade about the shorten prize fight in Monte Carlo and the actions of Victor Avendano the referee and significance of the towel thrown in the ring in the third round by Bruno Amadzzi among the little tough guys on the playground chattering on about the roped square ring event. Sometime after Ali v Frazier The Fight of the Century and before the second fight on May 8, 1971 between Benvenuti v Monzon, Michael enrolled his younger brother Jim in his spartan education with gloves made of knee pads and sox’s they began with bouts in the family dining room. Michael was 4 years older, a head plus taller enjoyed a weight advantage. He set about cranking out a winning streak this led to the creation by their mother and father of the alter of the religion a boxing ring made from closesline Mrs. Traubert dying them burgundy to match the ones used in New York when Frazier defeated Ali in March 71’ the ring post were constructed from the inside of paper rolls from Pillsbury Bag Company where their Father worked in the basement of the parents Yankee Street home. Here Jim and Michael were like a moth and butter fly in the ring’s lights becoming Jerry and Mike Quarry. Somewhere along the line Michael traded his guitar to Whitney Adams at his Second-hand store between 6 &7th on Charles Street in downtown Wellsburg for a real set of used leather boxing mitts. Later that fall at age 14 he was a freshman in high school this led to what can be described as his only real street fight behind the buses at a Brooke High School 71 ‘ football Game at the old Wellsburg Football stadium after a roustabout picked the quarrel like a Georgian bare-knuckler from Colliers had done 100 years earlier just over the hill from his great Great ,Great grandfathers Tom Bannan farm he stepped on to whatever patch of grass was to be found a summer of boxing with a neighborhood of what in the fullness of time would be The Ohio Valleys best scrappers in his parents back yard was sufficient training to thwart the bully. Retelling the tale many years later like Nat Fleisher had told a similar story in his book 50 years at Ring Side. Football, not boxing, was the epicenter of Brooke County sports culture when Michael wore flannel shirts, bellbottom jeans, and a long very deep dark blue almost purple crushed velvet trench coat to school .The morning before the first bell was spent standing in front of the last glass panel opposite his locker in the hall a treasured seat on the nearby bench where a constant ritual of bumping the guy off the end was in process each morning .Talk of bumping someone off in community where the mafia had such strong ties made the freshman uneasy. The school was truly a Squared Jungle so, he decided to just stand! The local high school team known as “The Bruins’ clad in Green & Gold colors dominated the landscape. Many escaped pig skin heaven by becoming cards sharps in the four center lunch rooms before class, during study hall, and at meal time, allowing stiff paper to fall through the dexterity of mind and fingers but he was living for cartoonist Ham Fisher ink drawn character Joe Palooka world the “fights” or off thinking of the Saturday morning 2 Chanel TV world where his favorite heroes could be found casted as the Little Tough Guys, Dead End Kids, Bowery Boys or East Side Kids . It was from reading Fleisher, magazine The Ring that was purchased faithfully at Wilson News Stand in Wellsburg and in its pages he discover boxing , spending his days dreaming of the sidewalks of a world filled men who shared whispers with the Jewish fellow from Wheeling who had set the boundaries as Ohio/ Brooke County line the land of green and gold north belonged to the Pittsburgh Mafia, skimming by, gamblers an liquor interest , Pool Halls, bookmakers, Boxing Gyms and gabbing around the endless row of lockers of Center 4 at Brooke High in the language of “fight talk” to close friends like Anthony Pepe who boxed in the 75’ Weirton Silver Belts The Millsop Community Center . Aspiring to be as Angelo Dundee fistic trainer articulated when describing his mentor Chickee Ferrara in the words of the (boxing) crowd “Knew what’s all about it”. In the squared circle halls of Brooke in the years between 1971-75 telling the fight crowd guys Jeff ‘Turtle ‘Polley, Eddie Martin, Greg Parr, Paul Evans and a gang of others. There is an old saying in boxing, a great boxer plays chess and the average boxer plays checkers. Explaining to the fellows like Dickey Yost about films like Angels with Dirty faces 38’, Dead End 37’ and They Made Me A criminal 39’ featuring the kids who he idolized. In the Hucksterism, tradition laying the odds on the 74’ homecoming court. Michael had been picking 4 team parlays since 3 or 4 th grade at home will his parents brought into the house from the factory by his father courtesy of Uncle David who was one of the valley’s premier horse players and team support enthusiast with Aunt Kathleen traveling to Water ford park each night after work during the racing season or at Chicks placing an off-track wager. Betting on 4 teamers with friends like Mickey Yost, Joey Staffileno and getting his first taste of the “Supper “hot lunch program. Recalling the time that a girl had shown an interest in him then his pals took her and her friend to see The God Father Movie on A Sunday afternoon leaving him staring out the front room window waiting to be picked to go to the film with them for a couple hours. Traubert believing himself playing the role as the flamboyant character Nathan Detroit a high stakes gambler from Runyon famed play Guys and Dolls. He spoke only of gambling and “Big Bill” Lias association with The Purple Gang and his alternating between homes in Wheeling and the Detroit area. The purples were founded by the four Bernstein Jewish brothers as juveniles Abe the oldest, “Little “Joey, Raymond and Isadore aka (Izzy). He often spoke to friends in the center 4 hall ways. He loved to tell the story of two hasting shop keepers in 1919 and how the purples got their name “These boys are not like other boys their age, they’re tainted. off color The other hasting street shop keeper went on say “Yes, the “whole bunch of them are Purple, they’re’ a Purple Gang.” Michael told the tale of the mob legend in the early 70’s about the appearance of Paul “Skinny” D’Amato, Mr. Atlantic City, owner of 500 club where Steubenville’s Dean Martin and The Rat Pack were regular performers. In West Virginia during the 1960 Kennedy v Humphrey Democratic primary an injection of $50,000.00 from the ever-fluid Teamsters Pension Fund was the source of the cash provided by D’Amato. He began his career working for Nucky Johnson of Boardwalk Empire fame and is quoted as saying it wasn’t about the money they (The Kennedy Campaign) already had plenty. It was the influence that they were brining to the table. That kind of drag would have been most sway in communities with large Catholic, Italian populations. Michael said Web Chamberlain always said that Sam Giancana was at the meeting in Mingo Junction the event was organized by leading West Virginia Democrat Dick Wright on behalf of Kennedy, Frank Sinatra is also said to have been present and others. Honestly why would have people not wanted to have attended meeting all these famous people no one at that point knew Kennedy would be dead in a few short years. Think about it? It was whispered that some members of the student body at Brooke High had family that were members of Cosa Nostra. That relatives had been associated with Rex’s Cigar Store and Money O’Brien in Steubenville. Traubert telling fellow kids about Money, Harry Cooper and a third partner, Tom Griffin, it was Harry Charles Cooper, a Russian Jew, immigrated around 1907 at the age of 8, after the czars decided to separate the Jews from the rest of the Russians by creating a settlement. Cooper died in Steubenville in 1959 at the age of 60. He was a major figure in the Steubenville gambling scene. passing on pool hall gossip that pointed out Cooper like a lot of guys in Steubenville, he started young. He was arrested for gambling in 1919, and, in the 1920s, he served time after he was caught for violating the liquor laws. It was cooper’s name that surfaced as the name that a fellow who hung around Web’s most often pointed out. A Jewish Mob connection seemed even stronger. Another name often coming up in conversation was Jimmy” The Greek “Snyder and a kid from Follansbee talk a lot about Dino Vicente Cellini, who was the son of an Italian barber who immigrated to the U.S. Cellini had three brothers, Edward, Goffredo & Bobby, and a sister Julia. Cellini grew up in the Steubenville, during the Depression years. As a youngster, Cellini worked at Rex's Cigar Store as a dice/craps casino dealer and croupier with singer Dean Martin, then known as Dean (Dino) Crocetti. Later he works directly for Jewish Gangster Meyer Lansky. Michael was always going on about the” Cleveland Syndicate ‘how they controlled all the communities along the Ohio River down as far as Cincinnati and perhaps beyond. Moe Dalitz was a senior member of the ‘’Purples” a Jewish version of the Sicilian consigliere and one of the four founders of the “Cleveland Syndicate. Moe was a 30 something when he protected casinos in Michael’s birth town Steubenville, according to a 1939 memorandum for FBI Director John Edgar Hoover, and is the character Moe Greene in the 69’ novel The God Father Novel and 72’movie. He moved with my parents and brother and 2 sisters to 1026 Yankee Street I was about 12 years old when he stared chatting with the men outside the pool hall in the summer of 1969. It was 2 1/2 block from our family’s new home. It was rather informal he was just a kid and asked a million questions. They would say the Pittsburgh Crime boss John Sebastian LaRocca brought the machine in. The underboss Joseph "Jo Jo" Pecora runs things up in Weirton including the Paddock, Red Dog, Win Place Show, Hilltop Inn, Jade Club, Half Moon Inn, and the Cactus Bar, all located in the Strip. Michael then would tell the guys at school what the stories coming from pool hall in Wellsburg were like a the little -tattler he would be repeating what the older men’s yarn word for word. Storytellers rely on stereotypes and so the scrubby looking shiftless men outside on the side walk on any given evening would be a big part of story line. He starts on about January 17, 1964, when a 32-year-old Hankish got into his Studebaker outside his Richland Avenue house in Warwood. It was probably dynamite that spread debris as far as 150 feet on that morning. Hankish lost his legs, but not his life. Work of that Detroit bunch! He met a lot people but at 12 years old he honestly can’t distinguish who was who from back then. It was only 5 years after it happen so the dirt was still very fresh.

Michael studied Law Enforcement at Jeff Tech in Steubenville where he made The Honor Roll and achieved 100% A in Organized Crime. His faculty advisor was Istvan (Steve) Domonkos who had previously been the head of the Youngstown, Ohio organized Crime Strike Force. In winter of 1983 in Ambridge Pennsylvania at an amateur boxing event, He was approached by two men who represented themselves as being from New Jersey he tells they did have a little bit of an accent. Inquiring about his willingness to help them get machines into Brooke County. Also taking to him about coming to Jersey to work in the boxing industry in Atlantic City much of it centered in Caesars Boardwalk Regency (the Old Howard Johnsons) . It was at this time leading Pittsburg Crime Boss Primo Mollica was running a multimillion sports book from one the hotel suites. Telling him they were impressed with his skills as a boxing cornerman. Unaware of his extensive education back ground that Mr. Domonkos had given him in organized crime. He very politely declined the men never again approached him. It had been Steve who had explained how places like Canfields in Saratoga had worked that a pool hall was not a place where the sport of Billiards was played but rather a place where the money for off track horse betting was accumulated from different books. An organized crime bank could be recognized a barber shop where no hair is cut, a shoe shine shop where no shoes get shined, a billiard hall with no pool table. He was describing most of the upper Ohio Valley. Mr. Domonkos was one of his references for his job.

The Brooke County Athletic Association now recalled through old grainy newspaper images opened its doors during the summer of 73’ Commissioner John Teeters was instrumental in getting it going. The volunteer part time coach was Leo Paugh the town business men had donate some funding and in the city hall basement down a flight steps the yellow canary paint was peeling quite bit, a few mirrors, heavy bags and a speed bag in the corner, a make shift ring constructed by Don Lizon a local contractor made from plywood with a dirty white canvass, cable ropes covered with dingy white yellowish torn paint cloth were already blood-spattered dominated the scene. The bags were in full use when he walked down the stairs a strange odor was floating in the air a mixture of sweat and equipment in use during the summer of 73”. The boys he recalls were Bill Delaney of Commerce Street, John Donley of White Bell Circle, Kevin Nichols from the 4th ward, Eddie Wilson from Main Street and Paul Cipolletti from Charles surely other must have come and gone but the years have left him squinting to recall the others names.

His grandfather Vince Maloney had boxed during WW I and when the Wellsburg YMCA on Charles Street had taught the manly art claiming one of the all-time greats according to rankings published in The Bible of Boxing the Golden Bantams of the Professional Ranks of the 20’s Bernie Hahn. So, in 73’ he worked as the assistant trainer for The Brooke County Athletic Association. Not as the next Muggs McInnis rather a Bucket boy as Angelo Dundee hand once put it “I carried the spit bucket”. Mom and Dad seeing him in the image of a trainer of pugilist’s rather than the next Knuckles Dolan or a journeyman club fighter. His mother telling the story as a young girl of her father the former amateur boxer watching Joe Louis on the radio. His dad a regular at Wellsburg movie houses when Leo Grorcey was drawing laughs from audiences with his vernacular and mutilation of the English language. Perhaps seeing him as one of the Warner Brothers characters that were originally cast for a part as a Second Avenue Boy. Traveling to the famed Center Avenue YMCA in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania it was Cliff Sachini of Follansbee who fought at the Y ‘he also boxed at Sullivan Hall St Marys’ Parrish Mt Washington, Pennsylvania a week later. Not long after “Irish” Scotty Cross and Richard Wallace Jr. boxed in the Preliminaries of the Pittsburg Diamond Belt in 74 ‘at Sullivan Hall both could have been on stage at the Belasco Theater opening night in 35’. Scotty’s parents took him to one of preliminaries at Sullivan Hall but the finals which Scotty won Michael was unable to make the trip left like Cinderella Man holding the broom still working at his job opposite the street at Federman’s Clothing across from street from The City Hall. Randy Weaver came from home from college in Tennessee in 74’ during Christmas break he was boxing in college and worked with the team. He also boxed on one of the summer boxing cards. In the late February or early March of 73’ struggling with English a teacher tried to separate him from the others labeling him different, placing him in a group for kids trying to grasp reading he considered leaving school to work full time. Fighting back, he stuck it out it was to be the best decision of his life. On the card for action locally along with Paul Malkowski from Weirton during the 4th July Celebration of 74’ were Richard and Scotty. Michael spent that summer working washing cars and rust proofing in long hot 12-hour days at Jerry Spears. He did make the show at the same stadium where the street fight had taken place a few years earlier watching from the stands. Michael presented boxing demonstrations with mitts made of cheap leather and horse hair on how to be the shrewdest second to a boxer at age 16 in Miss K’s Junior English Class at Brooke High Scholl in Wellsburg during the school year 1973-74 among the other students in class were Thomas Kocher future strength and conditioning coach of Heavy weight Champion Larry Holmes. As well Danny Ayers who could have been cast in Newshounds 47’ he ended up working words for a living. It was like he was living his dream of Damon Runyan world or perhaps it was more like operating a pushcart in the huckster’s days on Maxwell Street in Chicago working for Nia and Andy, at Federmans, Mr. and Mrs. Henry washing cars at Spears and Elmer Vincent hiring for The Playgrounds scrubbing tiolets. It was more than just work invited by home room pal Walter Waite to attend his first major league baseball with Water’s dad. Walter and Michael went to the fights at Brooke High when Frizie Zivic refereed the crowd was very small. He played the odds enjoying the State Baseball Semi Final game on bus with friends charted by the school. Mom and Dad could only spare the cash to send him once. The championship game would be something his pals could tell him about, like the 1918 World Series between the Red Sox’s and the Cubs. He stood with other boys after the football game his senior year in Cipolletti Gas Station parking he too wore the latest purchase at Watzman’s in Wellsburg his platform shoes (burgundy), the latest fashion in the 70’s called the (a multi colored) baseball shirt with dress slacks to match. The difference he stood up and worked to pay for his clothes detailing cars at Jerry Spears that summer in 74’. So, a flask filled with brandy that belong to a rich boy from Weirton borrow from his father liquor cabinet was passed around and some Romeo Y Julietas. The triple thrill of drinking, gambling, and fighting Runyan describes in his writings. This one wasn’t for him Yuck! He tried to hide his disproval with the taste after graduation he joined a few friends home for their first visit from college at Diphillips for a beer after a Brooke home game but it was clear the fork in the road had already been reached. In reality the fork had been the day of The God Father Movie.

Working built Michael’s character washing cars, sweeping floors and scrubbings the two-story outhouse at the parks for The Wellsburg Recreation Council attending Jeff Tech with plans of working in a Police Athletic League setting. In the school’s library they had the newspaper the Cleveland Plain Dealer so he was getting boxing news from the northern part of Ohio and reading the Sunday Youngstown Vindicator his dad purchased at The Herald Square Cigar Store in downtown Steubenville and his mother obtained The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in the morning at Wilsons news stand. He clipped the boxing articles and pasted them into an old scrapbook with a brown cover certain he thought the folks at the library must have believed they had a mouse. It was from this activity he learned to send articles to The Amateur Boxer later published under his by line. From working he could afford The Boxing Jacket now displayed in The Brooke County Museum and books like Nat Fleisher How to Box, Pete Heller In This Corner purchased at The Super X drug store before heading to Wheeling WV to see a new movie with friends just out called The Exorcists and extra magazines like Boxing Illustrated. Our Father took me and my brother to the capital Music Hall in Wheeling for the closed circuit telecast of Ali v Foreman. He enjoyed baseball did care for boxing so he waited in the car about half time he snuck up behinds us and tap us on the shoulder from a seat in the row behind us we jumped a mile. The picture was weak from Africa the crowd noise drowned out the sound. But the Rumble in Jungle remains a cherished memory. Several years before he had taken us to The Brooke County Fair at the Brooke Hills Park for the first Boxing in Brooke County in many years. He dropped us off at the Weirton Silver Belts. Him and mother always supporting his dreams. He also went a few times with Chuck Bell, and others lesser remembered to boxing events.

A group led by him tried to start in 81’ The Brooke County Boys Club between 6 & 7th on Charles Street in downtown Wellsburg WV but the business owners soured from the failed Brooke County Athletic Association. Asked where did the equipment go? Stuff wears out after 7 years so the costs of rent and heating led him to try Follansbee in early 82’ but for now the group was headquartered in Wellsburg on Charles Street. Web Chamberlain offered financial assistance donating $100.00, Young Chuck Bell gave $50.00 and the late attorney Frank Cuomo donated some legal work and Jim Bair of Washington Pike a car salesman from Bayne Spear and the insurance agent Craig Felici gave time and effort. Harry “Red; Williams of Follansbee put a lot seat equity to make it go. A year earlier in 1980 Michael at age 23 he was asked to be the cut man” The First Ohio Valley Night of Tough man Contest the night helping Dick Wallace feared at the gambling table or with racing tip sheet with the old school technique of skinning back the gloves made of horse hair he had been asked him to join with assisting his brother Roger “Cookie “Wallace in gloving up and willing to do a surgeon's work with Q-Tips , prepared able to staunch the flow of blood or suppress the engorging bruise for Dick’s son Golden Glove Champion Gary Wallace who could have been cast opposite Franke Darro in Tough Kid 38’ the event at the Wheeling Civic Arena.

In the summer of 81’ as a 20 something he began to full fill those teenage ambitions when he ascends the ring steps like Michael “Mickey” Goodmill at The Washington County Pennsylvania Fair assisted by his brother Jim as cornerman who competed in USA Boxing at Howard Johnsons Ball Room with its countless chandleries, red velvet wall paper in Monroeville Pennsylvania where Michael had once had seen Billy Conn “The Pittsburgh Kid “who twice fought Louis like so many other Brooke County Kids he was with the first of “His Fighters “ thinking himself to be another Frank “ Doc Bagley” in 22’ Gene Tunney corner against Harry Greb but now he found himself at age 24 he served as a great strategist and youthful AAU boxing Match Maker for a fight card held at The Follansbee Field House among the boxers on the card was future World IBF Lightweight Champion Harry Arroyo of Youngstown Ohio. Locally the Battling Secrist brother Dave a highly successful DJ and Middle School teacher and Bill now owner of Bills Steaks and shakes among the smartest business men in green and gold land sold many of the tickets that brought the large crowd. Jimmy Wallace and Brother Dave Wallace boxed both could have played opposite the kids Bowery Blitzkrieg the 41’ film as did Billy Dawson who reminded me of a charter in Kid Dynamite the43’ light hearted WW2 in which Bobby Jordan laces on the gloves. Bobby Joe Young came down and worked out during his early pro career. Among those who sparred were Bobby Newton and Mike Riggle certainly others whose names needed to be added. Ralph Ligget fought a number of bouts including in the yard inside The West Virginia State Penitentiary while prisoners watched from behind barred walls above it was quite a site.

The move to Follansbee in early 82 ‘brought a lot of interest from the youth but the same financial constraints that plague the program in Wellsburg once again began nagging at any success in the ring. The team received of the support of Follansbee City Councilman Chuck Cellini and Sherman ‘Buff” Buffington Only a few stuck it out he self-funded those that were truly interested. John Cook from Parkview boxed in Salenville Ohio with true grit! Among those boxers were 4 brothers could have been in Born to Fight 36’ on the under-card Donnie, Mike, Greg Gaschler, Tim Pannent. Michael had a chance to attend a boxing clinic on Pittsburgh South Side to broaden his training skills. Beyond catching gloves, holding the heavy bag or keeping time. Learning you got to know the vital spots, the solar plexus, and the liver. He judged his first Amateur boxing show at age 25 the youngest official in AAU Boxing in the Allegheny Mountain Association on Saturday November 13, 1982 Hammonsville Ohio.

Hardly the Hollywood prototype of a corner man tends to be a hard-boiled, tough-talking loner with a permanent cigar, a curmudgeon like the one Burgess Meredith played in the film Rocky. In the basement of The Millsop Community Center in 82’ Traubert no longer a stand in charter for Jimmy Braddock was busy preparing his boxer future Allegheny Mountain Association Junior Olympic Champion Donnie Gashler for the coming combat. When a coach nearby quipped loud enough to be overheard to his fighter whose hands he was also wrapping. “He will get him killed he will let him fight any body” As Traubert developed the strategy of traveling between the three AAU Associations Allegheny Mountain, Lake Erie and West Virginia. that way gaining valuable experience and developing ring generalship. The plan the “Devils Triangle” later while standing on the ring apron in The Ball Room of the Best Western in East Liverpool Ohio. He was truly the clay in the potters’ hand East Liverpool’s Ray Foutts who had been match maker for Art Rooney would surely have approved. The famed Ray Arcel said “I never consider myself a trainer, considered myself a teacher “After the card Michael retold a story that had appeared in March 31, 1925 East Liverpool Review as he ate his traditional meal of salted French Fries with his hands leaving his fork for want. He was famous for sating “bury me with my fork “it means the best is yet to come! As he was sharing the tale about Charley Phil Rosenberg fight with Bushy Graham and “The Mickey Finn”. Traubert explained when you fight in close you cannot see your opponent’s hands but you can still see his feet. He took this teachable moment talking about placing a newspaper under a boxer’s elbow in training to hold your guard in the proper position the same way Joe Louis Barrow was taught in Detroit at Brewster’s Gym in the 30’s. Traubert had read Fleisher’s 29’ How to Second a Boxer and all the edition from cover to cover rolled out by the founder of The Ring. He could site them verbatim like a Sunday go to preacher could recall passages from the good book. 80’s he travel remaining the most observant budding coach at 25 years of age in the Allegheny Mountain Association of the AAU program and the Jr Olympic Boxing Tournament held at The Millsop Community Center in Weirton WV to benefit the largest ESOP (Weirton Steel) in the history of the United States.)He was the up and coming Coach in the fistic field in the 83’ Regional Jr Olympic Boxing Tournament held Philadelphia , Pennsylvania full of energy he was able man behind the Brooke County boxer that reached the Regional level in 83.Quoting Arcel “Ring sense is an art, a gift from God that flows out of a fighter like a great painting flows out of an artist, or a great book flows out of an author. “ In a never ending form of hero worship he fashion himself in the mold of Arcel. Serving as the young gun cornerman, second and cut man learning his trade and developing a second set of eyes in the back of his head, learning the same way Ray Arcel had learned from Dai “Doc “Dollings at Grupps Gymnasium He attended Bar Room Boxing, Club shows and Fairs it was more than cutting tape with his eye teeth in the back room of The Salenville Ohio City building amid rust stained yellowing porcelain or sink wrapping the hands with gauze of would be champions. Some boxers need a good “nursing ‘’Fleischer wrote in the 34’ edition of How to Second …

He attend the closed circuit telecast Leonard v Duren in June 80’ at St. Johns Arena in Steubenville OH, The Joe Frazier team that visited Wheeling at the Civic Arena that include the champ and son Marvis. Had many chances to see Gene Young work with his son Rocky at Walker Dicks of (circus Fame) Yacht Club on Wheeling Island, be schooled by Tom Bennet working with his 2 sons Cotton and Stacey. He observed Leonard Barnes handle Jackie Fix’s corner for the Steubenville Boys Club. Talk endlessly with Bill Henry “Champ” Henry father. Get to know Rex and Larry Agin, and watch brother Doug work many corners. Spend time with Lee Moore, Jack Metz. Tommy Shaffer, Red Foley, Jimmy Gruber Sr. and Carl Riskus Sr., Ray Manning, Joe Board, Anthony” Torch “Torchio, Nick “Big Bully” Buscik Young Jimmy Cvetic in a newsboy, Johnny Duncan and countless others. It was Fleischer words to who he had been apprentice … It was the Ghost of Nat Fleischer and the words in his books, articles as he traveled to Akron, Canton, East Liverpool Medina, Steubenville Oho, Ambridge, Homewood, Lawrenceville, Pittsburgh, Monroeville, Philadelphia, Washington, Pennsylvania and Follansbee, Moundsville, Ravenswood, Weirton. Wheeling West Virginia and a host of others. Reaching the Regional Junior Olympics In Philadelphia Pennsylvania May 31, 1983 among those present that day at the weigh shadow boxing were World Heavy Jimmy Young and Bantam Weight Jeff Chandler working out in the gym in the outer room for the benefit of the young athletes The Allegheny Mountain Association Jr Olympic tournament team included further World Heavy Weight Champion Michael Moorer of Monnessen, Pennsylvania coached by his grandfather, the late Henry Smith who Traubert had close working relationship .Some believing he had done a good job with JO’s encouraged a run for city council he took office July 1, 1983 30 days after the Junior Olympic Regionals.

The Weirton Daily wrote on March 16, 2013 “’ Mike Traubert, Brooke County's preeminent boxing historian …”

Professional Experience

(http://www.boxrec.com/fr/inspector/847896)

Local sports focus for Brooke Museum event

       WELLSBURG – From boxing to Major League Baseball, Brooke County has played a part in a variety of sports, and the Brooke County Museum and Cultural Center aims to promote awareness of that through an ongoing exhibit.

Helping to kick off the new display was a special program Sunday featuring guest speakers Michael Traubert, a local researcher of boxing’s early days;

(http://www.heraldstaronline.com/news/local-news/2013/09/local-sports-focus-for-brooke-museum-event/)

Licensed by the West Virginia State Athletic Commission since 2016.

West Virginia State Athletic Commission

Education Excepted Graduate School West Liberty University Athletic Training Professional Career He has been working primarily with boxing shows in West Virginia Northern Panhandle and has overseen hand wrapping with commission preventing” stacking” the taping of the knuckle pad, fashioned from multiple layers of gauze. He has been on guard against any hardened or illegal substances, that would constitute boxing’s most heinous form of cheating. He is highly familiar with the so called” punchers gloves” made from a hybrid of horse hair and foam layers, meaning that the padding is less dense. The Weirton Daily wrote on March 16, 2013 “’ Mike Traubert, Brooke County's preeminent boxing historian …” 1

References

<ref>Photos and the ‘death glare’ Weirton Dailey Times March 16, 2013By Summer Wallace<ref> <ref>August 28, 2016 BUBBA KAPRAL EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR Wheeling New Register<ref> <ref>The Personal Remembrances of William Michael Traubert Brooke County Museum Culture<ref>

William Michael Traubert

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