Heavy hitter

Flynn Gerald is mediocre at fishing and pretty good putting up wallpaper. By his own account, he was a great fire department captain for Vestavia Hills, but he’ll admit he’s not the best at a lot of things. 

“But a couple of things I have excelled in, and boxing is one of them,” he said. 

This May, the Chelsea resident was inducted into the Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame after getting started in the sport in his elementary school years.

Gerald said when he was in grammar school, another student picked on him until about sixth grade. That was when he saw something on TV about a boxer.

“So then, we were on the lower ball field. It was my first fight,” he said. “I knew what was going to happen when I spoke to him, and he did exactly what I thought. And I beat him up pretty bad.” 

It was the only fight his parents didn’t get mad about, he said.

Gerald later went to Philips High School, where he said he still had a couple fights, before entering the Navy. There, he began competing in organized boxing for the first time and won a welterweight championship. By the time he was out of the Navy in the early ’70s, the Golden Gloves had started in Alabama, so he started refereeing and training other boxers.

“My first team, the first year, we had three state champions, two county champions and a Southeastern champion,” he said. “I realized then that I was probably above average in training.” 

He wasn’t wrong.

Now approaching 80 years old, Gerald has consulted and coached people from all walks of life who wanted to get into the sport, including troubled youth, new moms looking to lose weight and professional boxers. He’s trained his kids and his grandkids, and he still spars. He’s refereed both amateur and professional fights, and he’s coordinated with the Skyy Boxing Gym in Tuscaloosa — made famous by renowned trainer and gym owner Jay Deas and his athlete, heavyweight champion Deontay Wilder — to both referee and provide judges.

“If there was a professional fight in Alabama, I refereed it,” Gerald said. “Anything in boxing was my priority.” 

In 1985, he was recognized for refereeing more bouts than all other referees in Alabama history combined. And he’s still going.

When Gerald traveled to Tuscaloosa in May to be recognized and inducted into the Alabama Boxing Hall of Fame, he didn’t just have plans to walk up on a stage — he continued with his years of experience and refereed some of the matches scheduled for the celebration. 

Gerald said they tried to tell him he wasn’t going to be able to referee, “But I said, ‘I ain’t coming if I don’t ref. That’s what I do, and I enjoy that.’”

Gerald said he wasn’t particularly surprised he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, but he didn’t realize how the system worked. He was part of the class of support staff, which includes doctors, cornermen, cut men and referees. He said it’s the biggest group, and of the seven people who were set to vote to induct Gerald, six voted yes.

Gerald is happy and honored to be included in the inductees and said his family will be proud for years to come.

“When I grew up, I was kind of a heathen; so being a heathen gets me into the Hall of Fame,” he said, laughing. “It’s the biggest honor in boxing, to go into the Hall of Fame. No honor is higher than that.”