Biography
Having been hospitalized as a child between the ages of 9 and 13 from crippling Ulcerative Colitis and Arthritis in his knees, Ron was unable to walk or gain weight and was at death's doors for years in a New York Hospital His back was crippled from the loss of calcium in his spine due to the various medications he was made to take to keep him alive.
He would be hospitalized for months at a time and when he was temporarily allowed to go home he had to wear a back brace to school. He would get sick again and have to return to the hospital to live and therefore completed much of his early grades from his hospital room.
His fascination with Black Panthers (Leopards) came from two sources. Ron's mother had bought a beautifully illustrated adaptation of Rudyard Kipling's "The Jungle Book," illustrated by William Bartlett published by Grosset and Dunlap. The book was his constant companion in the hospital.
In a rare 1950's movie serial on early TV called "Tim Tyler's Luck," a black panther named "Fang" befriended the boy in the movie. The film clips were real and made such an impression on Ron that the Panther became part of the only world he could escape to outside that hospital room. He made it a point over 30 years later to obtain a VHS copy of that rare movie which impacted so much on his life as a sick child.
He later used the emblem of the black panther on all his boxing trunks and robes as a good luck sign. Within one year of learning how to walk again he had his first set of Golden Billiard Barbells. As the years passed he added workouts consisting of cables, Judo and boxing
He lived and breathed physical fitness and boxing with the balance he learned from Judo at the hands of the greatest and most famous Judo player Yoshisada Yonezuka later to be head coach of the U.S. Olympic team.
Ron became a pioneer in physical fitness in the 60's and is a living example of how his training methods work. He became a police officer and later a detective in the Hudson County N.J. Prosecutor's Office. He has taught a one credit course in physical fitness for the School of Science at Marist College for the last 15 years changing the lives of the thousands of students who have taken his class.
He was the paid sparring partner of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, Middleweight and Light Heavyweight Champion Dick Tiger, Lightweight Champion Carlos Ortiz and of course "The Greatest" Muhammad Ali.
He has won awards and acclaim for his work in theater and film for his boxing choreography and is still one of the best known professional boxing referees in the world having stood between some of the greatest legends in boxing as the third man in the ring on HBO and Pay Per View. He is still in the process of writing his life story and the book is entitled "Angels In My Corner." His published works and essays are in many forums.
Ron lives in Dutchess County N.Y. with his beautiful family. HIs son Brett is an Inspector with the New York State Athletic Commission and a police academy honor graduate. His daughter Kim has her own business as a wellness coach and has a degree in Exercise Physiology. Ron and the love of his life Gabrielle a gorgeous bodybuilder with a B.A. degree live a happy and holistic life style with their own black panther, a stunning Staffordshire Pit Bull mix rescue dog they named AllyBear.
