All-Time Good Guys: Bert Sugar

For about three hours tonight at the Waldorf, I was stuck at the Lexington Avenue entrance of the Waldorf conducting business I won't go into here. Needless to say, it was an incredibly monotonous work detail.

Then, all of a sudden amidst the boredom, comes this old codger wearing a fedora and striking up a stogie. It ends up that this character was none other than noted sportswriter and boxing hall of famer Bert Sugar.

I didn't tell Mr. Sugar that I had a blog, nor did I tell him that I'd write about him, so I'm not going to go into detail about our conversation in the interest of not being a DB. However, there were a few observations I'm compelled to share:

He's a class act--he talked to me for a solid 25 minutes and was actually engaged in the conversation, coloring his vivid answers with some great anecdotes.

The overwhelming majority of people that recognized him were black and Hispanic. I would imagine that Bert thinks that this speaks to the univerality of the sweet science. It was pretty cool to see these twenty and thirty somethings call Bert 'a legend'

He looks great. For a 72-year-old, life-long smoker he's quick and makes it hard to believe that he's hung out with Yogi, Joe D and Teddy Ballgame.

Personally, as a guy that's constantly searching for a life path, having Mr. Sugar basically fall into my lap and regale me with stories for nearly a half hour was a fantastic gift, for which I'm incredibly thankful. Thanks, Bert.