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By Ellarry Prentice
First appeared in Paynesville
Press on April 29, 2009
In addition to working
full time for the Ventura County District Attorney,
Paynesville native Jacquie Richardson has come to know
almost all of the most prominent professional boxers
and has worked with many legends of boxing, assisting
them once their careers in boxing are over.
Richardson, a 1969 Paynesville High School
graduate and a resident of Simi Valley, Calif., will
be inducted into the California Boxing Hall of Fame
for her volunteer work as the executive director for
the Retired Boxers Foundation on Saturday, Sept. 26.
The Retired Boxers Foundation (RBF) was
started in 1998 by Alex “The Bronx Bomber”
Ramos, a former world champion boxer who won the USBA
middleweight crown in 1984. The foundation assists retired
professional boxers, especially those who suffer from
alcoholism, substance abuse, homelessness, and medical
problems. The goal of the Retired Boxers Foundation
is to identify and build resources for boxers and their
families who are in need, including rehabilitation,
housing, financial assistance, financial planning, and
job training.
While working as a grant writer and fund
developer, Richardson met Ramos in 1998 at an opening
of a boxing gym for which she had written a grant to
get kids off the street and into gyms. Richardson said
Ramos’ passion and stories hooked her right away.
Ramos fought for 22 years and was very
successful until he began to lose. According to the
Retired Boxers Foundation website, after Ramos moved
from the spotlight to the streetlight, he began battling
alcohol and drugs. With many former boxers battling
the same problems, Ramos started the RBF to help others
find the support they need for regaining self respect
and dignity.
Since her encounter with Ramos over a
decade ago, Richardson has donated office space and
her skills to get the Retired Boxers Association up
and running and her time to assisting retired boxers.
According to Richardson, in many states,
boxing is the only professional sport which does not
have a pension plan for its retirees. Though many believe
boxers make a lot of money, many lose their personal
finances, since they have many pay-outs to their managers
and trainers during their career, she explained. Many
retired boxers also have a difficult time finding work
after their boxing career, since they had dropped out
of high school to start boxing and know no other profession
than boxing. Additionally, many experience health problems
in retirement, including brain damage, she added.
When she first began volunteering as executive
director, Richardson created brochures, business cards,
letterheads, etc., for the Retired Boxers Foundation.
From the start, it was easy to get caught up in her
volunteer work, since the people she assisted were so
sweet, she said.
Richardson said she
has yet to meet a retired boxer that doesn’t have
a magnificent heart. “My theory is that if you
have a beautiful heart and you come from the ghettos,
the barrios, and the poorest of the poor, you better
learn to fight, and that’s why they become such
great boxers,” she said.
Richardson has learned of a lot of horrific
situations that boxers have went through to get where
they are, she said. She knows of many boxers who were
exploited miserably and came to boxing from the streets.
Often called “Mama Jacquie,”
Richardson said she is like a foster mom to many of
the retired boxers who the Retired Boxers Foundation
assists. She gladly takes calls at late hours and makes
extra time for retired boxers who are in need of immediate
assistance. “They bring a lot of joy to my life,”
she said.
Currently, the Retired Boxers Foundation
is assisting a former boxer living in Chicago who is
in need of cataracts surgery, one example of their services,
according to Richardson. “Every day is a different
thing. Very exciting work,” she said.
According to Richardson, the Retired Boxers
Foundation has helped at least 500 retired boxers with
everything from paying for their chemotherapy to assisting
boxers who have made comebacks.
Richardson said there are resources for
everyone, but accessing them is the challenge, which
is where the Retired Boxers Foundation comes in for
retired boxers.
The Retired Boxers Foundation also does
a lot of work with the boxing commission around the
world to promote safety and the organization educates
the public about the sport of boxing, according to Richardson.
No one gets paid for their work for the
Retired Boxers Foundation; they do it from their heart,
said Richardson. Working for the foundation is not only
satisfying and fulfilling for Richardson, but it keeps
the 57-year-old feeling young and involved, she said.
Richardson and her husband, Reg, enjoy
attending boxing matches. “My husband and I love
it,” she said.
Through her work for the Retired Boxers
Foundation, Richardson has had the opportunity to travel
to China to attend a televised fight and to meet professional
boxer Muhammad Ali.
When Richardson received a letter from
the California Boxing Hall of Fame president notifying
her of her Hall of Fame induction, she initially thought
the letter was for Ramos and that it was just being
mailed to her. “I was caught completely off guard.
It was totally unexpected, but I’m totally thrilled,”
she said.
Aside from assisting retired boxers, Richardson
works full time for the Ventura County District Attorney,
coordinating investigations of sexual assault and child
molestation and doing restraining orders for victims
of domestic violence.
Richardson, the daughter of Walter and
Rosemary Dilley of Paynesville, has lived in California
since 1977. She and her husband have an adult son, Jay.
Richardson’s Hall of Fame induction
will be held at Stevens Restaurant in Commerce, Calif.,
(a suburb of Los Angeles) on Saturday, Sept. 26, beginning
at 11 a.m.
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