IDAHO FALLS – Hayes Ed Sanders was breathing heavily as he lay on his side unconscious after a blow to the head.

It was December 11, 1954, and the 24-year-old Pocatello man, who two years earlier had become the first African-American Olympic heavyweight boxing champion, was now being carried out on a stretcher.

The Los Angeles native was very big as a child, according to his biography on a website dedicated to him. At 12, he looked 18 and excelled in football and track as a high school student.

While attending Compton College in 1950, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound athlete discovered boxing and competed in the National Collegiate Boxing Championships in Ogden, Utah. His performance caught the attention of Idaho State University boxing coach Dubby Holt and football coach Babe Caccia.

“He had a good left hand and, for a great man, he was a truly orthodox and skilled boxer,” Holt is reported to have said.

Sanders later attended ISU on an athletic scholarship, where he boxed and played football. He dominated in both sports.

“In his first collegiate fight, Sanders knocked out the Pacific Coast heavyweight champion. He also never lost a match in a dual meet,” Sanders’ biography says.

Now in his eighth fight as a professional boxer, Sanders was sparring with Willie James at the Boston Garden Arena for the New England heavyweight title in a 12-round bout. Despite his previous winning record, a simple combination of punches from James left him unconscious after 10 hard-fought rounds.

It is a fight that ended his boxing career and, ultimately, his life.

“Sanders never regained consciousness and died after a lengthy surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. “The coroner concluded that Sanders likely aggravated a previous injury,” Sanders’ biography says.

Sanders’ early life

Hayes Edward Sanders was born on March 24, 1930 in Los Angeles, son of Hays and Eva Sanders. Ed was the second oldest of five children.

A brother 12 years his junior, Joseph Stanley Sanders, became a Rhodes scholar and was a prominent lawyer in Los Angeles.

Ed’s interest in athletics dates back to his childhood and an activity with his brother may have contributed to his great stature and ability as an athlete.

“Ed and his younger brother, Donald, collected coffee cans, filled them with cement, and connected two of them with a steel bar to make a set of exercise weights,” one article reports.

Sanders was on the football and track teams at Jordan High School in Los Angeles. Although he was tough and “couldn’t be messed with,” according to one historical account, he was “gentle, gentlemanly, and very intelligent.”

Sanders graduated in 1948. His boxing skills eventually brought him to Pocatello. It was here that he met his wife, Mary LaRue. They had a son, Russell, who passed away in 2017 after a long battle against cancer.

Mary lives in Pocatello today and recalled how she and Sanders met during an interview with her son years ago.

“I was a student and on staff in the ISU athletic department,” Mary said. “Over time we became friends and eventually got engaged. “We grew up with each other.”

Sanders’ early boxing career

Sanders was drafted into the US Army in 1950 to fight in the Korean War. His coach, Dubby Holt, convinced him to join the US Navy.

Sanders made his mark as a member of the US Navy boxing team, defeating the Navy heavyweight champion in San Diego. He also won the Golden Gloves Tournament in Los Angeles and Chicago, according to an article about sanders.

He began training for the Olympics in 1951, earning a spot in an Olympic trials in Nebraska.

Sanders emerged victorious against his first three opponents at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki, Finland. His win against Swedish boxer Ingemar Johannson in the final was “unremarkable” because Johannson reportedly circled the edges of the ring and refused to fight.

He toured Europe after his Olympic victory and was a national hero when he returned to the United States.

“Sanders (became) the first African-American Olympic heavyweight champion and the first American to win gold in the division since 1904,” historical records say. “The combination of his tenacious fighting style, deep sense of confidence and humble demeanor attracted constant media attention.”

RELATED | Local woman wants community’s help to highlight art, music and history at new African American cultural center

In 1953, Sanders fought future world heavyweight champion Sonny Liston at the Golden Gloves Championship in Chicago.

“Sanders entered the fight with a broken thumb, which hampered what was still considered a good performance. “Liston emerged victorious, although witnesses at the fight accused Liston of grabbing Sanders illegally, and others in the audience felt Sanders won the fight,” Sanders’ biography reads.

Sanders’ boxing record up to that point was 43 wins and four losses. With an Olympic gold medal to his name, he set out to fight professionally.

A professional career takes a tragic turn

The decision to become a professional wrestler was easier said than done for Sanders. Apparently, the Navy did not allow active duty personnel to box professionally, and his Navy captain recommended that he not do so because he did not have enough experience.

Sanders’ desire to fight professionally was primarily a financial decision. He had a wife and child to support and could make more money as a professional athlete. He attempted to obtain a discharge from the Navy, but was denied because his enlistment involved a minimum five-year commitment.

Ultimately, he became a professional boxer in February 1953. In some ways, acting as his own manager satisfied the Navy’s requirements.

Sanders’ first professional fight on March 8, 1954 resulted in a first round victory for Sanders. After several fights, Sanders confided to his Navy captain that he “lacked suitable training partners” and complained of intense shoulder pain.

He had his shoulder x-rayed a few weeks before his last fight with Willie James in Boston. Historical records do not say what the results were.

On December 11, he and James fought hard in what was supposed to be a 12-round fight. At one point, Sanders complained of headaches, likely due to repeated blows to the head, and appeared “unusually apathetic” to onlookers.

“In the eleventh round, Sanders looked ‘tired,’ by James’ estimation, and was knocked down by a simple combination of punches. “Sanders fell to the canvas and immediately lost consciousness,” his biography says.

In interviews with local media at the time, Coach Holt said he couldn’t understand why Sanders was in the ring with James.

“It was crazy to put him in a ring for 12 rounds with a high-ranking heavyweight,” Holt said.

Sanders died of a brain hemorrhage 18 hours later, according to a news clipping. Doctors and trainers attributed his death to “a previous injury that was aggravated in the fight with James.”

Holt said in a later press report that Sanders was “one of the greatest athletes to ever participate in the state of Idaho.”

“He was one of the best teammates we’ve ever had here,” Holt said. “He was an excellent athlete, a gentleman and a credit to the community. (His death) is a true tragedy. “All of us in the athletic department feel very bad about this.”

Sanders is buried at Woodlawn Hills Cemetery in Santa Monica, California.

He was posthumously inducted into the ISU. Sports Hall of Fame in 1959.