TACOMA, Wash. — "I do remember when we moved to Tacoma his name and his presence was something that was just kind of in the air," artist Stan Shaw said of Olympic gold medalist Sugar Ray Seales. "He was always there. He was always a part of Tacoma. And one of the people in Tacoma that Tacomans are proud of."
"I boxed 19 years," Seales recounted. "430 fights. 19 losses. Over 200 knockouts."
Seales has the only gold medal any American boxer won at the 1972 Olympic games. What he doesn't have is vision in his left eye or, after eight costly surgeries, much in the way of money. He just endured a much publicized bout with homelessness.
Forced to retire in the 1980's Seales spent 17 years helping Lincoln High School students with autism.
"The word is service to others is the rent we pay for our room in heaven," Seales said from a park bench near his apartment. "The Lord said if we don't give, we don't get."
"Sugar Ray in his own words said that he did his best for Tacoma," said artist Tom Llewelyn. "So I think we should do our best for him."
For more than 20 years under the moniker Beautiful Angle, Llewelyn and graphic designer Lance Kagey have been creating limited edition, hand crafted letterpress posters that cause a feeding frenzy among fans on the random nights they're distributed.
For this poster, 100% Sugar, they enlisted Shaw's help.
"These things that happen in Tacoma, the people that are from Tacoma like Sugar Ray Seales, those are the things that make you love the city," Shaw said.
In most cases the posters are free. This time they asked for donations to go to Seales.
"We want to get the word [out] about this guy," Llewelyn said. "About this local hero. And we want to remind him that people in Tacoma still remember him. Still know who he is. That we have a champion, a world champion, from right here in our city."
Beautiful Angle raised over $1500 that night.
The first time Sugar Ray Seales saw the poster, he took his time admiring it.
"Wow!," he said. "Yeah that's me. Yes this is me all the way."
Nobody in this town is ever going to forget The Sugarman
"I love what I do," Seales said. "I'm gonna continue to do it. We're here. God is good."
A GoFundMe page has been established for Seales.
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