>> Surrounded by books and a
laptop, notes in Mandarin
Chinese and economics,
UW-Madison sophomore
Chandler Davis is a typically
hard-working double-major.
But when he first came to campus
he had more in mind than just
hitting the books.
>> I figured why not just see if
there's interest.
>> Chandler wanted a venue for
his right jab and left hook.
>> I started inquiring about it.
You know, what does it take to
get boxing as a club sport?
They said, well, there's the
history.
>> That history of UW boxing was
new to Chandler, but not to the
old-timers.
>> Wisconsin probably was the
best intercollegiate school for
boxing.
>> It was once bigger than life
on campus.
>> There'd be about three home
matches per year, three or four,
and all of them would have eight
to ten thousand people crammed
into the old field house for the
shows.
[bells clangs]
>> And in the late 1950's
Varsity boxer Charlie Mohr was
the star.
Bob Lynch was his friend and
sparring partner.
>> Charlie Mohr was the best
known person on campus.
But with Charlie, when he's walk
across campus, just hundreds of
kids would be, "Hi, Charlie."
>> But intercollegiate boxing
here and across the country
abruptly ended when Charlie Mohr
died after taking a hit in the
national tournament ring at the
UW-Madison field house.
>> Stu Bartell caught Charlie
with just a real good, hard
right-hand shot.
But he was, obviously, knocked
off balance, but didn't appear
really to be hurt.
>> But he was, gravely hurt.
The blow to the head had caused
massive bleeding on the brain.
Days later the young star boxer
succumbed.
Charlie Mohr's death in 1960
marked the devastating demise of
boxing on campus.
Chandler Davis may not have
known the painful history when
he started, but he learned it.
And respectful of Charlie Mohr's
legacy, persisted.
After more than five decades of
a boxing ban on campus, the
sport is back.
[bell clangs]
>> Two minute rounds.
Beware of leading with a
bent-arm punch.
Good work, good sparring,
gentlemen.
Keep it up.
>> And coming full circle,
Charlie Mohr's old sparring
partner is now a coach of
Chandler Davis' new team.
>> Chandler, I just have a awful
lot of respect for him.
As a university sophomore, he's
accomplished something that
probably hundreds, if not
thousands of people wished took
place.
>> It's really cool to see,
like, old alumni come back.
Yeah, there's a lot of
enthusiasm.
You know, you don't know what
you've done.
This is great.
It's great to see this back on
campus.
And it's great to see them, you
know, enthusiastic.
I feel like they're more than
I am.
My goal is just to see it as an
activity on campus.
I think it deserves its rightful
place among the 41 club sports
that we have.
>> But thinking it and making it
happen were two very different
things.
>> I talked to the rec. sports
department saying, what does it
take to get a club sport?
>> And thus began his dogged
year-and-a-half long mission.
>> You're going to have to go to
risk management, the Dean of
Student's office.
I went back to rec. sports.
They sent me in a loop.
They sent me in one big
bureaucracy loop.
>> Chandler also made multiple
formal presentations to
university officials and
answered their most essential
question.
>> They wanted to know what I
was going to do to improve
safety, what safety was
different.
I emphasized tit was, you know,
headgear.
>> Coach Lynch describes the
difference between old-style
headgear and new.
>> This is a 1960 head guard,
exactly the type of thing that
Charlie was wearing when he was
hurt.
The emphasis really was across
the forehead and over the corner
of the eyes to protect from cuts
more than absorbing the power of
punches.
This is a head guard that's used
currently.
It's pretty thick padding up
through the forehead area, the
side area, the back is padded as
well.
That's some of your best
movement ever, Chandler
Keep it up.
>> With their questions
answered, university brass
finally voted to approve the
boxing club on campus, with
Chandler Davis as it's
president.
Around 50 students now spar and
train with mostly donated
equipment under the watchful eye
of seasoned coaches.
[beeps]
>> Time!
I would think Charlie would very
much approve of it.
>> Just the fact that I kept--
was determined to keep going, I
think, really taught me
something that this
determination can actually do
something.
[bell clangs]