Kronk Dead, But Only As A Building

The Kronk Gym is dead, and in much the same way that a terminally ill loved one passes. The end is expected, hoped against, but always seemingly inevitable.

The Detroit City Council pulled the plug on the famous Kronk Recreation Center -- breeding ground for countless champion boxers, pro and amateur -- the other day, and you really can't blame them. The Kronk has been experiencing financial difficulties for years, and not even the tireless efforts of the daddy of all champions, Emanuel Steward, could prevent it from shuttering.

The death knell was the September thievery of all the gym's copper tubing and piping that lie in the basement, which carried all the water throughout the building. Copper's soaring prices have led to thieves pilfering a multitude of items that contain the metal, including tubing and even the coils from home air conditioning units, which have also been targeted.

After the September crime, Kronk's boxers have been training at a Gold's Gym in nearby Dearborn.

Already, efforts are underway to build a new Kronk, though it may not carry the same name. That's the least of the worries right now. As part of that effort, a fundraising event will be held this evening at the Star Theater in Southfield. Actor Sylvester Stallone is expected to appear at an advanced screening of "Rocky Balboa," his new movie that premieres nationwide around Christmas. Tickets are $25 for the screening, and $100 for VIP tickets, which includes a reception prior to the 8:00 p.m. screening. For more information, call the Star at 248.388.3799.

Steward, when we spoke in August, told me that one of the attractions the Kronk had for the aspiring kid boxers around town was its access from the nearby suburbs.

"We used to have busloads of kids coming in," he said of the gym, located near the city's southwest side.

The Kronk, as you know, helped produce champions from Tommy Hearns to Oscar de la Hoya. Steward, who once used to work at Detroit Edison and for years considered his Kronk work a "side job," has been associated with the gym for nearly 40 years.

But now the Kronk has not only been given its last rites, the coffin has been ordered and it will soon be laid to rest. But its legacy still lives, through the bodies of today's boxers who've only recently had their taste of Kronk's aura. So you may know, Steward has often put boxers up in his own home while they train at Kronk. There were a few there, in fact, when we chatted in August in his dining room following a Roundtable discussion for Motor City Sports Magazine.

The venue may change, but Steward is still going to be involved in the "new" Kronk, should it ever get off the ground. But rest assured he'll figure something out, for the next generation of boxing champions.