Alvino H. Pe\u00f1a was born May 14, 1939, in Silvis, Illinois.\u00a0 He died on March 20, 2014, in Davenport, Iowa.<\/p>\n
In between those dates, he lived a lot of life and helped a lot of kids.<\/p>\n
The father of ten children, Mr. Pe\u00f1a, who had grown up with very little himself, was concerned with the large number of inner-city youth he saw in the Quad-Cities who had no direction, no resources, and no future.<\/p>\n
Besides working at International Harvester, Mr.\u00a0Pe\u00f1a was also in the Army National Guard, where he\u2019d learned how to box.\u00a0 In 1968, he put his worries about his community\u2019s children and his love of the sport together, and opened the Davenport Boxing Club at 609 West 4th<\/sup> Street.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0Working two jobs to support the club, which was free to all, he taught boxing to kids who needed discipline, focus, and a place to belong.<\/p>\n The Club earned its official non-profit tax-exempt status in the mid-eighties, but it had already started to produce results.\u00a0 Hundreds of teenagers had already responded to Mr. Pe\u00f1a\u2019s combination of tough expectations and warm-hearted support—and thousands more would.<\/p>\n Many of them became pretty good boxers, too.<\/p>\n The popular Annual Boxing Show, hosted by the Club, showcased the young athletes over the years, and several also won boxing titles on the local, state, national, and even international levels.\u00a0 Some of the Club’s regulars, like Michael Nunn and Antwun Echols, have gone professional.<\/p>\n Mr.\u00a0Pe\u00f1a wasn\u2019t just coaching at the Club, either—he worked with several U.S. amateur teams and many boxers who went on to become household names:\u00a0 Oscar De La Hoya and Evander Holyfield among them.<\/p>\n He was recognized many times as the state and regional Golden Gloves coach of the year, and in 1999, was inducted into the Golden Gloves Hall of Fame for coaching.\u00a0 According to newspaper interviews, he didn\u2019t want to travel out of state to pick up the award, because that would mean closing the gym.<\/p>\n In 2003, Mr.\u00a0Pe\u00f1a was inducted into the Quad-City Sports Hall of Fame, but though he didn\u2019t have to travel far to pick up that award, he still didn\u2019t want to bother.\u00a0 He wasn\u2019t doing it for the fame, and he sure wasn\u2019t doing it for the money.<\/p>\n He was in it for the kids.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ___________________________<\/p>\n Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cAlvino H. Pe\u00f1a, Sr.<\/a>\u201d Quad-City Times<\/i>, 23March2014<\/p>\n Cox, Monte. \u201cQ-C kids\u2019 self-respect . . . for less than $6,000.\u201d Quad-City Times<\/i>, 20Feb1995, p.6<\/p>\n DeVrieze, Craig. \u201c\u2019Coaches are heroes\u2019: Feurbach: Frese, Pe\u00f1a are good role models to follow.\u201d Quad-City Times<\/i>, 8May2003, B1.<\/p>\n Doxie, Don. \u201cLike it or not,\u00a0Pe\u00f1a will get his due: Hall of Fame awaits Q-C legend.\u201d Quad-City Times<\/i>, 3May1998, p.1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Alvino H. Pe\u00f1a was born May 14, 1939, in Silvis, Illinois.\u00a0 He died on March 20, 2014, in Davenport, Iowa. In between those dates, he lived a lot of life and helped a lot of kids. The father of ten … Continue reading