The TV hit, Dancing with the Stars,
has become a common a popular alternative venue for sports stars
such as Hines Ward
of the Pittsburgh Steelers,
speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno, former UFC champion Chuck
Liddell, and Former Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin have all done well. What
is surprising is that former boxers haven't faired as well. Judge Bruno
Tonioli slammed Evander Holyfield
moves with "It was like watching Terminator keeping up with Tinkerbell." Floyd
Mayweather with such great footwork in the ring, was a big
disappointment. Many expected retired boxer Sugar Ray Leonard to do
better, but he was eliminated with the second-lowest score of the week.
But Sugar Ray apparently enjoyed the experience and said "I'm going to
continue ballroom dancing and it was amazing!"
There have recently been a number of
surprises about Sugar Ray Leonard's life, some of which were detailed in
his
2011 autobiography “The Big Fight: My Life In and Out of the Ring”
in which he discusses his alcohol and drug use, infidelity, domestic
violence, and becoming a father by the age of seventeen. He describes in
detail his cocaine use, growing up in a home with alcohol abuse and
domestic violence, surviving an auto accident with his mother at the
wheel, almost drowning in a creek
as a child
during a flood ,He also recalled how was sexually molested
by a “prominent Olympic boxing coach” prior to the 1976 Olympic Games in
Montreal, where he won the gold medal which helped launch his career. He
was15 years old when it happened and said that the incident
has "haunted me for life."
Sugar Ray was ther
first boxer to earn $100 million in the ring and is widely considered to be one of the best boxers of all time,
He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer,
Ray Charles. He won his first four Olympic bouts by 5–0 decisions.
After winning the Olympic Gold Medal. he announced, "I'm
finished...I've fought my last fight. My journey has ended, my dream is
fulfilled. Now I want to go to school." Unfortunately, dancing was
not on the curriculum.
Although somewhat ironic with the name of Sugar Ray, the champ
has been the International
Chairman of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Walk for a Cure
and is actively involved in raising both awareness and funds and
testified before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and
Government Affairs in 2009. The Senate hearing was titled "Type 1
Diabetes Research: Real Progress and Real Hope for a Cure."
So although not an appropriate dish to serve
the champ with diabetes on his birthday, we suggest making Sugar Pie
and charging your friends $10.00 a slice and sending the proceeds to the
Sugar Ray Leonard Foundation to support the Juvenile Diabetes Research
Foundation, and watch him in
The Fighter (2010).
Sugar pie is a typical dessert of the
western European countries of France and Belgium, Quebec (where
it is known as Tarte Au
Sucre), and
Midwestern US states such as Indiana, where it is known as sugar cream
pie (other names are Hoosier sugar cream pie, Indiana cream pie,
Indiana farm pie, and finger pie). the Indiana version (sugar cream pie
originated with Quaker settlers who came from North Carolina in the
early nineteenth century, and thereafter settled in east-central
Indiana, particularly around the cities of New Castle, Portland,
Richmond, and Winchester. The Amish also popularized sugar cream pie,
making the pie easy to find where they populated.
|
