Few People have heard the story of the man named "John Brown", who lived

in "Glendale, AZ" as a teenager and young adult during the 1960's and 1970's;  

mainly because he got robbed out of the fame that was due to him.

      When I first saw him, he was only about foureteen and already taller than most

of the adults that I knew.  "John Brown" was the cousin of the Guitarist "Stan

Cole" who was considered by certain people as being the best rock

guitarist in "Arizona" and "Stan Cole's" older brother "Don Cole", who had made

some hits on the radio.  Around that time, "John" had a band with "Stan Cole".  

I saw them play in the "Glendale High School" cafeteria, which had been changed

for the event slightly and remembered that they played the old hit song "Little

Red Riding Hood" which had been a hit song by "Sam th Sham and the

Pharohs".  A little later on, I would see "John" and "Stan's" band, "The Ninteenth

Generation", play this same song on a T.V. show that was very popular in

"Arizona" back then and which would someday become the longest running

daytime T.V. show in history, the "Wallace and Ladmo" show.  "Stan Cole"

sang and played lead guitar and "John Brown" played rhythm. I attempted to

get old reruns of this one show but found out that in those days, they did not

film their shows.

      This appearance was hardly the one of someone who would become a boxer

someday; but surface appearances can be deceiving.  He already had a black

belt in karate and would also instruct karate sometime during his years.

      When "john Brown" finally did get into boxing he became quite good.  He

took the "Arizona" championship.  Later, he took the southwest boxing

championship, which I no longer remember if he took it in 14 or 17 states.  He

went to "Indiana" and boxed a well known champion of that state.  The first time,  

he lost.  He trained some more, went back and boxed this same champion a

second time.  This time, he beat him.

      "John" would now go into the ring against the man who would become his

most famous boxing opponent; "George Forman"; the future heavyweight

champion of the world.  By now reaching his full height, "John Brown" had

reached the height of of six feet and eight inches tall.  "John Brown" tied

"George Forman" in points but lost by a decision.  This was quite excellent,

since he was newer than "Forman".  

      With the exception of losing to "Forman" but only by a decision and after he

had tied him in points, he was basically doing the same thing that "Forman" was

doing; he was beating everyone that came before him.  Truely, "John Brown" of

"Glendale, AZ" was on the rise in the boxing world. It looked as though nothing

would ever stop him.

      Unfortunately, somthing did:  It was the draft board.  "John Brown" had been

drafted.  After they had contacted him, he told the draft board that he did not

want to go into the army because of his boxing career.  It was too obvious that

he had something and in the long run, would get something out of it.  They told

him that if he joined the army, they would make him a military boxer.  He didn't

really have much choice anyway, so he joined.

    Not long after this, they stuck him in a helicopter in "Vietnam" as a gunner.  He

got shot in the stomach.  The doctor told him that he wouldn't be able to box

anymore, because if he got hit in the stomach, it could kill him; so he quit

boxing.

      After returning to "America" and out of the military, instead of being a world

champion boxer like he could have been, had it not been for getting shot in the

stomach, he ended up doing the various low paying jobs that infested the state of

"Arizona".  Much of "Phoenix" had risen from the efforts of the home developers

who had encouraged and with the help of the media and other sources, the citie's

growth and population growth to migrate to that state.  The problem was, they

never encouraged much industrial and commercial growth and "Phoenix"

became a large city full of cheap, crappy jobs.  These were the kind of jobs that

"John" was getting, including that of bouncer in some rather dangerous bars.

      Around this time, when he was 27, "John" decided to go back into boxing,

even if it could kill him to get hit in the stomach; and in nearly no time, ended up

taking the state championship of "Arizona" for a second time.  Once again

though, his boxing was to meet jeapardy.  

      He had kept his job as bouncer while he was boxing.  One night, a man had

entered the bar where he worked as bouncer and started hitting people and

beating people up.  When "John Brown" found out, he left his post at the door,

came in and put down the man, since it was necesssary and threw him out.  The

man came back and shot him with a pistol, shooting into a crowd of people

while doing so.

      After that, he seemed to drift away from boxing.  If he returned to it, I have no

knowledge, since I sort of also drifted away from most people that I once knew

myself and have no word, though I know from a reliable source(david Ciancio),

an old friend of his for many years, that "John Brown" had a heart attack and

was in a wheel chair.  If he finally got to where he could go places without the

wheelchair, I am uncertain.

      Not building this website and letting "John Brown" be forgotten when he

should have been famous would have be a crime too big to be explained for

someone who knows his story and that's why I built it.  I don't know all of it;

but the rest is also colosol from what I've heard.  "John Brown" was the one

out of our old town, once small, who should have been the most famous and

could have also done well in music.  This is not to say that "John Brown" would

have been the only famous person from "Glendale, AZ".  As mentioned earlier,

his cousin "Don Cole" had made hit records and his younger brother "Stan Cole"       

started acheiving lots of local fame but then finally got ruined by asthma.  "Marty

Robbins" also came from "Glendale" and there was also "Margaret Pellegrini"       

who was an actress who played as one of the munchkins in the "Wizard of Oz".

  As comparing him to "George Forman" who he boxed and tied but lost by a

decision when he had less experience than "Forman" and "Mohamed Ali" who

he never boxed at all, all I can say is that I've seen both of these men on T.V.              

enough times and talked to "John" enough times to know that he was at least a

little smarter.  Though this factor alone doesn't make him a better boxer than

what they were and it is by all means too late to ever prove it, with his health

now impaired as well as "Mohamed Ali's", he did at least have what it takes.  

"Marty Robbins" was probably the most famous to come at out of "Glendale, AZ";

but if "John Brown" would have taken the world's championship in boxing, he

may have ended up being the most famous person to come out of "Glendale".

      This story doesn't tell everything about "John", for I don't know his entire

story and it would take a great deal of time and money to research it, since I know

longer know where many people are.  But there is one thing that will always

stand out clearly:  If one wants to know the reason why "John Brown" never

became a world's heavyweight champion, the answer is very simple:

"He got drafted".

Written By

Dwayne Russell Leftridge

The writer of this story

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