Stillman, Lou

Louis Ingbar

Lou, whose real name was Lou Ingbar, ran Stillman's Gym in New York City, one of the most famous in the world. At any given time, some of the greatest boxers in the world trained at Stillman's. Lou Duva, one of today's best-known trainers, said that "Stillman's was where I got my real introduction to boxing. I used to watch the great trainers handle their fighter: guys like Ray Arcel, Whitey Bimstein..."

Ray Arcel explained how The Gym got its start: "Grupp's Gymnasium was actually where all the great fighters trained. It was at 116th and 8th Avenue. After the First World War, in the latter part of 1919 and 1920, Billy Grupp owned the gymnasium...kept getting drunk, and he went around berating the Jews; he said, 'The Jews are responsible for this war. All the German people got killed because of the Jews.' Well, who was training in the gymnasium? Benny Leonard, Benny Valgar, Abe Goldstein, Willie Jackson, Marty Cross, Sammy Good, all of these Jewish fighters.

"So when they heard this, one of the fellows said, 'You know, there's a new gymnasium opened up on 125th Street. Near Seventh Avenue... Let's look at it.' So a whole gang of us...we went up on the top floor and we saw the sign in the window. 'Marshall Stillman Movement.' Marshall Stillman was a millionaire in those days, this was in the twenties, and he was head of a movement which was trying to do some good for the kids of the city...they figured they'd open up their little gym and let the kids work out in the gym...

"Now, Marshall Stillman hired a fellow who was a retired cop, by the name of Lou Ingbar, to run this thing for him...He knew nothing about professional boxing, but he heard about Benny Leonard...Pretty soon word got around that Leonard was training on 125th Street, you couldn't get into the place...He (Lou) was Lord and Master of the thing. Well, we knew it as the Marshall Stillman Movement, so everybody started to call him Stillman, and there's where he got his name, Lou Stillman." *

With Benny Leonard and other champions training, the crowds caused Lou to move Stillman's Gymnasium, in 1921, to 8th Avenue, between 54th and 55th streets. Lou charged 15-25 cents for entry to watch some of the best compete, and the Gym was filled with boxers, trainers, managers, and hanger-ons. It was best remembered for its smell (which writer Sam Toperoff said incuded every foul male odor ever made), and for Stillman himself, who treated every fighter, champion, or bum the same -- badly.

In his autobiography, Somebody Up There Likes Me, Rocky Graziano described the first time he walked into the famous gym. He wrote:

"Stillman's Gym don't look no better to me than I do to Stillman's. Up at the end of a long, dark stairway is this barn of a place. In the middle are two regulation-size rings, with big lights over them. It's a good thing there are big lights because the windows look like they haven't been washed in years. Even the pigeons that hang around out there have give up looking in for free at the fighters...One thing I like about this joint my first day there. I see that everybody spits on the floor at Stillman's, and spitting is an old habit I got...In the ring to the left a couple of guys are slugging each other. They're wearing head gear but one of the guys is taking a beating in the face and bleeding out of his nose...And nobody is paying much attention to them, except a trainer who leans on the edge of the ring, looking bored and chewing on an old cigar stub...In ring number two, a half dozen guys are galloping around shadowboxing. Behind the rings, some guys in trunks are shadowboxing, others are doing pushups. From up on the balcony comes the noise of the punching bags-whappity, whappity, whappity...Every third and fourth minute the bell rings for the rounds...And under the clock, off to the left, is Lou Stillman, who is looking more bored than anybody else, keeping track of who's in the ring and who's due in next like a checker in a parking lot...This is the famous Stillman's Gym."

In 1959, Stillman's Gym closed (a victim of televised boxing and the middle-class exodus to the suburbs) and was demolished. Years later, Lou told reporter Al Braverman that this was the worst thing he had ever done, as it left him with nobody to talk to, and nobody to abuse.

Birth and Death Dates:
unknown

Origin:
New York City

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