Norfol Lafolet Ray Lee ( born Norvel LaFollette Ray Lee ; September 22, 1924 , Eagle Rock - August 19, 1992 , Bethesda ) - American light heavyweight and heavyweight boxer , played for the US team in the first half of the 1950s. Champion of the Summer Olympic Games in Helsinki, double bronze medalist of the Pan American Games, a participant in many international tournaments and national championships.
 Norvel Lee | |||||||||||||||||
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| English Norvel LaFollette Ray Lee | |||||||||||||||||
| general information | |||||||||||||||||
| Citizenship |  USA | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of Birth | September 22, 1924 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of Birth | Eagle rock | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of death | August 19, 1992 (67 years) | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of death | Bethesda | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight category | heavy | ||||||||||||||||
Medals
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Biography
Norvel Lee was born September 22, 1924 in the community of Eagle Rock, Virginia . He made his debut on the international scene in 1948 in a match meeting with the Irish national team, at the same time he tried to qualify for the Olympic Games in London, but lost to qualifying for Jay Lambert . As a result, he still visited these Games as a spare heavyweight boxer, but did not participate in the competitions. At the end of the same year, he was arrested by Covington police because, being black, he sat in a bus in the place for the whites. The court appointed him a fine for this offense.
In 1950, Lee won the Golden Gloves National Tournament in New York, became the US amateur champion. A year later, he was again the best in his country in the hard division, he went to the Pan-American Games in Buenos Aires, from where he brought a bronze medal. He failed to go through a direct selection to the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki , he lost to Edward Sanders , however, the coaches offered him to lose weight to the light heavyweight category, and thus, he did perform at the Olympics. Lee won by unanimous decision all four of his rivals, including Finn Harry Siljander and Argentine Antonio Pacenza in the semifinals and finals, respectively. In addition to winning a gold medal, he also received the Val Barker Cup , a prize traditionally awarded to the most technical boxer of the Olympic Games.
Having achieved great success in amateur boxing, Norvel Lee, unlike most of his compatriots, did not turn into professionals, instead continued to play in the national team of the United States. In 1955, he boxed at the Pan American Games in Mexico City, where he won another bronze medal in heavyweight. After completing his sports career, he worked as a teacher, from time to time he took part in professional boxing matches as a judge.
He died of cancer on August 19, 1992 in Bethesda , Maryland [1] .
Notes
- ↑ Gary Williams. Beltway Boxing History: Norvel Lee! (eng.) . Boxing Along the Beltway (26 July 2012). The appeal date is December 4, 2013.
Links
- Norvel Lee - Olympic statistics on Sports-Reference.com (eng.)