Special Event with Hollenbeck Youth Center & ICGLA
Film actor and former boxer Tom Sizemore continues to turn over a new leaf by volunteering his time to help out others like the hundreds of at-risk kids who joined the thespian at the Inner-City Games Los Angeles (ICGLA) and the Hollenbeck Youth Center’s “Family Dodger Night” at Elysian Park held earlier this week.
If the bright lights of Tinseltown hadn’t called his name, the husky actor might have found fame and fortune inside the boxing ring. Before actor Tom Sizemore’s mug became recognizable from his long list of film and TV credits, he was an up-and-coming young boxer who fought out of the legendary Kronk Gym in Detroit.
“When I was 16 years old, I boxed out of Kronk Gym; I was trained by Manny Steward,” he tells me of his teen career in pugilism. “It was me, Hilmer Kenty and Tommy Hearns!
“But at the time, I was also a top quarterback. So I chose football instead of boxing….” Then a knee injury forced him to leave a gridiron career behind and he decided to turn to acting.
While the controversial star of many blockbusters, including “Saving Private Ryan,” “Black Hawk Down,” “Point Break” and the boxing film “Play it to the Bone,” has had his personal problems well-documented, he is happy to be given another chance at redemption once again. I had the chance to visit with the actor as he mingled with the boys and girls who were excited to meet a Hollywood movie star.
Sizemore was once just like these kids. He admits growing up in bleak conditions similar to the Boyle Heights area where the famed Hollenbeck Gym is located. This is the same gym where a little boy named Oscar De La Hoya got his start. And their legacy will continue; Hollenbeck just received a $10,000 donation of new boxing equipment from Everlast. The kids also got to meet heavyweight Chris Arreola while the donation was made. Not into their third decade, Hollenbeck Youth Center is known for many boxing champions and Olympians that were homegrown from their gym.
In between innings at the game, I chatted with Priscilla Muñoz Hernandez, Vice President of the Hollenbeck Youth Center and ICGLA Advisor. We watched as the actor was mobbed by fans in the stands as he made his way over to the Hollenbeck section of seats. “Tom’s great with the kids,” she observes. I ask her if this is the first event he’s participated in. “He’s done a few things now,” the pretty young woman answers. “He’s had some acting workshops for the kids and some of them got to visit him on the film sets too.”
And there might even be a football camp coming up in the future. As Hollenbeck’s Sports Director Jose “Nati” Correa introduced some of the young athletes to the Golden Globe nominee, Sizemore was inspired to possibly hold a football clinic for the kids too.
For Priscilla, her affiliation with Hollenbeck and ICGLA is something that she was literally born to do–and she does a bang-up job at it. Her father Daniel Hernandez is President/CEO of the Hollenbeck Police Business Council, founder of Inner-City Games Los Angeles, and founder of Hollenbeck Youth Center. Her mother, Beatrice, is the ICGLA Executive Director; the entire family’s life work has been assisting the at-risk youth of East L.A.
For the 1,000 children and their families who were treated to this ball game, besides enjoying peanuts and hot dogs many were surprised to rub elbows with a famous celeb. Sizemore seemed to enjoy watching America’s favorite pastime with the kids as I watched him joke around and pose with the children and teens.
And helping out these inner-city youngsters is something that really means a lot to him. “The judge signed off that I can work with kids,” the actor said of paying his dues for his well-known issues. Now he wants to encourage others to stay on the right side of the law. Giving a helping hand, a kind word of encouragement, just knowing someone’s in your corner is sometimes the difference between staying–and not straying–from that right path.
At the beginning of our conversation, Tom, although friendly and polite, cautiously and a bit sheepishly leans over and tells me in a hushed voice, “Uh…you know, I really don’t like interviews.” I laugh and tell him no pressure; we can just talk about his goal of inspiring kids to not give up and to go after their dreams. He immediately relaxes and quickly begins to explain how much it means to him to get a second chance (or in his case, a third or even fourth chance) at doing good and helping out the less fortunate. During this exclusive conversation, he was very open, quite talkative and extremely engaging.
“I LOVE working with kids” he said as he looked around the rows of youngsters surrounding him. He began volunteering his time at Hollenbeck about three and a half months ago. Tom also mentions he was just like these kids, raised in an hardscrabble existence and in need of positive role models. “My mom worked 18 hour days,” remembers Sizemore. “And there were eight of us, eight kids.” He is now a father himself of twin boys.
Sizemore says he really grew up in the mean streets of Michigan, where getting out alive was beating the odds. “I lived in Brewster Place, in the Detroit projects–Exit 14” he recalls of the poverty-stricken housing projects. “I’d see drunks in the hallway all the time. It was rough as a kid; it was like ground zero.” But as harsh as it was, he knows his fate could’ve been worse. “Eleven out of the 14 boys from my kindergarten class are dead,” he tells me.
As an adolescent with busy, hard-working parents, other adults stepped in as mentors. They proved themselves to be invaluable to the actor. “In the ’60s and ’70s, there were after-school activities I was involved with like baseball, golf and bowling,” he explains, “similar programs to what Hollenbeck is offering. And part of the reason I enjoyed it was because I was an athlete, but also because of the mentors I met through the Boys’ Club and Big Brother programs.”
Recalling these early mentors, Sizemore compares, “Danny Hernandez is Doug Fisher! He’s to these kids what Doug Fisher was to me.”
“Who is Doug Fisher” I ask him.
“Doug was the one who kept the kids in line,” he reminisces with a smile. “If we got out of line, Doug would watch over us. Well, Danny is ‘that guy’–with these kids.” He continues to say that mentors like Danny and Doug make a difference in the lives of wayward youth.
The former fighter also says he got into many scrapes as a kid until his parents intervened. “I was caught drinking and smoking,” he said. “And my parents told me, ‘You’ve lost your footing–what are you thinking?'” He talks about his Catholic upbringing and says his parents did an amazing job considering their tough neighborhood. “I still had a wonderful life. And seven of us even went to college,” he states with pride about his siblings. “I got a PhD in Theatre Arts.”
But the street life did claim one family member. “One brother is in prison,” the forty-something actor says matter-of-factly.
He also credits his mom for getting him back on the straight and narrow to a healthy life while as an adult. After making many a tabloid headline, his mother said these words that sunk in: “I know you’re gonna do the right thing, Tommy.”
Since then, a healthier Sizemore said on Tuesday night, “Now it’s been 428 clean consecutive days for me!” At this point, he also asks for prayers for his beloved mom who is battling thyroid cancer. “My mom,” Tom says, “her name is Judith Kay Sizemore–she needs all your prayers.”
He glances down at the baseball field and is quiet and reflective for a moment until the crack of the bat brings roars from the crowd. Then as the fans begins to cheer and do “The Wave” around the stadium, he turns his attention back to the most important guests that night–the kids from Hollenbeck. The ball game was a nice “farewell to summer” outing since many of the children went back to school earlier that day. The delighted youth were both surprised and excited to meet a Hollywood celebrity. As he mingled with the happy faces that gathered around him, Tom showed genuine warmth and respect for each little hand that he shook or gave a high five to.
Going back to his boxing roots, he shadowboxes with a few of the young Hollenbeck fighters as they all put their dukes up. He wants to show them that even though even you may reach your lowest point in life you CAN make changes–and make a difference in others’ lives.
Vowing to stay on the right road, the former boxer plans to continue to fight the good fight.
Photos by Michele Chong