August 6, 1978
By RAMON VILLLALOBOS
Times staff writer
Tony Campbell, El Paso’s first nationally famous athlete, contended for the lightweight boxing championship of the world under the name Tony Herrera because his mom didn’t like boxing, and he didn’t want her to know he was a fighter.
Considering how quickly Tony lost his fame and fortune, maybe mom was right.
Ex-U.S. Marine Gene Tunney, who became the heavyweight champion of the world and retired a millionaire after wisely investing his earnings, writes in his book, “A Man Must Fight,” that no man gives as much to his profession as the boxer. The profession has left many derelicts in its wake.
A sad example of the heavy toll the sport can take is close to home, reflected in Tony Campbell’s career.
In the early 1920s and through the late 1930s, sports writers across the country were heralding Anthony Campbell as the next lightweight champion of the world.
Once the toast of New York’s Madison Square Garden and its boxing fans, he was among the first sports figures to give El Paso national publicity, like that caused by Lee Trevino. Now he is a lonely and almost forgotten man whose mental capabilities and speech are in deterioration.
Tony, at 71, sits in his wheel chair at a local nursing home – a sad figure. He’s been at the home for almost a year.
Tony’s father, an American, was a horse and cattle buyer who spent most of his time traveling in Mexico.
Campbell’s brother Carlos (Spike) says Tony changed his surname to Herrera because he “didn’t want Mother to know he was boxing professionally.” Mrs. Loreto Campbell did not like boxing.
Spike, who also picked up the boxing trade for a while, served as sparring partner for several of Tony’s important fights. But he hung up his gloves when he received only $10 after fighting a 10-round main event.
“I figured I couldn’t make a living like that,” Spike says today.
Except for close members of his family, nobody ever visits Tony, nurse supervisor Jeannie Balderama says.
“He’s a loner and stays away from the other patients” she says. “He just sits and looks outside.”
Tony’s mental condition is attributed to the heavy blows he received in his more than 100 professional fights.
Tony never made the million dollars he once dreamed he would get to take care of his family as a prize fighter. But in his long and colorful career, he made plenty of money.
Where did the money go? Spike, now a retired Customs employee, says of his brother, “He just blew it away.”
Spike says Tony had a bad and expensive habit – picking up the tabs of his many friends and the “leeches” who surrounded him while he was in his prime.
Faded newspaper clippings in Tony’s scrapbook reveal he was 12 when he had his first ring fight. That was 1919. It was an Irish benefit boxing card. Tony volunteered when one of the fighters on the card failed to show up. He went on to win easily and was given $3 for his efforts.
Tony never was popular among this home-town fans because of his dancing and jabbing style of fighting.
Cesar C. Castillo, a retired Southern Union Gas Co. employee, and a personal friend, compared Tony’s style of boxing with Muhammad Ali’s.
There were many good fighters in El Paso during Tony’s time, but none made it to the “big time” like Tony. Among them were Pinqui Urquidi, Baby Gonzalez, Mike Vasquez (later a deputy sheriff), Kid Allen, Battling Chico, and Mike Payan (a newsroom copy boy). Tony beat them all.
Tony continued his ring career while attending El Paso High School. As a member of the school’s ROTC boxing team, Sgt. Tony Campbell won the Texas ROTC concampment boxing title.
After disposing of all the local talent in matches at the old armory on Dallas and Bassett streets, at Fort Bliss. Tony packed his gear and headed west in his search for fame and fortune.
Former Brig. Gen. S.L.A. (Slam) Marshall, who was the sports editor of the old El Paso Herald wrote that Tony had “the most poisonous left jab that has been developed in El Paso.”
After leaving El Paso, Tony became a ring sensation in Chicago, Minneapolis, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Clippings from newspapers always called him the Mexican terror from El Paso.
An undated clipping for the Pittsburgh Press said, “Tony came back to Pittsburgh last night and gave Joey Goodman of Cleveland a boxing lesson, making Joey look like a novice in their 10-round main event at the Motor Square Garden’s opening show of the indoor season.”
A 1928 clipping from the Cleveland Press had this to say, “As colorful as this bronze skin, Tony Herrera, 21-year-old Mexican from El Paso, is destined for the championship title just as sure as there is a revolution in Mexico.” Mexico at that time was engaged in the “Cristero” revolt.
After he had compiled a string of 71 ring victories. Ring Magazine, the bible of boxing, used Tony’s picture on the cover. No. 1 contender for the title.
In 1934, Tony’s hope to win the title blew out the window when champion Barney Ross came up with an infected ear and canceled their title fight. Blind Dandy Dick Girffen had signed Ross to defend his title against Tony in Fort Worth.
Disillusioned, Tony made his way to the West Coast where his career began to sink after he suffered a severe beating at the hands of Peter Jackson, a young black boxer, in a vicious 10-round fight.
It was never confirmed, but Tony’s friends say Jackson suffered several broken ribs during the fight.
One of Tony’s last fights before his fame faded was in Liberty Hall, when he decisioned Sammy Mandell, then an aging former lightweight champion of the world.
Tony, a World War II Air Force veteran, retired to his hometown and began training young fighters for local bouts. He developed Mike Adame, Jesse Fonseca and former Biggs Field Air Force Sgt. Manny Ortega. The trio were headliners on the local scene for several years.
As boxing was beginning to die in El Paso, Tony got a job with the City Parks and Recreation department and was placed in charge of Chelmont Park.
Everyday, his lonely figure could be seen watering the corner park, his friends barely noticing him in his overall working trousers.
He quit the city job in 1970 when his health began to deteriorate, partly because of the punishment his body absorbed as a fighter.
His still loyal friend Castillo claims that if any El Paso sports figure deserves to be in the El Paso Hall of Fame, its Tony. Promoters of the local event have never considered Tony for the honor, Castillo says.
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