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Don King
Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups.
King's career highlights include, among multiple other enterprises, promoting "The Rumble in the Jungle" and the "Thrilla in Manila". King has promoted some of the most prominent names in boxing, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Tomasz Adamek, Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Julio César Chávez, Ricardo Mayorga, Andrew Golota, Bernard Hopkins, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr., Azumah Nelson, Gerald McClellan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Salvador Sanchez, Wilfred Benitez, Wilfredo Gomez and Christy Martin. Many of these boxers sued him for allegedly defrauding them. Mike Tyson was quoted as saying, "He did more bad to black fighters than any white promoter ever in the history of boxing."
King has been charged with killing two people in incidents 13 years apart. In 1954, King shot a man in the back after spotting him trying to rob one of his gambling houses; this incident was ruled a justifiable homicide. In 1967, King was convicted of second-degree murder for stomping one of his employees to death because he owed him $600. For this, he served three years and eleven months in prison, being released after the conviction was reduced to voluntary manslaughter on appeal.
King was born in Cleveland, Ohio, as the fifth of six children to Clarence and Hattie King. Clarence worked at the Otis Steel plant owned by the Jones & Laughlin company and was killed in a workplace accident on December 7, 1941, when a ladle exploded and engulfed him in molten steel. Hattie received $10,000 (equivalent to $213,778 in 2024) in compensation and relocated the family to the middle-class Mount Pleasant neighborhood. His mother made a living selling peanuts and homemade pies, helped by King and his younger sister and sold the wares at a local "policy house" that used the guise of a concession stand to run a numbers game. King and his older brothers all eventually became involved in the betting scheme, with King later stating "So now what we did is we capitalized off of this here, and we hustled. It was statutorily illegal, but who knew about the statutes?" King graduated from John Adams High in 1951 and briefly attended Kent State University before dropping out.
Beginning in 1951, King ran an illegal bookmaking operation out of the basement of a record store on Kinsman Road, earning the byname "The Kid", as well as the nicknames "Kingpin" and "the Numbers Czar". During this time, King was charged with killing two men in incidents 13 years apart. On December 2, 1954, King fatally shot Hillary Brown in the back while he and two accomplices were attempting to rob one of King's gambling houses on East 123rd Street. This first killing was determined to be justifiable homicide.
On April 20, 1966, King killed an employee, 34-year-old Sam Garrett, in an open street in front of several witnesses, for owing $600 in debt. King beat and kicked Garrett and held a .357 magnum revolver to his head; Garrett never regained consciousness and died of severe head trauma on April 24. King claimed self-defense, while the prosecution, supported by witness testimony, including that of arresting police officer Bob Tonne, argued that Garrett was attacked by King, with Garrett's last words being quoted as "Don, I'll pay you the money." He was convicted of second-degree murder for the second killing in 1967 and sentenced to one-to-twenty years imprisonment. While he served his term at the Marion Correctional Institution, he began self-education; according to his own words, he read everything in the prison library he could get his hands on.
I learned this here, in the ... penitentiary, in reading everything that I can find my hands on, and didn't living the life that I live before I got to the penitentiary. That gave me an enlightenment on life that "don't get mad, get smart." That's why I want other kids to educate themselves, put it in their brain, they can't take that away.
In 1972 after serving three years and eleven months, King was released when his attorney got the conviction reduced to manslaughter. King was pardoned in 1983 by Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes, with letters from Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, George Voinovich, Art Modell, and Gabe Paul, among others, being written in support of King.
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Don King
Donald King (born August 20, 1931) is an American boxing promoter, known for his involvement in several historic boxing matchups.
King's career highlights include, among multiple other enterprises, promoting "The Rumble in the Jungle" and the "Thrilla in Manila". King has promoted some of the most prominent names in boxing, including Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, George Foreman, Larry Holmes, Tomasz Adamek, Roberto Duran, Mike Tyson, Evander Holyfield, Chris Byrd, John Ruiz, Julio César Chávez, Ricardo Mayorga, Andrew Golota, Bernard Hopkins, Félix Trinidad, Roy Jones Jr., Azumah Nelson, Gerald McClellan, Marco Antonio Barrera, Salvador Sanchez, Wilfred Benitez, Wilfredo Gomez and Christy Martin. Many of these boxers sued him for allegedly defrauding them. Mike Tyson was quoted as saying, "He did more bad to black fighters than any white promoter ever in the history of boxing."
King has been charged with killing two people in incidents 13 years apart. In 1954, King shot a man in the back after spotting him trying to rob one of his gambling houses; this incident was ruled a justifiable homicide. In 1967, King was convicted of second-degree murder for stomping one of his employees to death because he owed him $600. For this, he served three years and eleven months in prison, being released after the conviction was reduced to voluntary manslaughter on appeal.
King was born in Cleveland, Ohio, as the fifth of six children to Clarence and Hattie King. Clarence worked at the Otis Steel plant owned by the Jones & Laughlin company and was killed in a workplace accident on December 7, 1941, when a ladle exploded and engulfed him in molten steel. Hattie received $10,000 (equivalent to $213,778 in 2024) in compensation and relocated the family to the middle-class Mount Pleasant neighborhood. His mother made a living selling peanuts and homemade pies, helped by King and his younger sister and sold the wares at a local "policy house" that used the guise of a concession stand to run a numbers game. King and his older brothers all eventually became involved in the betting scheme, with King later stating "So now what we did is we capitalized off of this here, and we hustled. It was statutorily illegal, but who knew about the statutes?" King graduated from John Adams High in 1951 and briefly attended Kent State University before dropping out.
Beginning in 1951, King ran an illegal bookmaking operation out of the basement of a record store on Kinsman Road, earning the byname "The Kid", as well as the nicknames "Kingpin" and "the Numbers Czar". During this time, King was charged with killing two men in incidents 13 years apart. On December 2, 1954, King fatally shot Hillary Brown in the back while he and two accomplices were attempting to rob one of King's gambling houses on East 123rd Street. This first killing was determined to be justifiable homicide.
On April 20, 1966, King killed an employee, 34-year-old Sam Garrett, in an open street in front of several witnesses, for owing $600 in debt. King beat and kicked Garrett and held a .357 magnum revolver to his head; Garrett never regained consciousness and died of severe head trauma on April 24. King claimed self-defense, while the prosecution, supported by witness testimony, including that of arresting police officer Bob Tonne, argued that Garrett was attacked by King, with Garrett's last words being quoted as "Don, I'll pay you the money." He was convicted of second-degree murder for the second killing in 1967 and sentenced to one-to-twenty years imprisonment. While he served his term at the Marion Correctional Institution, he began self-education; according to his own words, he read everything in the prison library he could get his hands on.
I learned this here, in the ... penitentiary, in reading everything that I can find my hands on, and didn't living the life that I live before I got to the penitentiary. That gave me an enlightenment on life that "don't get mad, get smart." That's why I want other kids to educate themselves, put it in their brain, they can't take that away.
In 1972 after serving three years and eleven months, King was released when his attorney got the conviction reduced to manslaughter. King was pardoned in 1983 by Ohio Governor Jim Rhodes, with letters from Jesse Jackson, Coretta Scott King, George Voinovich, Art Modell, and Gabe Paul, among others, being written in support of King.
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