Kolmarge Harris

Kolmarge Harris, 48, has helped keep boxing alive in Lansing for more than 20 years — as well as providing numerous health and fitness opportunities —with his nonprofit Lansing Spartans Youth Organization, which has spread to Mt. Pleasant. After his life began on the rough west side of Chicago, Harris’ father moved his family to Lansing and involved him in Golden Gloves. He also helped him overcome dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder.

Tell us about your youngest years in Chicago.

I grew up by the old Chicago Stadium. On that side of town was all gang members and the Cabrini-Green Apartments. That’s when the bullying started. I was one of the quiet kids. I remember getting shot at once because I was wearing the wrong colors on the wrong side of the street.

Then my father first took me to the Windy City Boxing Club when I was about 5, in 1979. There were pros like Muhammad Ali, George Foreman, Sugar Ray Leonard. We had to get invited because there were so many pros back then, you couldn’t really go to the gym without permission.

I got bullied a lot. It was crazy, because I couldn’t read or write; it was special ed this and special ed that. I’m very blessed because my daddy moved us away from Chicago back in the ‘80s to Lansing, where he worked at GM. If he didn’t move us, I’d probably be dead, or in prison, or I would have really hurt somebody.

I tell my story, but I don’t get real deep into it. I learned in boxing that would put a sour taste in a lot of people’s mouths. And people like to judge. So, I don’t want to put some things out there that people might take the wrong way.

How did life change once you moved to Lansing?

I started boxing at the old Civic Center, when they used to host Golden Gloves there. I was 9 years old. I went to Dwight Rich on the south side. I got bullied there because I was the new kid from Chicago.

When I went to the South Side Boxing Club and got introduced to the Boys & Girls Club. That was different, but it helped me a lot. I met Joe Lipsey, Roger Turner, Fabian Williams, James Toney, Emmanuel Steward, so many people who were boxers from Michigan. By the time I was at Eastern High School, my name got out and they still picked on me some, but not as much because they were scared.

After my daddy died, Tommy Washington Sr. helped me a lot, he took me in and trained me. He was the only mentor I had. He helped me start the East Side Boxing Club in his garage. In 2009, I started the Lansing Spartans Youth Organization, and it became an official nonprofit in 2014.

You spent 15 years as a pro in boxing, but you only won two of your 19 matches. Do you think there are lessons you learned from dealing with defeat that have made you a different or even better mentor and instructor than you might have been if you won all the time?

I think me losing my fights and whatnot did make me a better person. Some people say that boxing can be good for people, but it can also not be good. Boxing just helped me get out of my scenario, and I just used it to my advantage.

I could have been a world champion. People knew my talent. But my daddy died, and that just took it out of me. I did have another mentor, but I was stubborn. I just think this made me better. I get more praise as not being a boxer, but more from my entrepreneurship in the community. And the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Organization recognized me on that level.

I’m still out in the community. My thing is, if I can get the right support, I can go farther with it and get recognized in other parts of the world. But I don’t have that support yet.

I understand that you would like to possibly take your boxing and fitness programs to more of a national stage. Can you tell me more about that?

Yes, that’s my goal. I’ll still have the program here and come back to Lansing and Mt. Pleasant. But I’ve got to go somewhere where people will really see my talent and help me take it to the next level. If I go to Nevada and California, I will have more support on that level than what I have now. I think my nonprofit will get support there, not just the boxing, but the anti-bullying message, too.

— STEVE UNDERWOOD