AIR FORCE ACADEMY COACH ED WEICHERS TALKS ABOUT COLLEGIATE BOXING

Posted on | May 8, 2007 | 1 Comment

A TRUE AMBASSADOR OF COLLEGE BOXING: COACH ED WEICHERS

By: Rich Bergeron

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Ed Weichers has been the Air Force Academy boxing coach for nearly three decades, and each year he fields one of the best teams in the nation. In fact, since he signed on as coach of the AFA program in 1980, his teams have never finished below second place. The team has picked up 18 national championships and 10 second place finishes since Weichers took over.

I met Coach Ed Weichers for the first time as a freshman at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, and he literally taught me everything I know about the sport of boxing. Though academic difficulties led to my dismissal from the school, I was lucky enough to be able to participate in another boxing program at Virginia Military Institute a few years later. I ran into Coach Weichers again at the 1998 National Collegiate Boxing finals in Lexington, Kentucky. Although I did manage to take home a bronze medal, I couldn’t help but wonder how far I might have made it in my college years if I had been able to train under him for all four years. If I had made it to the gold medal match that year, I would have faced one of his best fighters—a guy who looked more like a heavyweight than a 185-pounder.

I caught up with Weichers again over the phone recently, and he had just returned from the 2007 NCBA finals in Reno, Nevada.

“I’m pleased,” he said. “We did well. We ended up in second place, Lock Haven was number one, and Air Force came in second this year. It was real close.”

Heavyweight Captain Ian Tuznik took home his second national title for Air Force, and 119-pounder Jesse Horton, a sophomore, won his first national championship at the tournament. Willie Lloyd, the other team captain, picked up a silver medal after a controversial decision against a cadet from West Point. Rounding out the AFA field, Freshman Matt McPhail (125 pounds), Sophomore Nicholas Goc (139), Senior Joe Conrad (165) and Junior John Quinn (195) all claimed third-place honors.

When asked what made the program so successful over the years, Weichers remained humble and pointed to the structure of the program more than anything special or different he does personally. “There’s no secret,” he said. “We just have a great intramural program, and from there you progress to Friday matches, then sign up for the Wing Open, and it’s that progression of crawl, walk, run, sprint, and that’s kind of unique. In terms of any secret or formula, that would be it. It’s an idealistic set up, and the cadets just progress through it.”

The Wing Open is a huge yearly event that decides which boxers get to compete in NCBA events for the season, and it takes on the tone of a professional fight card when all the cadets pack into the stands with the other local spectators. There is no other school in the country that can boast a similar turnout and buzz that surrounds the box-offs that occur at the Wing Open every year.

The three major military academies (AFA, West Point, and The Naval Academy) have the most illustrious history in college boxing due to their strong, intensive and once-mandatory boxing programs, but they are no longer the only thoroughbreds in the race. Other schools have picked up programs and are starting to produce champions and worthy contenders at a higher rate than ever before.

“I think it’s pretty healthy right now. There’s a lot of schools involved, and not just the flagship schools, there’s new schools,” said Weichers about the influx of new talent in the NCBA. “West Virginia was involved this year, and they had a guy at nationals. Mansfield was involved. Iowa State had a national champ, and the Coast Guard Academy had a guy in it, too. They don’t all have huge programs, but they do have clubs and involvement.”

The schools currently involved in NCBA competition are: Air Force Academy, West Point, UNLV, Lock Haven University, Kentucky, Naval Academy, Nevada, Mansfield, Santa Clara, West Virginia, Cal Berkeley, San Jose State, Penn State, Maryland, Iowa State, Miami of Ohio, University of San Francisco, Coast Guard, and Shippensburgh.

Though college boxing is experiencing a bit of a growth spurt, Weichers sees the professional ranks of the sport dropping out of the public eye. “I think college boxing is healthy and on firm ground,” he said. “But, professional boxing is struggling right now, because there’s only a couple of people who are really superstars and attractive to the fan base.”

He mentioned the buzz behind the De la Hoya vs. Mayweather fight and not too much else able to gain the attention of the fans and followers of boxing. Weichers can also see the MMA trend picking up speed. “A lot of people are drawn away from boxing by MMA, Ultimate Fighting. Some of these gladiators, as you want to call ‘em, are very vocal, and they give good interviews,” he said. “They have something that’s attractive to a bigger fan base, and that’s kind of put a cloud over boxing, because where’s the superstar, the role model, or the guy who’s gonna give the sport a proper image that it needs?”

He noted all the other sports that have struggled with steroid issues. He contends that too many professional athletes are “constantly in trouble and don’t know how to act.”

On the other hand, at his level of the sport the people involved are often the highest caliber as far as their attitude and character. “College boxing is as pure a form of amateur athletics as used to exist when the Olympics were around before the dream team,” said Weichers. “I just love going to the gym and watching guys mature and grow in confidence, seeing little green freshman have the self-confidence to just walk in there and just box against anybody. It’s amazing how people adapt to winning the Wing Open, and then going as far as they can beyond that. Growth and self-confidence and self-esteem are all gratifying things to see in young people.”

Though he claims to have no secret and no particular method that stands above that of other coaches, what seems to shine through most about Coach Weichers is his humble nature and his emulation of one of the major principles of Academy life: Service Before Self. One of my favorite quotes from my military academy days is something George C. Marshall once said: “There’s no limit to the good you can do if you don’t care who gets the credit.” I have met very few people in life who have been able to live up to that standard, and Ed Weichers is one of them.

The National Collegiate Boxing Association’s 2007 National Tournament will be aired in three parts on CSTV: May 12 (9:00 p.m.), May 13 (10:00 p.m.) and May 14 (9:00 p.m.) ALL TIMES ARE EASTERN STANDARD.

To find out more about Ed Weichers visit: ED WEICHERS WIKIPEDIA PROFILE

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