Sidelines: Perez, always the main event

Don Cantrell

Although one-time Newport Harbor High boxing champion Danny Perez,

68, is now sidelined by Parkinson’s Disease, he has been extremely

pleased to have closed out his career as a manager, having trained

another champion, junior middleweight Carlos Bojorquez.

Perez’s sister, Rachel Hamilton, reports that Bojorquez pulled the

trick for the California title a few months ago during an ESPN event.

“Danny had trained him for six years,” Hamilton said.

In recent years, Perez had coached Bojorquez to both Golden Glove

titles in the Southland and northern California.

His sister was saddened by his present condition from a recent visit

at a convalescent home in Folsom, near Placerville. However, she said her

brother’s wife is trying to sell their home up north to relocate him back

to Southern California.

Perez, who won the California middleweight title many years ago, used

to box with former Harbor High fullback Bob Berry, a constant powerhouse

in county football in the late forties.

They both drew help from a former Huntington Beach police officer

named Ken Herman. They would often drive to the city in Berry’s model-A

Ford.

Perez said that was always fun, save for one night when they were

crossing the Santa Ana River and the water started pouring down the way.

In fact, it once turned the car sideways in the river, but a momentary

break in the water grounded the vehicle and Berry was able to gun it to

the other side.

He said they did the smart thing on the return home later by choosing

another route and driving across a bridge up toward Santa Ana.

Perez was often encouraged to try football under Coach Al Irwin, but

said he always favored boxing. Still, he maintained a high regard for

Irwin and his standards in sports.

Perez had other local guys who became friends out of respect for him

and his kindness. Newport All-CIF diver Jack Bell recalled how Perez

would sometimes be around to discourage, “big, out-of-town, tough guys,”

threatening to bully smaller local men.

“This happened to me once,” Bell recalled. “And Danny came up to note

some tough guys leaning my way. He simply said, ‘Hey, Jack, you having

any trouble here?’ I nodded and he chose to lean their way impressively,

and they left.”

Bell also recalled that Danny’s late brother, Cornecel, would often

appear to assist in any physical problem with bullies. He said “Corny”

could be a prankster and full of laughs.

“You can never forget Corny,” former Police Chief Roger Neth once said

with a smile.

Corny drew some heat once after another boxer had butted Danny in the

head to win a match. Corny chose to visit the guy’s dressing room and

gave him a taste of his own medicine. Boxing officials were definitely

upset and issued a warning.

In recent years, Danny trained more than 75 young boxers at a homemade

ring he had constructed near Placerville. It kept him going with energy

and goodwill around the community.

His fighters ranged in age from 7 to 35.

“Boxing can be tough and brutal, but it has redeeming qualities as

well,” he said.

Perez, who had boxed for 16 years as a professional, built a solid

name in rings from San Diego to Los Angeles and from San Francisco to

Hawaii.

He once took note of little athletic activity around the Placerville

area and was spurred on to create something for young men in the area.

He and his wife were pleased the way things worked out. She said her

husband gave kids something they were looking for.

One fellow from the past, Christian Deitchman, then a student at

Sacramento State, became a participant in the Perez program.

“Danny is really cool,” Deitchman said. “If he wasn’t around I

probably wouldn’t be boxing. If you were serious, he would help you out.”

Perez always had a sense of amusement with people. Asked once about

the number of children in his family, he laughed and guessed it was 11 or

12. He based the number on the sound in the home.

“We had no TV,” he said.