The Ring Masters

DING!

The bell rang out and the room fell silent. The sound that once signaled these men to come out fighting suddenly trapped them in the not-so-neutral corner of the past.

If there is one ritual in boxing that can bring tough guys to tears, it is the honorary 10-count--the ringing of the bell 10 times for deceased fighters. As the ex-pugs, their families and friends stood with their heads bowed, Dr. Charlie Gellman, a former middleweight, solemnly rang the bell.

Ding . . . The mind races back to Benny Leonard and Barney Ross . . . Ding . . . The names keep coming back, there was Ruby Goldstein, who had the Star of David on his trunks . . . Ding . . . Sid Terris, Lew Tendler, Al "Bummy" Davis . . . Ding . . . Maxie Shapiro, Yale Okun, Joey Varoff . . . Ding . . . The fight venues come back into focus . . . Ding . . . places like the Coney Island Velodrome, Sunnyside Garden and Ebbets Field . . . Ding . . . Abe Reibman, Izzy Schwartz, Oscar Goldman . . . Ding . . . Abe Attell, Curley Nichols, "Slapsie" Maxie Rosenbloom.

Ding! When the count ended, the room came alive with flat-nosed men lofting playful jabs at old friends and foes. This event was not a time of mourning, but a recent book party to celebrate the release of Allen Bodner's "When Boxing Was a Jewish Sport" (Praeger Trade, $24.95). Gellman was one of several former fighters bobbing and weaving his way through the crowd at Manhattan's Kingsway Gym. All of them Jews.

They represent an era that has long gone unnoticed, when Jews were as good or better than the Irish, Italian and African American fighters vying for world titles. When ethnic rivalries drove boxing, with promoters often hyping matches between a Jew and an Italian or an Irishman against an African American. And yet, to the boxers, the gym was a sanctuary void of ethnic hatred and stereotypes.

And while the young Jewish fighters excelled, they often competed behind their parents' backs.

"About 99% of the time, parents disapproved of boxing," said Vic Zimet, a former amateur boxer and trainer. "That's why the Jewish boxers took on different nomenclatures. They changed their names, they even changed their ethnic connotation. Some became Irish or Italian.

"But the fighters who had more ability were usually compelled by their management to retain their Jewish names because it was an attraction for Jewish fans."

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