By Brian Campbell, CBS Sports 10:57 AM PST, February 8, 2021 Gabe Ginsberg/Getty Images
Former undisputed heavyweight champion Leon Spinks died on Friday at 67 following a five-year battle with multiple cancers.
Spinks (26-17-3, 14 KOs), who won Olympic gold in 1976, went on to upset Muhammad Ali via split decision over 15 rounds just five years later. The fight saw Spinks make history in just his eighth pro bout as the quickest boxer to win the heavyweight championship.
The older brother of Michael Spinks, a two-division champion and fellow Olympic champion, Leon lost the rematch to Ali just seven months later in front of over 63,000 fans in New Orleans. Although Spinks would continue fighting professionally for another 17 years, including unsuccessful attempts at heavyweight and cruiserweight titles, most of his career was marked by drug addiction and legal troubles.
February 7, 2021, 1:07 am
Leon Spinks, who has died aged 67 in Henderson, Nevada, would never reach the same stratospheric heights again as when he defeated Muhammad Ali (AP)
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Leon Spinks flashed a broad grin, exposing the prominent gap in his front teeth, then raised a weary arm skywards as he was declared the new world heavyweight champion at the end of just his eighth professional bout.
Over the course of five years and two combat deployments to Afghanistan, I served my country proudly and honorably in the United States Marine Corps infantry. I drafted my last
Photo: Dr. Jake Long (left) presents George “Bud” Zorman with the Arkansas Secretary of State’s Arkansas Diamond Award for his positive contributions to his community.
George “Bud” Zorman, longtime Mountain Home educator and military veteran, received the Arkansas Diamond Award from Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston on Thursday at the conclusion of his final veterans ceremony as NJROTC instructor at Mountain Home High School.
Zorman, who will retire at the end of this school year after 20 years as an educator, served in the United States Marine Corps for 21 years before becoming a history teacher. He has spent the past five years leading the high school’s NJROTC program and led a youth tour to Washington D.C. for 10 years. “Honor, courage, commitment, good character, good citizenship, patriotism, mutual respect and passion are the things that I would want to be remembered for,” he said of his career as an educator.