Educator and Referee Mark Conn, New York State Athletic Commission’s Forgotten Gem
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
He was born on my birthday, the first of February, in 1916. He would live until September 29, 2011. When he died at 95 years old, he became the longest living professional boxing referee.
Mark Conn grew up on the handball courts of Queens, New York, where he attended Far Rockaway High School and was captain of the baseball team and a gymnast. In 1936, Mark Conn won the New York City lightweight Golden Gloves championship. In 1941, he taught boxing to thousands of troops in in the U.S. Army. Major Conn later joined the Army Air Corps Flying Tigers in China as their athletic director, and taught boxing to the Chinese troops. In 1945, Conn won the all-China amateur Welterweight championship.
From 1946 to 1970, Mark Conn worked as an educator for the New York City Board of Education, serving as Director of athletics for 800 schools. Conn held a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in health and physical education from City College of New York. Conn was also a talented bridge player, musician and ballroom dancer.
From 1948 to 1974, Conn would referee some 175 professional bouts. All of the bouts Mark Conn refereed were in New York State. On April 17, 1946, at Jamaica Arena in Queens, New York, Conn refereed the eight round middleweight bout between Bobby Berger and Joe Governale.
The names of the legendary fighters Conn would referee are a regular who’s who of the history of boxing: Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano, Ike Williams, George Foreman, Roland LaStarza, Oscar Bonavena, Paddy DeMarco, Kid Gavilan, Jake LaMotta, Johnny Saxton, Joe Louis, Ezzard Charles, Floyd Patterson, Ralph Tiger Jones, Gene Fullmer, Carmen Basilio, Archie Moore, Flash Elorde, Emile Griffith, Doug Jones, Jose Torres, Benny Kid Paret, Dick Tiger, Bob Foster, Chuck Wepner, Esteban DeJesus, Zora Folley, Vito Antuofermo, Bobo Olson and many many more.
Mark Conn came out of the Ruby Goldstein era, when the referees were old school, kept complete control over everything which took place in the ring, and even scored each round as well. Mark Conn will never be in any hall of fame, and may never be remembered. Among referees, he was a giant among giants, the NYSAC’s hidden gem who could work any boxing event successfully. Conn returned to boxing as a judge only from 1987 to 2000, and had to judge a bout between Robert Duran and Juan Carlos Ferreyra in his first bout back in 1987.
For Mark Conn, life had been a long and difficult process to set the standard of educational and athletic excellence. Mark Conn may never make it into a hall of fame or even be remembered-as the man in the middle who stood above it all. Above all, Mark must never be forgotten, as he was the standard long ago by whom excellence was set.
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