Remembering My Friend, NYSAC Chief Inspector Felix Figueroa (1952-2014)
By Robert Brizel, Head RCM Boxing Correspondent
Two weeks ago, the New York State boxing establishment lost one of its own, Felix Figueroa, Chief Inspector of the New York State Athletic Commission, died of a heart attack on Valentine’s Day, February 13, 2014, during surgery to remove a coronary blockage. He was 62 years old. He was survived by a wife and daughter.
Felix Figueroa was not just a model inspector, he was a great role model. He often took the time to talk to me about boxing, and also inquired about what boxing stories I was writing about. I never knew much about Felix, other than he was retired as a station head from the United State Postal Service, and when we talked about boxing. Felix tended to be focused on his job. At times, our relationship was like Abbott and Costello, most notably at the boxing shows at Resorts New World Casino Aqueduct in Queens, New York, where Felix would always shoo me off the runway connecting the dressing room entrants to the ring, and then I would go right back, and Felix would shoo me off the runway and the ring apron with my camera again and again. We often laughed and joked about this.
I last worked with Felix at the final boxing show held at Roseland Ballroom on February 12, 2014. As I both write and take pictures in my role as the head boxing correspondent at Real Combat Media, I frequently find myself taking pictures others do not see and capturing the moment, though I don’t always know what my camera is shooting and why.
Inadvertently, I captured the last known photograph of Felix Figueroa at work in his role as Chief Inspector for the New York State Athletic Commission. The photo, which appears above, depicts Figueroa at work is his final moments on the ring apron the evening before his passing. The photograph-in its simplicity-tells a story, the meaning and essence of Figueroa’s life as the Chief Inspector. The magic of a photographer is to capture an ordinary moment in time, and by allowing the picture to tell a story, the photograph becomes extraordinary, which is extremely difficult.
In searching my archive for a brighter light photograph of Felix Figueroa taken in the context of his work, I found another photo I took at a boxing card on Staten Island in January 2013. I felt it was a great depiction of Felix Figueroa and friends at ringside. HBO commentator Harold Lederman is sitting at the left, ring announcer David Diamante is second, Chief Inspector Felix Figueroa is third, and ring announcer and boxing historian Henry Hascup is sitting at far right. The photograph truly conveys the sense of camaraderie Felix Figueroa achieved with his peers at ringside.
Felix Figueroa was a fine chief boxing inspector, and a fine human being. It is often hard to understand why the best people die young.For whom the ten count tolls. He will be sadly missed, another ghost within my soul at ringside who made a favorable indelible impression on me in my lifetime, about both boxing and life itself. Farewell.
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