Legendary St. Paul boxer Del Flanagan dies at 75

BY JIM WELLS, Pioneer Press

Del Flanagan, a legendary figure in Minnesota boxing, died Friday in Phoenix, from complications of a heart attack suffered two weeks earlier.

Flanagan, 75, was the No. 2-ranked welterweight in the world at the peak of his career in the 1950s, and defeated several reigning and former world champions in nontitle fights.

Though he never got a shot at the title, many boxing figures considered him the one of best boxers in the world during his prime.

Many champions, aware of his skill and quickness, preferred to sidestep him in title bouts, and he retired in 1964 with a record of 105 wins, 22 losses, two draws and one no-decision.

Flanagan was born and raised in St. Paul and fought many of his fights at the St. Paul Auditorium. He and his family moved to Phoenix in 1984, where he raised Arabian horses.

His brother Glen, a world-ranked featherweight in the 1950s, died several years ago.

Del Flanagan suffered from Alzheimer’s for the past 10 years and was admitted to John C. Lincoln Hospital on Dec. 12 with congestive heart failure.

“He was making progress but then he came down with pneumonia,” said Flanagan’s wife of 53 years, Bev.

Flanagan is also survived by two sons, Tim and Terry, and Terry’s wife, Cheryl, of Phoenix; two brothers, Art of St. Paul and Jerry of Phoenix; three sisters, Pat Gawlik, Della Mae Zilka and Grace Grove, who live in suburban Minneapolis; and two granddaughters, Michelle and Megan.

Bev Flanagan said her husband will be cremated and that the family plans a private memorial service in Phoenix.

Denny Nelson of St. Paul has refereed or judged 50 world championship bouts. He was just getting started in professional boxing at the end of Flanagan’s career.

Nelson ran into Art Aragon, a top-ranked middleweight during Flanagan’s career, a few years ago at a World Boxing Hall of Fame banquet in Los Angeles.

“I asked Art if he had ever fought Del,” Nelson recalled. “And he told me that he didn’t want to fight him, that Del was simply too fast for him.”

Flanagan fought during the golden era of professional boxing, when Friday night fights were televised through the U.S. and competition was fierce.

“It was an exciting time. It was when champions were truly champions,” Nelson said. “There were eight weight divisions and eight champions and to get ranked then you had to be pretty damn good.”

Flanagan’s style was sometimes boring to fans because he did what it took to win. “He wasn’t crowd-pleasing all the time,” Nelson said. “He’d tie people up.”

Many boxing figures who saw Flanagan fight agree with this assessment by Nelson:

“Del was the best boxer in the world in his prime,” Nelson said. “Most of us were in awe of him. He was so fast, with his feet and his hands.”

Nobody knew that better than Bill Kaehn of Minneapolis. He and his father, Earl, trained Flanagan for his first 30 professional fights.

“He was a combination (of) boxer (and) puncher,” Kaehn said. “He had the typical Irish wit and the thought process to make a great boxer. He had the physical tools, but it was his headwork that made it work. He was a very smart fighter.”

Kaehn said Flanagan was a terrific right-hand puncher as an amateur and knocked out many of his opponents. “I asked him after he turned pro whey he didn’t knock more people out,” Kaehn said.

“He told me that he got paid the same amount of money if he won on points or knocked out an opponent and that he didn’t want to bang up his hands. So he utilized his skills. That’s how smart he was.”

A feature article about Flanagan’s career appeared in Friday’s Pioneer Press. “It’s so ironic,” Bev Flanagan said. “I guess Del went out the same way he lived life — with a bang.”