Issue link: https://www.wacmagazine.com/i/1547391
26 WAC Magazine | wac.net living fit history of the main event Picture this—100 tuxedoed men smok- ing cigars in the Crystal Ballroom on a winter evening in 1997. rough the haze and laughter and clink of rocks glasses, the group celebrates Seattle boxing icons. Ron Rall, a 1957 NCAA boxing champion and Dick Francisco, an All-Military champ, are the guests of honor. When dinner plates are cleared, all ascend to the 8th Floor Gym to watch amateur boxers duke it out in the ring. e night is a knockout success and e Main Event is born. e Main Event's gone more than 12 rounds since its inception and it shows no signs of slowing down. While it's always been a wildly popular occasion, early iterations looked a little different. Mostly attended by men, e Main Event attracted diehard boxing fans and athletes alike. In 1998, Tacoma native "Irish" Pat McMurty was recognized. He won the Pacific Northwest Golden Gloves 175-lb championship in 1951. Once again, local amateur fighters competed aer dinner. A year later, current Chief Operating Officer Wayne Milner started as the Club's new Athletic Director. It was February 1999, just one week before the third annual Main Event. "Attendance had grown but it was much the Q U I N N T O O M E Y same crowd," Wayne says. "It seemed that the combination of cigar smoking and boxing wasn't as enticing to our female members." So, subtle changes came about. En- tertainers, instead of hardnosed boxing experts, became the dinner attraction. Cigar smoking became less frequent, smoldering out completely by the 2000s. As for the level of talent? at only grew. In 2002 Wayne contacted US Air Force Academy Boxing Coach Ed Weichers, a legend in the college boxing world. An ensuing cross-country visit from Weichers and a handshake sealed the deal for collegiate athletes to start fighting at e Main Event. "We had no contract, no exchange of money, no guarantees," Weichers says. "Just the trust that we would work together to not only create something special for the WAC but an experience that student athletes would remember for a lifetime." Around this same time, Athletic Program Manager Darin Barr took on a major role in making e Main Event a great success. 2003 marked the first year college boxers replaced local amateurs, raising the level of competition dramatically. e Air Force Academy, Cal, Nevada, and UNLV were among the first schools represented at e Main Event. In 2005, when anti-smoking laws went into effect, e Main Event truly became coed. In 2009, Seattle-based comedian John Keister, star of "Almost Live!," started a trend that continues until today of comedians providing aer-dinner entertainment. e Main Event grew so popular that members were frustrated when they couldn't get a ticket. So, in 2014, Milner gathered the boxing coaches in Hagerty's and asked if they would be willing to make e Main Event a two-night event. To his surprise, and despite the poten- tial for major logistical challenges, they agreed. Attended by over 500 members and guests, e Main Event has attracted up to 29 different institutions in a given year and many of the boxers and coach- es consider it the premier college boxing event in the country. "To say that the evolution of e Main Event is magical is an understate- ment," says Weichers. — e Main Event takes place Friday & Saturday, February 5 and 6. Tickets go on sale on the WAC app starting at 10 am on Monday, November 2. A fighting history Chronicling the The Main Event