About the Author

Coach Dean's boxers (four women and twelve men) have won 43 Championships, including New York State and New York Regional Golden Gloves Championships, Golden Gloves National Bronze Medal and US National Silver Medal in Boxing. Wendy Casey was the first female boxer named as Amateur Boxer of the Year in 2008 by Ring 44 Boxing Association of Buffalo, NY and currently training for the US Olympic Boxing team. Eoannou learned the sport the hard way. As an 18-year-old in the early 1970s, he heard a radio ad promoting the Golden Gloves, a nationwide amateur tournament. It piqued his interest and he headed to Singer's Gym in Buffalo whose owner, the late Johnny Sudac, trained some of the city's finest fighters. There, Eoannou spotted Al Quinney sparring in the ring and demanded that Sudac let him take on the pro fighter from Lackawanna, N.Y. "I thought I was the toughest guy on the planet," Eoannou recalls. Sudac wouldn't allow it, but Eoannou persisted. He got his chance and Quinney walloped him. "I missed two punches by a mile. Finally, Al looks at me and says, 'This one's on your nose, tiger.' BAM! He breaks my nose," Eoannou says, laughing. "My face was a mess. And that's when I decided I wanted to learn how to box." Eoannou learned several different styles at Singer's which helped him when he began training other fighters. He went on to earn a teaching degree from Cornell University, then worked at the Ford plant and continued to train boxers in his spare time. Then came the call from Colt. "I retired at 53 just to do this," says Eoannou, who has taught a course in boxing at UB, is certified by USA Boxing in addition to co-authoring the e-book "Boxing: Essential Skills" with Dr. Eugene Kern, a world-renowned otolaryngologist who taught at UB. "This is the most rewarding thing I've ever done. This is my passion, to watch these kids start boxing and come out as different people."