THE 1987 PAN AMERICAN GAMES : Notes : All Is Quiet on the U.S.-Cuba Front in Wake of Boxing Fracas

All was quiet on the Western front of Indianapolis Saturday, in the wake of Friday night’s Pan American Games ruckus between an anti-Cuban group and the Cuban boxing team.

The incident that occurred late in the boxing program was apparently triggered by members of the Movement for Democratic Cuba (CID), who taunted Cuban boxers and tore up a Cuban flag. Cuban boxers raced into the stands and, according to members of the press in attendance, threw some of the best punches of the night.

A man named Ramon Delemos, 38, of Dayton, Ohio, was arrested and jailed by police. It was assumed at the time that he had been a member of CID. But there were conflicting reports on that Saturday.

“The guy who was arrested was not a part of either group,” said Capt. Tim Martin of the Indianapolis Police Dept., the security venue chief at the Indiana Convention Center, site of the boxing. “He was just some knothead who wanted to fight.”

Billy Packer, CBS commentator, told a few members of the press that Delemos appeared to be the same man who was making trouble at Market Square Arena during a basketball game earlier in the week.

Martin said that security personnel had been increased at the boxing venue to 25 Indianapolis police officers, 18 Pan Am Games security people and 7 building security people.

“One of the things that caused this,” Martin said, “was that the Cuban boxers were not sitting in the section designated for them as spectators. They were kind of wandering around. So today, we asked the Cuban officials to keep them in their designated areas, and they agreed.”

There was some sentiment Saturday that leaned toward the Cubans and against CID.

“You can get awfully tired of somebody calling you names,’ said Col. Don Hull, president of the USA Amateur Boxing Federation.

The United States played Cuba in three events Saturday--baseball, women’s volleyball and men’s team handball. But there were no major incidents at any of the sites.

At baseball, where the U.S. team beat the Cubans with a ninth-inning homer, two American flags were confiscated for being over-sized, and shoulder bags and purses were searched at the entrances.

And during a “USA, USA’ chant, the Cuban third base coach turned toward the crowd, ran his index finger across his throat and stuck out his tongue.

At Hinkle Fieldhouse, where volleyball was being contested, there were more police in evidence, both inside and outside, but there were no pickets, disturbances or even any recognizable contingents of Cuban fans or anti-Cuban protesters.

Two of the best freestyle wrestlers in the United States, not to mention the world, are Dave Schultz and Bruce Baumgartner. Each won a gold medal in the Pan Am Games Friday night, Schultz at 163 pounds and Baumgartner at 286.

And, according to Schultz, they enjoy training together.

“But it’s tougher than it should be, considering that he’s so much bigger than I am,” Schultz said. “I should be able to run rings around him.

“Awhile back, we ran the steps at Indiana University football stadium, and I couldn’t keep up with him. I had to stop. I got sick.”

Since there are 108 steps, how many times did he do it, Baumgartner later was asked.

“I went up and down twice and then three-quarters up again,” he said.

“And had he, indeed, run Schultz into illness?

“You gotta remember,” Baumgartner said, “Dave exaggerates a lot.”

How did Baumgartner and Schultz reach world-class level against competitors from other countries who are government subsidized and heavily scientific in their training approaches?

“U.S. wrestlers aren’t the least bit scientific in our approach,” Baumgartner said. “Dave and I are good by accident.”

Ticket sales for team handball soared after U.S. player James Buehning was involved in a fight last Monday night.

Only 19 tickets had been sold for Monday’s morning session.

But by the next afternoon, 308 tickets had been sold for Tuesday night’s session. Another 425 were sold that night as attendance neared 900.

“You get better known sometimes after a scandal,” Erwin Lawn, president of the International Handball Federation told The Indianapolis Star.

Linda Reyes, a pitcher for the Belize women’s softball team, told the Chicago Tribune that the her sport is No. 1 in the country.

Number two, she said, is watching Chicago Cubs’ baseball games on WGN, a cable television station out of Chicago.

Surprised to hear that were officials of WGN cable distributor United Video.

Leisha Haworth of United Video told the Tribune the signal is not authorized to go outside the continental United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Haworth said she would investigate.

Two more Dominican Republic athletes, both judo competitors, have left the team, following the lead of eight others who reportedly went to New York earlier in the week to find work.

The athletes have visas, which allow them to remain in the United States for three months.

But as they all are members of the Dominican military, they are considered deserters and will face charges if they return home.

The hottest place in town during the Pan American Games has been the Carmel Racquet Club.

It has been turned into a sweatbox but not because the air conditioning is broken.

Only half the vents can be used because more air currents would affect the balls in the table tennis competition.

Times staff writers Randy Harvey, Tracy Dodds and Earl Gustkey contributed to this story.