Nappi Might Join Olympic Boxing Staff

Pat Nappi, the controversial boxing coach who led three U.S. Olympic teams, might be added to this summer’s Olympic team staff.

Nappi might be added as an adviser, according to Jim Fox, executive director of amateur boxing’s governing body, USA Boxing.

Nappi, 74, was the head coach of the U.S. teams in 1976, 1980 and 1984. He did not have a coaching assignment in 1988.

His 1976 and 1984 teams won a combined 13 gold medals. But in 1984, when his U.S. boxers won a record nine golds, Nappi battled with them before and during the Olympics over the issue of sparring. He is opposed to amateur boxers sparring for as long as two weeks before major competitions.

Some boxers blamed Nappi, USA Boxing’s national coach the past four years, for a subpar showing at last year’s World Championships in Sydney, where only one American, Eric Griffin, won a gold medal while Cuba won four.

Nappi was an “adviser” at Sydney, but one U.S. boxing official, Larry Ramirez of Fontana, said Nappi “ran the whole show.”

U.S. boxers still object to Nappi’s prohibition on sparring.

“I like to spar right up to three or four days before I compete to keep sharp, but Nappi makes us stop 10 days beforehand,” said Raul Marquez of Houston, a light-middleweight who is a favorite at the U.S. Olympic team trials, which will begin Wednesday at Worcester, Mass.

Fox said Sunday that Nappi would “at no time” coach U.S. boxers in Barcelona. He said the decision on Nappi’s status would be voted on at the Olympic team boxoffs in Phoenix, June 26-28.

The coach of the U.S. Olympic team is Joe Byrd of Flint, Mich.

“I don’t have any comment until I get to the Olympic trials and find out more about it than I do now,” Byrd said Sunday.

Billy Dove, USA Boxing president, said he wants to use Nappi’s expertise on international boxing at the Olympics.

“It looks like there might be some opposition to it, but I don’t know why anyone would object,” Dove said. “He knows more about international boxing styles than any coach in this country.”

Bill Hickman, the first alternate to the coaching staff from Toledo, Ohio, wasn’t happy about the possibility of Nappi joining the staff.

“They passed a rule a year ago that no coach who’d been on an Olympic staff could participate in a future Olympics, so I guess they took the rule off the boards,” Hickman said. “A lot of people are going to have a lot to say about this.”

Ramirez, who was an assistant coach on the 1988 U.S. Olympic team, is chairman of the federation’s international coaches and boxers selection committee.

He said Dove has in recent years ignored his committee’s recommendations.

“All international coaching assignments are supposed to go through our committee, but Dove just arbitrarily appoints people,” Ramirez said.

“He simply assigned Nappi to coach the U.S. team at the World Championships Challenge last February, and didn’t even consult us. Now, he’s trying to do the same thing with the Olympic team.”

Nappi said Sunday he was aware of Dove’s plan to ask the board to make him an adviser.

“If they (the board) feel I can help out, that’s fine,” he said.

“And if they feel I can’t help out, that’s OK, too. I’m not pushing anything. As far as I’m concerned, it’s up to the board of directors.”