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Buddy Turman in his early twenties

Reagan Garth "Buddy" Turman (April 12, 1933 – April 1, 2007) was an American professional heavyweight boxer. He was born in the rural community of Noonday, Texas.

Boxing career

In his two years as an amateur in Texas, Turman accrued 20 wins five loses, and one draw, and he set a record for the quickest knockout in National AAU history.

Turman fought his first professional match in September 1954, (at age 21) against Bobby Babcock, which he won. Five months later, Turman became the first white man to legally fight an African-American in Texas thanks to the efforts of African-American IH "Sporty" Harvey, who had successfully challenged boxing segregation in court.^[1]^[2] Turman won the match against Harvey on February 24, 1955

In November 1955, with 11 wins and one loss, Turman fought Roy "Cut-n-Shoot" Harris for the Texas Heavyweight Championship in Tyler, Texas. Turman lost the fight in a controversial decision, which allowed Harris to move on to fight Floyd Patterson for the World Heavyweight Title. This decision severely hampered Turman's chances of winning the World Title.

Two years later, with 25 wins and only 3 losses, Turman faced Oscar Pharo for a second time. In the third fight of his professional career, Turman had been beaten by a more experienced Pharo on points. In the rematch, Turman won on a KO within 59 seconds of the first round.

In May 1959, at Madison Square Garden, Turman soundly defeated Bob Cleroux, who a year later would win the Canadian Heavyweight Title. The next year, Turman faced World Light-Heavyweight Champion and World Heavyweight Contender, Archie Moore, in Dallas, Texas. Moore won by decision. However, Cassius Clay, who was in attendance, afterwards expressed to Turman his dismay at the judges' decision. Moore publicly acknowledged that Turman should be considered one of the top five heavyweights in the world. Turman subsequently spent time at Moore's training camp in San Diego, where Clay was also training.

Turman began fighting abroad in 1961, in Manila, Philippines where a rematch was scheduled with Moore. However, Moore postponed the fight by three weeks after Turman had already arrived. This left Turman badly out of practice by the time of the fight, as there were no local heavyweights to spar with. Moore won by unanimous decision. Turman subsequently fought in Italy, South Africa, Germany, and England. He won his last match, which he fought against Rudolf Nehring on December 15, 1967, in Munich, Germany.

Turman fought a total of 62 professional matches and won 45 of them including 32 KOs. He had friendships with several of the best known boxers of his time, including Henry Cooper, Jack Dempsey, Joe Louis, Billy Conn, and Rocky Marciano.

Outside the ring

By the late fifties, Turman enjoyed celebrity status in Texas, especially in Dallas and Tyler. However, to supplement his inadequate boxing income he had to take other jobs. After a fight in Dallas, he met Jack Ruby. They became friends and Turman began working off and on for him as a manager and bouncer at some of his Dallas night clubs. Turman was interviewed by the FBI soon after Ruby killed Lee Harvey Oswald in November 1963.^[3] Turman shared his opinions of Ruby and what he knew of Ruby's acquaintances in the Dallas Police Department.

Turman had married and had a son in Dallas in the late fifties, and Turman began to seek work in films and television to support the family. First, he made a cameo appearance on an episode of Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse (1958) with Lucille Ball and Aldo Ray, and a few years later he appeared as a regular guest on Hollywood Squares. He was also considered for various roles that never materialized (including the lead role in a proposed biopic about his friend Jack Dempsey). Turman's marriage was brief, but he and his ex-wife remained lifelong friends. They continued to share responsibility for raising their son.

While living on the west coast, Turman befriended German boxer and wrestler Wilhelm von Homburg (who eventually had roles in several Hollywood films). Soon thereafter Turman began primarily fighting abroad. He spent much of the last two years of his career fighting on the same ticket as von Homberg throughout Germany. Von Homberg and Turman visited each other periodically and corresponded often in the following years. After von Homberg was diagnosed with cancer, he visited Turman for two weeks in Longview, Texas before going to Mexico where he died.

After Turman's boxing years, he held various jobs including oil lease agent in East Texas and bartender and security guard at Binion's Horseshoe in Las Vegas.

He died April 1, 2007, in Longview, Texas, of complications from Hepatitis C.

Professional boxing record

45 Wins (32 knockouts, 13 decisions), 15 Losses (4 knockouts, 9 decisions, 2 DQ), 2 Draws [1]
Result	Record	Opponent	Type	Round	Date	Location	Notes
Win	28-17-10	Rudolf Nehring	KO	2	15/12/1967	Circus Krone, Munich, Bavaria
Win	4-21-2	Manfred Ackers	TKO	4	09/12/1966	Festhalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Hesse
Win	15-15-3	David E. Bailey	TKO	9	15/04/1966	Ernst Merck Halle, Hamburg
Loss	10-1-1	Dante Cane	PTS	8	10/03/1966	Milan, Lombardy
Win	13-7-4	Lars Olaf Norling	TKO	4	28/05/1965	Deutschlandhalle, Charlottenburg, Berlin
Loss	21-5	Jack Bodell	TKO	4	20/04/1965	Wolverhampton Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, West Midlands
Loss	9-8-3	Ivan Prebeg	DQ	5	02/04/1965	Stadthalle, Vienna
Win	7-7-1	Carl Welschou	TKO	4	06/03/1965	Neue Sporthalle, Hannover, Lower Saxony
Win	4-9	Ray Cillien	KO	2	13/02/1965	Ernst Merck Halle, Hamburg
Loss	24-3-3	Piero Tomasoni	PTS	10	05/02/1965	Milan, Lombardy
Win	1-8	Manfred Ackers	TKO	4	16/01/1965	Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia
Win	25-19-8	Ulli Ritter	TKO	5	14/11/1964	Westfalenhallen, Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia
Loss	27-6	Billy Lotter	PTS	10	03/10/1964	Caledonian Grounds, Pretoria, Gauteng
Win	10-15-4	Dave Furch	PTS	10	10/05/1964	Las Vegas, Nevada
Win	4-4-1	Sam Pride	UD	10	05/02/1964	Utah State Fair, Salt Lake City, Utah
Draw	4-7	George Johnson	PTS	10	05/11/1962	Tyler, Texas
Loss	16-0	Franco De Piccoli	DQ	2	19/07/1962	Rome, Lazio
Loss	13-6-1	Pete Rademacher	TKO	9	30/11/1961	Fair Park Coliseum, Dallas, Texas
Loss	179-22-9	Archie Moore	UD	10	25/03/1961	Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City, Metro Manila	39-50, 42-50, 50-53.
Loss	178-22-9	Archie Moore	UD	10	28/11/1960	Dallas Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, Texas	94-99, 94-96, 96-100.
Loss	23-1-1	Bob Cleroux	KO	2	26/10/1960	Montreal Forum, Montreal, Quebec	Turman knocked out at 0:53 of the second round.
Win	12-9-2	Sonny "Policeman" Moore	MD	10	25/04/1960	Dallas Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, Texas	Archie Moore refereed the bout. 98-94, 98-95, 97-97.
Win	12-8-2	Sonny "Policeman" Moore	MD	10	21/03/1960	Dallas Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, Texas
Win	26-15-3	Tommy "Hurricane" Sims	KO	3	01/03/1960	Amarillo, Texas	Sims knocked out at 2:06 of the third round.
Draw	30-6	Donnie Fleeman	PTS	10	02/11/1959	Dallas, Texas
Win	25-9-3	Tommy "Hurricane" Sims	PTS	10	29/09/1959	Tyler, Texas
Win	12-0-1	Bob Cleroux	PTS	8	29/05/1959	Madison Square Garden, New York City
Win	22-9-4	Bob Albright	KO	10	05/05/1959	Mike Carter Field, Tyler, Texas	Albright knocked out at 2:40 of the tenth round.
Loss	21-9-4	Bob Albright	KO	2	21/03/1959	Hollywood Legion Stadium, Hollywood, California	Turman knocked out at 2:59 of the second round.
Win	4-2	Billy Walters	KO	2	27/01/1959	Tyler, Texas
Loss	22-1	Donnie Fleeman	UD	10	30/06/1958	Dallas Memorial Auditorium, Dallas, Texas	95-98, 97-98, 95-98.
Win	11-10-3	Jackie Jacobs	KO	1	07/04/1958	Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas	Jacobs knocked out at 2:30 of the first round.
Win	4-2	Dean Bogany	KO	3	11/03/1958	Tyler, Texas
Win	51-20-6	"Chief" Alvin Williams	PTS	10	28/01/1958	Tyler, Texas
Win	27-5	Oscar Pharo	KO	1	17/12/1957	Tyler, Texas
Win	2-2	"Big" Ben Marshall	KO	2	30/09/1957	Tyler, Texas
Win	6-4-2	Tommy Fields	TKO	8	27/06/1957	Dallas, Texas
Loss	24-11-1	Art Swiden	PTS	10	18/04/1957	Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Win	10-8-1	Jesse "Cannonball" Brown	KO	3	04/03/1957	Tyler, Texas
Win	--	Otis Carr	KO	1	31/01/1957	Dallas, Texas
Win	1-1	Haywood Crosser	KO	2	21/01/1957	Tyler, Texas
Win	12-26-4	Ponce DeLeon Taylor	KO	4	10/12/1956	Ector County Coliseum, Odessa, Texas
Win	18-4	Emil Brtko	TKO	3	01/11/1956	Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Win	5-5-1	Felix Antonio	KO	4	18/09/1956	Lubbock, Texas
Win	5-4-1	Felix Antonio	KO	5	16/08/1956	Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas	Antonio knocked out at 2:25 of the fifth round.
Win	--	Soldier Paul Daniel	KO	2	23/07/1956	Tyler, Texas
Win	4-2	Freddie Thompson	KO	2	21/06/1956	Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Win	1-1	Dick Mays	KO	2	03/05/1956	Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Win	13-18-2	Rancherio Alonzo	TKO	5	39/03/1956	Heart O' Texas Coliseum, Waco, Texas	38-37, 39-36, 39-36.
Loss	9-0	Roy Harris	SD	12	28/11/1955	Tyler, Texas	Texas Heavyweight Title.
Win	5-2-1	Alvin Green	KO	10	07/11/1955	Tyler, Texas
Win	5-1-1	Alvin Green	PTS	10	17/10/1955	Tyler, Texas
Win	10-6-3	Red Worley	UD	10	18/08/1955	Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas	Jack Dempsey refereed the bout.
Win	12-22-4	Ponce DeLeon Taylor	PTS	10	20/06/1955	Tyler, Texas
Win	10-18	JD Harvey	PTS	10	03/06/1955	Tyler, Texas
Win	--	Leroy Failes	KO	4	05/05/1955	Beaumont, Texas
Win	1-5	Jim Saddler	KO	2	18/03/1955	Tyler, Texas
Win	8-15	JD Harvey	UD	10	24/02/1955	Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Win	1-2	Buddy Babcock	KO	2	10/02/1955	Dallas Sportatorium, Dallas, Texas
Loss	20-3	Oscar Pharo	UD	10	13/01/1955	Birmingham, Alabama	Jack Dempsey refereed the bout.
Win	1-1	Max Baird	KO	2	17/12/1954	Birmingham, Alabama
Win	1-1	Buddy Babcock	UD	4	28/09/1954	City Auditorium, Galveston, Texas