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SUE "KO" CARLSON
It is Monday, January 23, 1978, and in the Minneapolis Auditorium in Minneapolis, Minnesota, history
is being made. Minnesota's first professional women's boxing match is being
featured as a preliminary event on an otherwise all male fight card. The purse for each of the women
is $125.00. "Ladies
and gentlemen, in this corner, fighting in the junior welter-weight class of the World Women's Boxing Association, Sue
"KO" Carlson of Minneapolis, Minnesota." The ring announcer drones
on. "and in this corner, Bonnie Prestwood of Muncie Indiana,
defending her 4-0 record."
It is Saturday, March 31, 1979 in San Antonio, Texas. This
time the fight card features Sue "KO" Carlson, now the World
Women's Boxing Association's Lightweight Champion and Lady Tyger
Trimiar, New York.
By this time "The Champ" has an overall
8-3 record including 3 knockouts. The purse for this match has now reached the sum of $1,000.00 for each participant, according to
information obtained in an interview with Sue by Jim Hutton of "The News," a San Antonio newspaper.
However, Texans took to the sport of women's boxing almost
immediately and Sue was to return there on several other occasions during her nearly ten year ring career.
Susan Carlson was born in Brainerd, Minnesota on October 23, 1957.
She grew up and attended schools in Brainerd, graduating with honors from Brainerd High School in 1976, the year of our country's bi-centennial. Sue is the fourth child in a family of eight children.
She has two older brothers, whom she jokingly suggests she could have gotten along without, and an older sister, Ginni, whom she
describes as her anchor. The rest of her siblings are younger than she and when
her parents divorced during Sue's junior high school years, these
younger brothers and sisters went to live with their mother, while Sue and the
older children lived with their father.
Sue's father had his first heart attack at the age of thirty-eight, and another at the age of forty. These were extremely difficult times
for Sue. She was not able to see her father while he was in the
hospital because she was "too young", and living apart from her mother
and the younger children left some empty spaces in her life. Her father died
in February of 1976, just three and a half months before Sue graduated-- with
honors.
After graduation Sue left the Brainerd area and moved to Mankato, MInnesota while she was deciding what she wanted to do. She had always
enjoyed writing during her school years and ultimately decided that she wanted to continue her education at the University of Minnesota in
Minneapolis. She enrolled as a freshman majoring in English in the fall of 1976 to study journalism.
It was while she was at the University, and working in an area
restaurant, that she first met Bill Paul. Bill was a former Air Force Heavyweight Champion who was in the process of establishing a women's
boxing group at the University. He came into the restaurant where Sue was working one evening and asked her if she would like to become a
fighter. Knowing of no boxing program for women in the state, she was mildly amused and wondered if such a thing really existed, or whether
he was just talking. However, when he returned the next day and
repeated his offer, she said, "I decided to take the bull by the
horns." "I just did it, and I was having fun." Bill Paul became her coach and
trainer and in the spring of 1977 they and others formed the World Women's
Boxing Association. FULL
STORY ON THIS HISTORICAL EVENT.
This brings us back to "square one" and the history making
event of January 23, 1978. From here the chronology of Sue's boxing career
covers a period of approximately nine years in locations such as
Pensacola, Florida; Nassau, The Bahamas; Winnepeg, Canada; Fort Lauderdale,
Florida; Topeka, Kansas; Seattle, Washington; Grand Forks, North Dakota; Nevada
and several appearances in Texas and Oklahoma.
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Larry Holmes and Don King. Sue has also met Sylvester Stallone when he
was working on his first "Rocky" film. She has had a victory
celebration in Frank Sinatra's Players' Club and stayed there while she was in Florida
for a fight. A significant spin off from Sue's career involved a photograph taken of her in the traditional victory pose, with gloved hands raised over
her head. This photo was entered in a national competition and won first
place for composition, not only because of Sue's pose, but also because the
ringside spectators, all men, are showing facial expressions of genuine enjoyment and approval as they are observing a woman who has achieved
success in a traditionally male sporting event.
With all this in mind the decision to retire was not an easy one. Her decision was based largely on the fact that there were virtually no
controls on the game. When she announced her retirement just prior to her final
bout in Florida, her then manager who was actually in Texas at the
time, became angered and cancelled her hotel room and return flight
reservations, leaving her stranded, to spend the night in the home of one of the
fight promoters. She has never been paid for that fight up to the time of
this writing, and her understanding of the situation is that the FBI is
still
looking for that person in connection with his dealings in the boxing
world.
Since retiring from boxing Sue is now managing a restaurant and
living near Monticello, Minnesota.
When Sue began her boxing career her
mother made for her the robe that she wore into the ring. That robe, as well
as her boxing uniform and shoes, her boxing license, and several
photographs, now belongs to the Minnesota Historical Society, which is in the
process of preparing an exhibit of these items.
Sue is currently active in child welfare programs. Her restaurant began a special program two years ago that provides toys for
disadvantaged children at Christmas. They sell a stocking for $5.00 and then fill it
with toys to be delivered to children in time for Christmas. This past
season
they collected enough money to buy three bicycles along with the many
smaller items that were provided. She has been asked to serve on the Advisory
Board of Toys for Tots in the Monticello area.
Sue lives an alternative life style with her friend of six years, and her friend's two sons. She is contented and doing what she wants to do.
So you see this quiet, confident young woman has achieved some important
goals in her life. Perhaps that is why she is quiet and unassuming. Few of
her current acquaintances know of her glory days in the ring. She doesn't have to
"toot her own horn." Her record speaks for itself.
(This was an excerpt from a bio
that was submitted by
Sue Carlson's Aunt who had written this March 31, 1997 for a school
project- Jan Goehtz Introduction to
Women's Studies-WMST 201-
Vicky Blakesly)
1/25/78 - Minneapolis, MN,
Bonnie Prestwood, IN, Win4, Unanimous
Decision, Prestwood 124 1/2 Carlson 127
3/27/78 - St. Paul, MN,
Mary Kudla, MN, Loss4, Kudla 134,Carlson 129
5/12/78 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL,
Belinda Buckley, IL, Win10
(Ladies Southern Featherweight Title), Buckley 125 Carlson 127
5/27/78 - Bloomington, MN, Anita Howard, MN, Win 3 (exhibition),
Howard 120 Carlson 127
10/2/78 - Grand Forks, ND,
Toni Harris, IL, Won by a KO 7 (scheduled 10) Harris 130 Carlson 131
3/31/79 - San Antonio, TX (World Title bout)
Lady Tyger Trimiar, NY, Loss10 (title
defense) Trimiar 135 Carlson 135
8/31/79 - Freeport/Lucaya, Grand Bahamas
Sylvia Ruiz, TX Win6 Ruiz 134 Carlson 137
11/2/79 - Houston, TX,
Yvonne Barkley, NY, Loss (KO'ed in 5 of
scheduled 10) Barkley 134 Carlson 135 1/2
9/1981 - Seattle, WA
in the first women’s scheduled 15-round professional fight against
#2 ranked Tammy Jensen, Sue Won by
a KO 3 in a scheduled 15 round fight.
Documented
Record from "The WBB Glove" as of June 1981
SUE "K.O." CARLSON, was a 5-foot-9,
muscular 134-pounder started her boxing career in 1978 at the age of 20.
CARLSON who was the world lightweight champion in 1978, lost her bid for a second
straight lightweight crown in 1979 to Lady Tyger Trimiar.
CARLSON was working in a restaurant to supplement her income as a
boxer. CARLSON's fight record according to news sources was 9-3, including three
knockouts. One of her losses was to Yvonne Barkley, who knocked
her out in a 10-round fight in Houston early in 1980. CARLSON had stopped boxing after
that fight. After about a year off, she again started boxing.
CARLSON defended her super-lightweight world title in
September of 1981 in the first women’s scheduled 15-round professional fight against
#2 ranked Tammy Jensen, (photo is of Tammy
Jensen in the Blue pants, and Sue) of Seattle. The fight was sponsored by
the Women’s World Boxing Association (WWBA), that was at that time on the verge of
collapse. The prize money was more that $1,000. CARLSON knocked
Jensen out in the
third round.
MORE ABOUT KO CARLSON - BY TL FOX She worked out in the Olympia gym in
South Minneapolis. She trained six days a week, jumping rope daily, doing 200
pushups, 200 situps, and running several miles. She also started a body building program
using weights to increase her strength and speed. She was one of a few south paw fighters
at the time. CARLSON has had her nose broken twice.
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