CELEBRITY
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The Best Of Everything
Queen Of The RI
different people eating several different
dishes depending on their dietary needs.
The times I had to choose between my
son's hockey game and my fighter's
weigh-in. Not an easy choice.
"Tommy Hearns even accompanied
the family on a vacation," says Jackie,
"and James Toney attended the bar mitz-
vahs
of our sons Bryan and Brad, and
1988,
Jackie
began
managing
he not only plays the
the
two
boys stood up at his wedding."
her
own
fighters
...
highly
part of the former
Jackie and Michael lived on
unusual for a woman to
Detroit-area gal ... but
Wellesley in West Bloomfield for 25
manager boxers.
also takes her full name.
years ... and in 1997, they were
The 1990s found Jackie
Meg Ryan has the lead in
divorced after 30 years of marriage.
managing four world cham-
the soon-to-be-shown major
"I think he was very tolerant, when
pions,
twice
being
nominated
film, Against the Ropes ...
I
look
back on it," she says. "I proba-
Manager
of
the
Year
and
act-
depicting the life of ex-
bly
put
him through a real whirlwind.
ing
as
commissioner
of
the
localite Jackie Kallen.
DAN NY
My poor husband coming home tired
International Female Boxing
Rather than being cast as
RAS KIN
from working hard and there's rap
Association.
someone with a fictitious
Local Columnist
music blasting in our West Bloomfield
"Being a woman in the
name, Ryan is also known in
house, the thump-thump of the bass,
boxing
world
is
like
a
Jew
in
the film as Jackie Kallen.
there're guys outside shooting hoops,
the
Arab
world,"
says
Jackie.
"At
first
Against the Ropes, formerly slated to
big pugilist types lying on the couch."
it
was
difficult
being
taken
seriously.
open on March 14 but pushed ahead
After they were married in 1966,
Most people assumed it was a 'front'
to April 25, is a somewhat loose por-
Mike and Jackie went to Los Angeles
for some man or else it was my hus-
trayal of Jackie, known in most
on their honeymoon ... Jackie told
band or father who got me into the
fisticuff circles as the "First Lady of
him that someday they would live
boxing game."
Boxing."
there ... She was half-right.
Far
from
it
...
There
were
times
that
How did Jackie become a fight man-
Following their divorce, Jackie
ager ... or even interested in the
arr7iitfr''
moved
to California ... and today
''..
squared-circle game that so
lives in a two-bedroom apartment
many people once considered a
in Beverly Hills.
sport just for rowdies?
There was a time when a
" Her interest might have had its
friendly
and healthy competition
beginning when mother and dad,
went
on
between
Jackie and Mike
the late Marge and Phil Kaplan,
...
He
used
to
cheer
her fights ...
at
were in the play Kid Broadway
and she went out to the race
Detroit's Academy Playhouse
tracks to watch his horses run.
back in the early 1960s ... Marge,
When James Toney, one of four
who also did shows for B'nai
boxers
Jackie managed at the .
B'rith and Hadassah here, had the
time,
won
the Michigan
lead ... and Phil played the gang-
Middleweight
championship,
ster role of "Rocky" Napoleon.
Mike
had
three
winners himself
"My mother would go to the
... He and Max Ernst owned
gym to research the part and
seven harness race horses at their
bring me along," says Jackie.
M & M Stables.
"That's how I got to know the
While writing for the Oakland
boxing world. It's ironic and
working in the residential
Press,
strange that 30 years later, I actu-
house-building
business and
ally became what I'd seen my
working
with
Emanuel
Steward
mother portray on stage when I
and Tommy Hearns, Jackie also
was 12."
got the horse bug ... buying one
As a reporter for the Oakland
of her own ... a foal named ...
Press early in 1970, Jackie landed
what
else but Boxing Jackie.
her first ringside assignment ...
She
is also an author ... with
covering a Tommy Hearns fight
Hit Me With Your Best
her
book
in Las Vegas.
Kallen
(St.
Martin's
Press, 1997)
Jackie
Shot
The jabs, body blows and
and is kept busy making and sell-
uppercuts sort of excited Jackie
ing ceramic pieces ... Jackie has had at
Jackie's former husband Michael prob-
... and she was hooked ... signing up
least a dozen fighters in her stable at
ably wished she'd never thought of it.
to do public relations for Hearns ...
the same time ... and along with man-
"The
more
compelling
drama,"
Jackie
and "punching" her way up the ladder
aging
her boxers, she does a lot of
says,
"is
perhaps
in
the
sacrifice
and
to manager.
charity
work with a shelter for abused
dilemma
I
faced,
trying
to
keep
a
hus-
During the 1980s, Jackie was busy
women in Los Angeles.
band and two sons happy and content
writing her columns, raising her two
In the picture, Against the Ropes,
while being a surrogate mother to sever-
sons, Bryan and Bryce, operating her
Jackie plays a reporter in a press con-
al fighters from various backgrounds
public relations company and getting
ference scene ... and asks a question of
who at times lived in our home. Several
deeper into the boxing world ... In
Boxing king-maker Jackie Kallen Detroit exploits
to be portrayed by Meg Ryan in feature film.
ELVIS TO THE MAX
25 Years ago Elvis left the building. Now he returns,
or so you will think, to play for you at Andiamo. It's
Elvis to the Max with Max Pellicano, his Las Vegas
Dancers and special guest comedian Paul Lo6richio.
Come sing along with all of your favorite Elvis hits.
HOWIE MANDEL
A star everywhere you look: television, film
and the stage, comedian Howie Mandel has
been entertaining audiences for years. Come
laugh the night away with Howie, one of today's
most successful comedians.
GLADYS KNIGHT
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member, living
Motown legend Gladys Knight performs all her
Grammy winning hits including -1141d1710 Train
to Georgia - and "Neither One of Us (Wants to
be the Fist to Say Goodbye) .. . Come see Gladys
Knight in a rare Detroit appearance.
CHOOSE ANDIAMO FOR YOUR
BAR/BAT MITZVAH, WEDDING,
ENGAGEMENT PARTY, REHEARSAL
DINNER OR ANY SPECIAL OCCASION.
andiamoitalia.com
2/14
2003
82
East 14 Mile Road. West of Van Dyke.
Warren, Michigan
s