Thursday, Dec. 12, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
In 1964, during his first of two stints as chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commission, Art Lurie found himself on the horns of a dilemma.
Fellow local businessmen and casino big shots, many of whom were his friends, urged the boxing judge-turned-administrator to approve a fight that would bring much business to the then-small desert community.
But Lurie, who last month was named Veterans Boxing Association Man of the Year, had heard that there was something fishy about the proposed rematch of then-world heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali and former champ Sonny Liston.
Despite heaps of media criticism and disappointment from the local hotel industry, Lurie stood his ground and said no to that bout.
"History proves I made the right decision," said Lurie, who for four decades has been a respected businessman in the local grocery and liquor industries and one of the world's top boxing judges, having worked 192 world title matches.
"I took a lot of heat for it, but I knew then I was making the right move, and I am glad I did it."
While Ali's seventh-round knockout of then-champ Liston on Feb. 24, 1964, in Miami was an exciting war, the rematch in Lewiston, Me., on May 25, 1965, was one of the biggest debacles in boxing history.
Ali knocked out Liston in one round with a single punch that few saw. It has been called "the phantom punch." Many experts, noting that Liston was heavily under the influence of mobsters, believe he took a dive.
The Ali decision
Fourteen years later, on Feb. 15, 1978, Ali crossed paths once again with Lurie.
This time, it was in Las Vegas at the Hilton, where Ali fought Olympic gold medalist Leon Spinks. It was Ali's 11th defense of the crown he regained by knocking out George Foreman in 1974.
Lurie was one of three ringside officials that, after 15 rounds, rendered a split decision -- Lurie on the side of Ali, who lost.
"I have watched the films of the fight many times and still say Ali won," Lurie says with not a shred of doubt in his voice.
"What many people don't realize is that the fight was so close all three of us (judges) were within one round of each other. The difference was, I saw Ali winning the final round, and the other two felt Spinks won it."
Still, despite the criticism leveled against the veteran fight official, Lurie, a former amateur pugilist, showed he could laugh at himself.
When an organization gave him a plaque featuring a long white cane with a red tip, Lurie donned a pair of dark glasses and posed for photographs with the trophy that, in effect, said he was blind for siding with Ali.
Seven months after the first Ali-Spinks fight, boxing judges in New Orleans saw Ali winning the rematch to become the first three-time world heavyweight champion.
Man of foresight
While Lurie says he wasn't wrong in the two decisions he made involving Ali, he admits along the way in boxing and in business he has made his share of mistakes.
But in the long run, the 78-year-old entrepreneur who shuns retirement has far more wins than losses.
Once, when Lurie was right and the community didn't listen, it was a costly mistake that changed the course of history for glitter gulch.
In the 1960s, with the development of malls and shopping centers on the outskirts of the city, Lurie tried to organize downtown businesses, warning that they would go under if they did not put together a cohesive plan to attract customers.
Despite all of his preliminary work, the night of the meeting, just Lurie and one other businessman showed up. After that, he gave up.
True to his prediction, downtown fell into decay.
Longtime businesses closed, only to be replaced by T-shirt shops that have blighted the area to the present. Even the downtown casino industry suffered as the Strip, with its bigger resorts and retail centers, thrived.
Art Lurie was born on April Fool's Day, 1918, in Los Angeles, and grew up in business, starting as a dishwasher at Big Ben's, an East LA restaurant his parents had built and operated during Prohibition.
"I learned from my parents that in business and in life you have to treat people the way you want to be treated," Lurie said. "That philosophy in business sadly has gone by the wayside in today's computer-controlled world."
Fighting at 12
After Prohibition was repealed in 1933, Big Ben's became a popular tavern. It was there that Lurie got his introduction to retail liquor, where he would make his mark in the 1970s and '80s, owning and operating Wonder World Discount Liquors on Maryland Parkway.
As a strapping 12-year-old, Art developed an interest in boxing, starting in the streets and ending up in the ring.
"East LA was a tough combination Italian and Mexican-American neighborhood at the time, and it was not uncommon for people to settle their differences with their fists," Lurie recalled.
"But we weren't stupid like today with the knives and guns. We beat each other up, then hugged when it was over."
Lurie began his amateur boxing career fighting three-rounders at Tony's Cafe in Los Angeles, where every fighter got a free hot dog and appreciative fans tossed quarters into the ring after an action-filled bout.
In 37 amateur fights, many at a place called Jeffries' Barn -- it was owned by former world heavyweight champ James J. Jeffries -- Lurie lost only twice, both times to a guy named Turkey Thompson.
After Lurie graduated from LA's Lincoln High School in 1937, and after spending a semester at LA's Loyola University, he went into the Navy. There, Lurie fought on a team coached by former world heavyweight champion Gene Tunney, his commanding officer.
Lurie won the Atlantic Fleet light heavyweight crown. His teammates included three fighters who would go on to win world professional titles.
Coming to Las Vegas
Lurie decided not to turn pro for one good reason: His bride, the former Ellie Gordon, whom he had met in 1937 and married in 1939, did not want him to continue in the ring. This year, they celebrated their 57th wedding anniversary.
Instead, Lurie went to work for her father in one of his Los Angeles grocery stores. After managing several stores, Lurie's brother-in-law brought him to Las Vegas in 1953 to run a store he had opened.
"He fired me after one year," Lurie said. "But it also was a break for me, because I then went to work for Nathan Adelson at his Market Town (then at 22 E. Oakey Blvd.), and shortly after that was promoted to manager."
Adelson, who built Sunrise Hospital and helped found the hospice care system in Southern Nevada, was a wine connoisseur whose guidance helped Lurie become one of the city's top wine connoisseurs and retailers.
Lurie's specially built wine cellar and 4,000-square-foot store in Wonder World featured fine vintages from all over the world.
In the early 1950s, Lurie began judging and refereeing amateur fights at the old Cashman Field.
"From the start, he was a good judge," said Davey Pearl, longtime Las Vegas referee who was the third man in the ring for the first Ali-Spinks fight.
"Whether in the ring or in business, Art has been well-liked, and that is a key to his success."
Stickler for rules
When Pearl, 79, stepped down as a boxing commissioner in the early 1980s, Lurie replaced him and began his second go-round on the commission, culminating with his election as chairman in 1983.
"As chairman, Art was not afraid to open his mouth when he felt something was wrong," Pearl said. "He was a good administrator because of that."
Lurie once fined former world welterweight champion Roberto Duran $2,500 for sucking on oranges between rounds of a Las Vegas fight. The rules allow only water to be consumed during the one-minute breaks.
Lurie served on the commission again in the late 1980s.
As for the future of the sport, Lurie says if there is going to be a national boxing czar, he believes Dr. James Nave, former chairman of the Nevada Athletic Commission, would be a good candidate because of his "coolness and ability to work with people."
"We need someone who is going to unite all of these organizations so we can get back to having one world champion in each of the weight classes, not three or four," Lurie said.
And he also would like to see boxers get a better shake.
"While some fighters earn large purses, they all have the shortest earning periods of athletes in any sport," Lurie said.
"We need someone looking after their interests, to do things like make sure they are getting fair contracts or establish a trade school to teach them to be electricians, carpenters and plumbers after their fight careers are over."
No retirement
Like Lurie, Pearl refuses to retire and will be refereeing some amateur fights next month.
"When you have 30 to 35 years invested in the fight game like Art and I have, it's so hard for guys like us to pack it all in. We just want to keep going as long as we can do the job well."
Lurie's greatest quality, Pearl says, is that "Art is a good family man. His family always comes first."
Art is the father of two -- son Ron Lurie, the former mayor of Las Vegas who lives in town with his wife, Beverly, and daughter Wendy Kahn, who lives in Brentwood, Calif., with her husband, Eddie, and son, E.J.
Art is the grandfather of two others, Ben Lurie and his wife, Becky, and Rhonda Gilbourne and her husband, Adam.
Art is the great-grandfather of one, Taylor, Ben and Becky's daughter.
"I have never known anyone to have had a bad word to say about my father," Ron Lurie said, noting that he got his start in business like so many Las Vegas youths of the 1950s and '60s as box boys, cashiers and food product demonstrators in the grocery stores Art managed.
"In years to come, when people remember my father, I would hope it will be of how kind and helpful he was to them or members of their families."
In 1966, Art became public relations director for local Food Fair Stores, which at one time had more than 500 markets nationwide. Also, in the mid-1960s, he was a casino host at the Silver Slipper.
Business leader
In 1970, Art opened Wonder World Discount Liquors. By 1983, annual sales at the store exceeded $2 million, according to news accounts of the time.
That year, the Luries toured the wine regions of Germany and Italy, where they sampled some of the world's finest vintages. In 1986, Lurie sold Wonder World Discount Liquors.
Over the years, Lurie owned several bars, including Art's Place on Eastern Avenue (now the site of a P.T.'s bar), two Popo's taverns and the 49er Saloon.
For a while, he operated the Wall Street restaurant at Sahara Avenue and Maryland Parkway, a financial disaster that nevertheless became a hangout for the city's movers and shakers. Another not-so-successful venture was the Fort at Old Vegas, which closed many years ago.
In 1980, Lurie was appointed by then-President Jimmy Carter to chair the Active Corps of Executives for the Small Business Administration. Also, he was president of the Executives Association of Las Vegas and the Downtown Merchants Association.
By the early 1990s, Lurie had sold the last of his bars.
Today, Lurie runs a company called Nevada Marketing. He buys large volumes of close-out products at a low price and sells them at a small profit.
He also invests in things such as an aerobics boxing device called "Punchy" -- a ball attached to headgear by a long rubber band. It is in the development stages now and should be on the market by next year, Lurie says.
Cigars and poker
A cigar smoker since he was a teenager, Lurie still enjoys puffing on large Mexican stogies. For relaxation, he plays low-limit Texas hold 'em poker, mostly at neighborhood casinos.
When he reminisces about his boxing assignments, Lurie fondly recalls working at the old Silver Slipper weekly fights and Caesars Palace Sports Pavilion.
"Those places were good for the fans because, no matter where you sat, there was not an obstructed-view seat in the house," Lurie said. "At the Silver Slipper, it was so small, everybody had a ringside seat."
Like many longtime Las Vegans, Lurie laments the passing of the old days, when the population was smaller and the atmosphere was small town.
"There were so few grocery stores that eventually all of the 35,000-40,000 residents came into the Town Market," Lurie said. "I really got to know everybody. And I'd use their names in the ads next to particular products they bought frequently."
In those early days, Lurie had several small business interests, including a place called Puppy's, a hot dog stand with 30 pinball machines, also on Oakey.
For all Lurie has done as a boxing official, businessman and civic leader -- he helped build the YMCA and Golden Gloves Gym -- it is simply as a "good person," that he wants people to remember him.
"The success I have had in boxing or in my business career is all secondary to how I have tried to treat people well," Lurie said. "I love to give more than I like to receive. I like being there for my family and for others."
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