Hayes Edward Sanders

Ed Sanders
Sanders (right) in 1952
Statistics
Nickname(s)	Big Ed
Weight(s)	Heavyweight
Height	1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Born	March 24, 1930 Watts, Los Angeles, U.S.
Died	December 12, 1954 (aged 24) Boston, U.S.
Stance	Orthodox
Boxing record
Total fights	9
Wins	6
Wins by KO	3
Losses	2
Draws	1
Medal record Representing the  United States Olympic Games 1952 Helsinki Heavyweight

Hayes Edward "Big Ed" Sanders (March 24, 1930 – December 12, 1954) was an American heavyweight boxer who won an Olympic gold medal in 1952.

As a child, Sanders, the oldest male child of the family, was mature and physically strong. He collected coffee cans, filled them with cement and connected two of them with a steel bar to make a weight set for exercising. As he grew bigger, faster and stronger, Sanders excelled in football and track and field at Jordan High School. On May 26, 2012 Sanders was inducted into the Compton Community College Athletics Hall of Fame, under the category of boxing.

After graduating from Jordan High School, Sanders attended Compton College, where he again excelled in football and a new sport, boxing. In 1950, at the National Junior College Boxing Championships in Ogden, Utah, the six-foot four-inch, 220 pound Sanders attracted the attention of Idaho State College boxing coach Dubby Holt and football coach Babe Caccia. "He had a good left hand, and for the big man that he was, he was a real orthodox, skilled boxer," Holt recalled. Shortly thereafter, Sanders was awarded an athletic scholarship to Idaho State College (now Idaho State University) in Pocatello, Idaho, where he boxed and played football.

Sanders flourished at nearly all-white Idaho State. In his first collegiate bout, Sanders knocked out the Pacific Coast Heavyweight Champion. Sanders also set a record by never losing a bout in a collegiate dual meet. While attending Idaho State, Sanders fell in love with Pocatellan Mary LaRue, who was then a secretary at Idaho State's athletic department. She would later become his wife.

In 1951, Sanders was drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in the Korean War, but was convinced to join the Navy by his coaches. He then continued his boxing career as part of the U.S. Navy Boxing Team. Sanders scored a string of major victories when he defeated the Navy Heavyweight Champion, Kirby Seals, in San Diego, California and won both the Los Angeles Golden Gloves and Chicago Golden Gloves Tournaments. He subsequently toured Europe, winning the Golden Gloves Tournament in Berlin, Germany, which enhanced his reputation as a dominant heavyweight. Upon his return to the United States, Sanders trained at Naval facilities in Maryland for his dream—the Olympics.