Angelo Dundee: A Dear Friend.

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on February 2, 2012

The first rule you learn in journalism is to stay totally objective and never become close to the person you’re photographing or writing about. It isn’t an easy thing to do. In the case of Angelo Dundee, it was absolutely impossible. I met Angelo back in the 70’s and did major stories on him for the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, and Ring… too many to mention.

I think anyone who’s been around boxing can tell you there’s a dark side, and at some point everybody either goes there or experiences it. Angelo Dundee never had a dark side. He is the epitome of sportsmanship, a true gentleman, and the ultimate motivator. He was the total package. One of the most gentle people God put on this planet. He made a perfect ambassador for the sport of boxing. I met several hundred people in boxing over the years, from the very top to the very bottom and never heard one bad word against Angelo. Whether it was Budd Schulberg, Bert Sugar, or a journeyman fighter in Mississippi, they all loved him. Angie treated everybody like they were an important person. He never forgot a name and he had that beautiful smile and those beautiful eyes. He was always warm and attentive. Did I mention his sense of humor?

Here’s an Angelo quote sent to me today from one of my students, Steve Ellis:

“Joe, just want to tell you how much your call meant to me. Really nice gesture.

I was sorry to see the news about Angelo. He seemed like a really interesting guy. I remember when he was a commentator during the ’88 Olympics. During one of Riddick Bowe’s fights he was really critical about all the obvious mistakes Bowe was making. Angelo said ‘If this kid’s lucky, he’ll have a spasm of lucidity.’ I always remember that expression.

Steve”

Anyone who knows me knows that I can go on and on. I’m going to bring this blog to an end and I will revisit Angie and his memory at a later date. One of my last experiences with him is when he was kind enough to give me a few hours of his time for an interview for my documentary In this Corner.

P.S. In an interview I did with Jake LaMotta, “The Raging Bull”, he told me that he gave this kid Dundee one of his first jobs.

I can see Angie with a water bottle and a towel, cooling down Saint Peter as he’s entering the pearly gates. Rest in Peace, my friend. You’ve got a lot of champions on the other side.

The Day The Photographic Earth Stood Still

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on January 23, 2012

The day the Photographic earth stood still one second later went into light speed. I had a dual assignment to photograph Joe Paterno in 2002 for Time Magazine and my agent who had clients in Europe and Asia. We broke out all the big guns total 7 cameras. Both JoAnne and I were the prime shooters, 2 assistants and one security PA. Started at approximately 6AM shot all pre-game ceremony (lots of partying young and old) When we actually got down to game time the prime lenses were 400 f/2.8 and 600 f/4 and 35-350mm. We did the post game and turned the film over to our assistant who was getting ready to transmit a few frames before we returned to the studio. Total 7 cameras, 5 film cameras 4 of which were never loaded. The one loaded had 28 frames, the two digital there were approximately 1,000 frames. Without knowing it the third reincarnation of DiMaggio now as a digital shooter was born. The story was on Joe Paterno and he died yesterday from complications from Lung Cancer age 85. I will not comment on his dismissal from Penn State. Our son Dylan spent 4 years there and any communications I had with the administration was absolutely miserable. Oops I said I would not comment. Whatever Paterno’s sins were he was one hell of a football coach. RIP Joe I hope things are get better on the other side.

©Joe DiMaggio

©JoAnne Kalish

Bill Eppridge in a Class By Himself

Posted by Joe DiMaggio on July 19, 2011

In my career I have been blessed with a few fortunate lucky right place, right time relationships. The first and foremost was attending the University of Missouri school of Journalism Workshop. It really doesn’t get better than that. The second would be assisting W. Eugene Smith who taught me more about communications then anyone. Actually, he taught me more about many things but for the purpose of this we won’t go there. When asked to deliver a keynote speech at the NPPA, one of the people I thanked was Bill Eppridge. I would love to tell you that I know Bill well but as the truth be known, that’s just is not so. But here’s what I do know. Bill Eppridge has very few peers. He stands alone with his great talent. He also has another quality that generally photographers don’t have. He’s an extremely humble about what he’s accomplished over the last few decades and he’s still a viable force to be dealt with. Bill invited me to his retrospective at the Fairfield Museum. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend. This past Sunday I had a little time off and decided to go to Fairfield, Connecticut to see the show. I thought I knew exactly what I was going to see. Boy, was I wrong. I had no idea the depth and scope of his work. Like many other photographers, we know about the positive RFK Photos, but the retrospective truly showed what an amazingly great talent he is. This is one of the few times I wish I was a great writer because there aren’t enough adjectives to express what an important body of work he has. Photographer Alfred Eisenstadt, once told me, he had maybe only a dozen fine photographs. When I had the audacity to tell him, “no you have thousands of great photographs,” he smiled, clicked his heels and said, “one day you will understand.”

Thanks Bill for continuing to teach me the importance and power of a great still image.