The Herald sat down with a longtime Hempstead boxing coach , Laurence “DC” Covington. He reflects on his two-decade involvement with Hempstead town’s youth boxing program, at Kennedy Memorial Park tracing his journey from military service to coaching. Covingtons contract with the Village of Hempstead to run the youth boxing program expired on May 31, and was not renewed. He alleges there was no formal communication or vote to shut the program down, which was closed in June. He was notified through formal letter by park superintendent Yolanda Hutcherson on Sept. 18 about his contract. He also claims Hutcherson, failed to follow proper procedures and never provided a reason for the closure. Meanwhile Hutcherson says it was a responce to controversy with another coach. Covington has since filed a notice of claim and is preparing for a hearing on October 27, where he will be questioned. He is seeking either reinstatement or a legal resolution.
Q: Why did you want to box?
A: Well my mom wouldn’t let me box when I was little. My father would always take me to see the Rocky movies. And I wanted to box, but they were divorced. One of her friends told her, ‘Oh, if you let him box, it’s going to make him violent. He’s gonna be fighting.’ So as soon as I got old enough I started. I didn’t know there was a box in gym in Hempstead – that’s when I joined.
Q: How long were you with the boxing program for
A: I was a fighter for the club in 2002 and my last fight with the club was in 2012. I started coaching in 2009 and my last fight was in 2012 but I wanted one more fight and my last fight was sadly against Patrick Day. And you know, he died in 2019, so I was like man that was my last fight. I never want to get in the ring again. But I had a neck injury and he won.
Q: What was your military experience like?
A: I got in 1998 and left in 2002. I worked with nuclear weapons in the city forces. I did four years in North Dakota, and then I did one year in Korea, and then I did remaining time in Tampa, Florida.
Q: When you were coaching, how many kids would you say you coached over the years?
A: Oh my gosh – in the range from like 40. You know, some come and go. I’ve coached a lot. There is also no limit on the amount of kids that can come. Hempstead is one of the only boxing programs on Long Island that’s free.
Q: What does boxing mean to you?
A: The first thing is discipline. And it just teaches patience. We teach strategy, because you can’t just go in the ring throwing punches. You have to be in shape first so we talk about food well talk to parents about health. It becomes a big family, everyone gives each other nicknames, it’s fun. Even the guys who weren’t boxing anymore, they always stopped by the gym.
Q: As a mentor, do you feel like you’ve learned something from the boxers and kids you’ve coached?
A: Listen, I get nothing but lessons from these guys. Patience is number one, and just talking to people with respect, treating everybody like human beings. And guess what? Everybody has a bad day – I tell the guys, you had a bad day at school? Coming in, you let me know, and you go train by yourself.
