Ord Fink

Ord Fink had never put on a pair of gloves until his freshman year at Syracuse University, when he was overheard claiming he could beat any member of their collegiate team one-handed as he watched a training session. True to his word Fink became the NCAA boxing champion at 155 lbs 12 months later in the Olympic year of 1936 and was entered in the middleweight category in Berlin alongside his compatriot Jimmy Clark, although it was Clark who eventually got the call to compete for the USA. Fink was Eastern Intercollegiate Boxing Association Championship winner at middleweight in 1937 and losing finalist in 1938, the year he graduated from Syracuse.

Just before the US entered into World War Two, Fink joined the United States Army Air Force and stayed for 26 years, serving as a fighter pilot and eventually leaving with the rank of lieutenant colonel. He then found a job with the Employment Service Office of the state of Florida. In later life, Fink earned a master’s degree in education from Oklahoma State University.