Percy Price, Jr.

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games
SexMale
Full namePercy Joseph•Price, Jr.
Used namePercy•Price, Jr.
Born19 May 1936 in Salem, New JerseyUSA
Died12 January 1989 (aged 52 years 7 months 24 days) in Jacksonville, North CarolinaUSA
Measurements191 cm / 95 kg
AffiliationsUS Marine Corps — ?USA
NOCUnited StatesUSA

Biography

Percy Price entered the US Marine Corps in 1955 and joined the Marine boxing team. He made the 1960 Olympic team, and defeated Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali in trial matches to earn the position as the US heavyweight at Roma. Price won one match in Roma but lost in the quarter-finals. He is the last American heavyweight Olympian to not become a professional boxer. He remained in the Marines as a career military man, but he continued to box. He would later win three All-Marine Championships, two Interservice Titles, and won one title at the Conseil Internationale du Sport Militarie (CISM) meet. Price served two tours in Vietnam as a staff sergeant. He retired from the Marines in 1976 but settled in Jacksonville, North Carolina, where he had been stationed at Camp Lejeune. He died rather young from a kidney infection.

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1960 Summer Olympics Boxing USA Percy Price, Jr.
Heavyweight, Men (Olympic) =5