Capitol Hill has produced a number of well-known figures, who have become famous through their exploits on the battlefield, the concert hall, or in law enforcement. It has, however, also produced a number of athletes, and while few were as successful as Elgin Baylor, some do have interesting stories to tell.
One of these is Donald Gordon Berry, who had a boxing career that lasted for over ten years. Born on May 5, 1914, he grew up in a house on 5th and K Streets SE, tucked between the Virginia Avenue Tunnel and the railway spur that connected the Navy Yard to the Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington Railroad tracks. His father worked as a teamster, though later would work at the Navy Yard.
The family seems to have had a peripatetic existence, living in different places all across the Hill, generally around the Navy Yard. They would suffer a great setback in early 1922, when Berry’s father, Clarence Humphrey Berry, died. He was laid to rest in Congressional Cemetery. His widow had to eke out an existence for her four children as a seamstress.
Gordon, or Huckle, as he was known at the time, did not do well unsupervised, and almost four years after his father’s death, he and two of his friends were arrested for joy-riding. Berry was the youngest of the three, at the tender age of 11, the other two were 14 and 15. They were accused of ‘borrowing’ cars. The Evening Star wrote about Berry:
Bright and clean, polite and frank, he told of a system of forging notes to teachers in order to make playing “hookey” from school safe. He and others would “borrow” automobiles from parking spaces, often around the school, and drive around town until fear that the gas would run out brought the return of the machine.
They would usually leave the car exactly where it had been taken from, leaving the owner none the wiser. The method of starting the cars was simple: They had over 200 keys for different makes of automobiles, allowing them to start a significant percentage of cars on the road.
Almost exactly a year later –– still at the tender age of 12 –– Berry began his career as a boxer, fighting Billy Mitchell at Arcadia Hall in Columbia Heights. While Mitchell does not appear to have much of a record as a boxer, Berry still managed only a draw – and his next recorded fight would not be for another 2-1/2 years.
In the summer of 1929, however, things would begin to change for him. He would begin to fight regularly, and would notch his first win, against Buddy Goodrich, in Norfolk.
Further bouts ensued, and he soon found himself on a winning streak. When, early April of 1930, he was asked by a census enumerator what his occupation was, he confidently replied ‘boxer.’ This would be underscored less than a week later, when he – now going by the nickname Reds – won on points against one Joe Finazzo. The newspapers took note, with the Evening Star expending a whole half sentence on his triumph. Even the fact that they misspelled his last name ‘Barry’ could not dim his triumph: He was indeed a boxer now.
Next week – Reds hits the big time.