- Norvel Lee
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Norvel Lee Personal information Born September 22, 1924 Medal recordMen's Boxing Competitor for the 
United StatesOlympic Games Gold 1952 Helsinki Light Heavyweight Pan American Games Bronze 1951 Buenos Aires Heavyweight Bronze 1955 Mexico City Heavyweight Norvel LaFollette Ray Lee (born September 22, 1924 in Eagle Rock, Virginia – died August 19, 1992 in Bethesda, Maryland) was a boxer from the United States, who competed in the Light Heavyweight division during his career as an amateur.
Contents
Amateur career
Lee also narrowily missed out of making the 1948 Summer Olympics, losing to Jay Lambert in the finals of the US Olympic Trials. In 1950 he won the New York Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions in the heavyweight division, by KO over Nick Vasquez, the heavyweight Intercity Golden Gloves Championship, besting Kirby Seals and the National AAU Heavyeight Championship, when he decisioned Stan Howlett of Madison, IL in the final. He would repeat as National AAU Heavyweight champion again in 1951 and earn a bronze medal at the 1951 Pan American Games. Lee went to the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki as a reserve Heavyweight. He was told that if he could make the weight limit, he could compete as a Light Heavyweight. Lee lost twelve pounds, and went on to defeat Argentina's Antonio Pacenza for the Gold Medal on a 3-0 decision. He was awarded the Val Barker Trophy for Outstanding Boxer at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Olympic Results
- 1st round bye
- Defeated Claude Arnaiz (France) 3-0
- Defeated Tadeusz Grzelak (Poland) 3-0
- Defeated Harri Walfrid Siljander (Finland) 3-0
- Defeated Antonio Pacenza (Argentina) 3-0
Personal
At the time of the Olympic Games, Lee had already earned a Master's Degree from Howard University. In 1948, he had been arrested in his hometown of Covington, when he became one of first blacks to sit in the all-white section of a bus.
References
Val Barker Trophy Winners Awarded to the outstanding and most stylistic boxer of each Olympic Games 1936: Louis Laurie
USA • 1948: George Hunter 
RSA • 1952: Norvel Lee USA • 1956: Richard McTaggart 
GBR • 1960: Giovanni Benvenuti 
ITA • 1964: Valeri Popenchenko 
URS • 1968: Philip Waruinge 
KEN • 1972: Teofilo Stevenson 
CUB • 1976: Howard Davis, Jr. USA • 1980: Patrizio Oliva ITA • 1984: Paul Gonzales USA • 1988: Roy Jones, Jr. USA • 1992: Roberto Balado CUB • 1996: Vassiliy Jirov 
KAZ • 2000: Oleg Saitov 
RUS • 2004: Bakhtiyar Artayev KAZ • 2008: Vasyl Lomachenko 
UKROlympic Boxing Champions in Men's Light Heavyweight 1920-1936: 160-175 lb (72.6-79.4 kg), 1948: 73-80 kg 1952-2008: 75-81 kg 1920: Eddie Eagan (USA) • 1924: Harry Mitchell (GBR) • 1928: Víctor Avendaño (ARG) • 1932: David Carstens (RSA) • 1936: Roger Michelot (FRA) • 1948: George Hunter (RSA) • 1952: Norvel Lee (USA) • 1956: James Boyd (USA) • 1960: Cassius Clay (USA) • 1964: Cosimo Pinto (ITA) • 1968: Danas Pozniakas (URS) • 1972: Mate Parlov (YUG) • 1976: Leon Spinks (USA) • 1980: Slobodan Kačar (YUG) • 1984: Anton Josipović (YUG) • 1988: Andrew Maynard (USA) • 1992: Torsten May (GER) • 1996: Vassiliy Jirov (KAZ) • 2000: Aleksandr Lebziak (RUS) • 2004: Andre Ward (USA) • 2008: Zhang Xiaoping (CHN)
Categories:- 1924 births
- 1992 deaths
- People from Botetourt County, Virginia
- Boxers from Virginia
- Featherweight boxers
- Olympic boxers of the United States
- Olympic gold medalists for the United States
- Boxers at the 1952 Summer Olympics
- National Golden Gloves champions
- Winners of the United States Championship for amateur boxers
- Olympic medalists in boxing
- American boxing Olympic medalist stubs
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