‘Charlie’s Angels’ takes punch at changing lives

The Brookline Boxing Club during its 1977/1978 season. The club, commonly known as “Charlie’s Angels,” ran from 1971 to 2003. Photo courtesy of Brookline Connection.

By: Joseph Guzy

Think of “Charlie’s Angels” and you think of Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd, right?

Not in Brookline.

“Charlie’s Angels” was the name given to the very successful Brookline Boxing Club that existed from 1971 until 2003.

The club’s roots can be traced back to Moore Park Boxing. Before the addition of the Brookline Recreation Center in 1970, the club operated out of the Moore Park Recreation Center starting in 1958.

From the club’s beginning in 1958 as “Moore Park Boxing” until the temporary closure of the recreation centers — marking the end of “Charlie’s Angels” — they were no stranger to success.  Golden Gloves champion Clint Burton, who currently works at the Brookline Recreation Center, says, “Probably 50 or so team championships and how many hundreds kids actually won titles. Wow.”

The club’s success wouldn’t have been possible without Director Chuck Senft.

Chuck was not only the director of the boxing club for all 45 years of its existence; he oversaw and managed the entire recreation program. At the Moore Park Recreation Center, Chuck led track, basketball, football, volleyball, softball and baseball teams to many championships.

But the boxing program was special.

“The boxing program sort of became his life,” Burton says. “His home away from home. Probably more like his home.”

The program also became the home of the kids whose lives it changed for the better.

“A lot of these people were kids that probably didn’t have that fighting spirit to them,” Burton says. “He brought it out in a good way. He made them better people.

“A lot of the lessons they learned through the boxing program transferred over to their adulthood and made better people of them.”

Even though the era of “Charlie’s Angels” may have ended, the legacy lives on.

The club restructured and re-launched in 2005 as the Pittsburgh Boxing Club. The club currently operates out of Dilworth Park in Mount Washington, the renovated Overbrook Fire House, and, of course, at the Brookline Recreation Center.

It’s only appropriate that some of Chuck’s former champions, Bob Healy, Bob Brown and Carlos Shrader currently run the program.

Chuck may have handed them more than boxing skills and life lessons. He handed them a legacy.

Video by: Francesca Fronzaglio