{{short description|American boxing trainer (1899–1994)}} {{Infobox person | image= Ray Arcel 1942.jpg | image_upright = 0.7 | caption= Arcel at 43, circa 1942 | spouse = Hazel Doughlas<br>Stephanie Arcel | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1899|08|30|df=y}} | birth_place=Terre Haute, Indiana, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|1994|03|07|1899|08|30|df=yes}} | death_place = New York City, New York, U.S. | occupation = boxing trainer | years_active = 1920s–1950s, 1970s–1980s }}
'''Ramil "Ray" Arcel''' (August 30, 1899 – March 7, 1994) was an American boxing trainer who was active from the 1920s through the 1980s. In his long and distinguished career, he trained 20 world boxing champions.
==Life and career== Arcel was born in Terre Haute, Indiana, the son of Rose (Wachsman) and David Arcel.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQsHqHfqcq4C&dq=Rose+(Wachsman)+David+Arcel&pg=PA10|title=Ray Arcel: A Boxing Biography|first=Donald|last=Dewey|date=25 May 2012|publisher=McFarland|isbn=9780786490875|via=Google Books}}</ref> His parents were Jewish immigrants from Russia and Romania. He moved to New York City before he was six years old, where he grew up in Harlem and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1917.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE5DD163DF93BA35750C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=print |title=Ray Arcel, Trainer Who Handled Many Boxing Stars, Is Dead at 94 |date=1994-03-08 |first=Phil |last=Berger |work=New York Times |accessdate=2007-11-02}}</ref> He began training fighters at Stillman's Gym, near the old location of Madison Square Garden on 8th Avenue, in the 1920s. The champions he trained included Benny Leonard, Ezzard Charles, Jim Braddock, Barney Ross, Bob Olin, Tony Zale, Billy Soose, Ceferino Garcia, Lou Brouillard, Teddy Yarosz, Freddie Steele, Jackie Kid Berg, Alfonso Frazier, Abe Goldstein, Frankie Genaro, Tony Marino, Sixto Escobar, Charley Phil Rosenberg, Roberto Durán and Larry Holmes.<ref>{{cite book | last = Anderson | first = Dave | title = In the Corner | publisher = William & Morrow Co. | year = 1991 | location = New York, New York | pages = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780688094461/page/119 119] | isbn = 0-688-09446-5 | url-access = registration | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780688094461/page/119 }}</ref>
After some disputes with Jim Norris and the International Boxing Club of New York in the 1950s,<ref>{{cite book|last=Dewey|first=Donald|title=Ray Arcel: A Boxing Biography|year=2012|publisher=McFarland|location=USA|isbn=978-0-7864-6968-0|pages=140–147|url=https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/ray-arcel/}}</ref> Arcel retired from training, after being injured with a lead pipe during an attack in Boston, in a case that was never solved by police, returning in the 1970s to work with Alfonso Frazier and Roberto Durán. After Durán quit in his second fight against Sugar Ray Leonard, Arcel helped prepare Larry Holmes for his fight against Gerry Cooney. He retired from training after that fight, having returned to Durán's corner in January 1982 for Durán's fight against Wilfred Benítez.
In 1926, Arcel married Hazel Douglas. The marriage was her second. Ray and Hazel adopted a daughter Adele Arcel Bloch, who died on February 8, 1990. His second wife and widow was Stephanie Arcel. Ray Arcel died on March 7, 1994, at the age of 94. Stephanie died on August 8, 2014.<ref>[http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/nytimes/obituary.aspx?pid=172140648 Stephanie Arcel obituary] accessed 12-26-2015</ref>
Actor Robert De Niro portrayed Arcel in the 2016 film ''Hands of Stone'', about Roberto Durán, with actress Ellen Barkin portraying his wife Stephanie.<ref>[https://deadline.com/2015/05/roberto-duran-hands-of-stone-edgar-ramirez-robert-weinstein-company-cannes-1201426590/ Hands of Stone film] accessed 12-26-2015</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://web.indstate.edu/community/vchs/wvp/!arcelra.pdf Ray Arcel at Wabash Valley Profiles] * [https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/arcel-ray Arcel, Ray] * [https://www.tribstar.com/features/history/historical-perspective-robert-deniro-to-portray-terre-haute-native-ray-arcel-in-movie/article_bf3e3fdc-9295-5615-84f2-9e009e3d7018.html Historical Perspective: Robert De Niro to portray Terre Haute native Ray Arcel in movie]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Arcel, Ray}} Category:American boxing trainers Category:20th-century American Jews Category:International Boxing Hall of Fame inductees Category:Stuyvesant High School alumni Category:1899 births Category:1994 deaths Category:International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame inductees Category:Jewish American sports coaches