Sport: Boxing
Born: March 29, 1950
Town: Jersey City, New Jersey
Harold Stuart Reitman was born March 29, 1950 in Jersey City, NJ. The boy everyone called “Hackie” grew up in his family’s service station, where his father worked as a mechanic and his mother pumped gas. He took up boxing as a teenager and played varsity basketball for Snyder High School. Hackie pursued a medical career and studied at Boston University Medical School. During his first year there, he entered and won the 1971 New England Golden Gloves as a heavyweight, KO’ing all of his opponents in the tournament.
Hackie was approached to turn professional and turned down a lucrative contract to continue in Med School. Over the next few years, he served on the medical staff at Boston Garden. After serving an internship at St. Joseph’s in Paterson he found his way to Florida, where he opened a sports medicine clinic.
In 1986, Hackie’s 4-year-old son underwent emergency brain surgery at the Mayo Clinic. He and another Mayo parent decided to arrange a charity boxing match. Hackie fought an Illinois judge and knocked him out. He decided to resume his boxing career and donate any winnings to children’s charities.
In 1988, Hackie performed knee surgery on former fighter Tony Torino. Torino subsequently agreed to be Hackie’s trainer and manager and he turned professional at the age of 37. Hackie trained at Miami’s 5th Street Gym and took lessons from former Lightweight champion Beau Jack. The “Boxing Doctor” surprised experts by winning 7 of his first 9 fights, including several early-round knockouts. In 1991, he fought a three-round exhibition with Roberto Duran. Later that year, he fought Tim Anderson to a draw in a televised National Boxing Association Cruiserweight title fight. In 1992, Hackie’s name appeared on the International Boxing Council’s list of Heavyweight contenders, at #12.
Hackie retied in 2002 at the age of 52 as the oldest professional fighter in Florida. He was enshrined in the Broward County Sports Hall of Fame that year and the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2011. Hackie had hoped to fight George Foreman and Mike Tyson, but neither match came off. He did spar with many of his boxing heroes, including Hector Camacho, Emile Griffith, Trevor Burbick, Tim Witherspoon and Michael Nunn. His final record as a pro was 13–7–6 with 11 knockouts.