Legendary boxing coach Louis Rios remembered for service to community

Over the years, Frank Bray has seen some teenagers coming into the Louis Rios Boxing Club who had a history of getting into trouble.

“There are hundreds of kids in La Salle County who I’ve seen come and go through the program,” Bray said. “Some of them, I’d say, ‘Louis, I know a little bit about this kid. He’s a little tough on the streets.’ Louis said, ‘That’s why I want him in here. We’re going to change that kid.’

“He had some kids who were known to be bad kids, and they became good kids. That was Louis’ satisfaction was when he’d see who you became.”

Rios, who died Tuesday at 93, is being remembered as a man who impacted hundreds of area children as a boxing trainer for nearly six decades.

“He was an amazing guy,” said Bray, one of two boxers Rios trained who went on to become a professional. “Anything he could do to help you, he would. Everybody had respect for Louis. To a lot of kids, he was almost like a father to them. I lost my father when I was younger and he really helped me out with a lot of things. He gave everything he had and poured it into the community.”

Rios, who grew up in DePue, fell in love with boxing after his first fight at age 14. He started training boxers while serving in the Navy and Marine Corps.

When he returned to the Illinois Valley, Rios opened his first gym and started training area children.

Over the years, Rios had gyms in La Salle, Peru, Utica, Spring Valley, DePue and Ottawa. He never charged dues for his gym.

“He was someone who was always giving to others,” his son, Mark, said. “It was his life’s mission to help others and he expected nothing in return. He wanted to give back to the community and that’s why he developed the boxing program. He started it to give kids something to do and pull them off the streets. He was very proud when he started the club that he never had to ask kids to pay for membership fees or for his services.”

Rios had top-level coaching certification and oversaw Region 5 of amateur boxing, which covers Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas and Missouri. He served a president of the Illinois Amateur Boxing Association.

Rios coached boxers to many titles, including Golden Gloves and Junior Olympics. He had fighters appear on Pay-Per-View fight cards.

Rios received the Lifetime Achievement award from USA Boxing in 2016 and was a member of the inaugural NewsTribune Illinois Valley Sports Hall of Fame class as the lifetime achievement award recipient.

“He boxed himself when he was in the military and that’s where he learned,” Bray said. “He shared it all with us. He became president of the boxing association for years. He did all the classes they had. He learned more and more. He would have you in top shape.”

But Bray will remember Rios more for what he taught him and others outside the ring.

Bray said Rios taught his boxers the importance of family, school and helping out those in need among other lessons.

“There are so many guys in the community now who are businessmen, doctors, lawyers and police officers who boxed for him,” Bray said. “He taught you everything about life, not only about being a boxer. He taught us it was all about who we are as a person and why we’re here on this earth. That’s what Louis meant to me. That’s what I got most from Louis. It wasn’t just boxing. It was your family, going to school, making sure you were doing the right stuff and being a good person in the community.”

Rios’ gym was shut down last December as his it was getting harder for him to manage it.

“It broke my dad’s heart,” Mark Rios said. “Up until a couple months ago, he was still talking about finding that next gym.”

Even though Rios is gone, there will be a next gym.

Bray, who was 9-1 as a professional boxer, has been helping Rios at the gym for several years and plans to continue Rios’ mission.

“We’ve always rented places then the owner would sell. We’ve been to a lot of different places,” Bray said about the gym’s location. “I have some property by Deer Park. I think I’m going to build my own gym. It’s always going to be called Louis Rios Boxing Club. I’ll be the trainer. I want to keep that legacy going. I told him my idea and he said, ‘Frank, that’s a great idea if you could do that for the kids.’ I told him what he did all those years, I’ll do the same thing.

“I’ve never met such a Godly, awesome, beautiful person. He was an amazing guy. He’s going to be missed. I’m going to miss him bad. It’s been tough. I love the guy. But everything is going to be good.”

Mark Rios is glad to see his father’s legacy continued.

“It makes me very proud there are people who want to have a gym in honor of my dad,” Mark Rios said. “It shows how much people really cared about him.

“He was an amazing man. He lived a full life. He was a great father. He was always there for people.”