With an easy smile and an encouraging “give it your best shot” manner, Dr. Glenn Bynum served as the ringside physician for Chicago Golden Gloves boxing matches for the past 57 years.
Known simply as “Doc,” he became a familiar and trusted figure in the city’s boxing community as he checked the hands, pupils and heart beats of thousands of fighters before they stepped into the ring.
Golden Gloves is a non-profit that’s been holding an annual boxing tournament since 1923, with the winners heading to a national tournament to face fighters from 30 other cities that also have Golden Gloves programs.
Dr. Bynum also served as ringside physician at the national tournament, which changes locations each year.
“He didn’t just do his job, it was like he was humming a song while he did it,” said Tom Zbikowski, a former amateur boxer who later played football for the Baltimore Ravens.
“When I was a kid, I didn’t do much talking, so it was tough for me to get to know people. But Doc was someone you could trust, a familiar face, a kind word and smile,” Zbikowski said.
“He was known as tough but fair, and never hesitated to stop a match if a boxer was taking too many blows to the head,” said Dr. Pamela Nickson, a fellow ringside physician who counted Dr. Bynum as a mentor.
Dr. Bynum died Sept. 27 at Rush Oak Park Hospital from natural causes. He was 90.
He never stepped in the ring as a combatant but loved the sport at a young age when he’d sit by the radio in his Detroit home with his father, an auto worker, and listen to hometown hero Joe Louis compete in heavyweight title fights.
Dr. Bynum, who volunteered his time with Golden Gloves, gave pre-fight fitness checks to a number of well-known fighters, including Floyd Mayweather Jr., who won three national Golden Glove championships.
Another was Michael Flatley, a South Sider who competed in the Golden Gloves before he became a world famous dancer as the star of “Riverdance.”
Flatley offered a warm embrace to Dr. Bynum while attending a Golden Gloves 100th anniversary celebration in 2023.
Dr. Bynum occasionally worked as the ringside doctor at professional wrestling events in the Chicago area that featured Hulk Hogan, Jake “The Snake” Roberts and other heroes and heels of the era.
Dr. Bynum was born July 2, 1935, in Detroit to Leroy and Annie Bynum.
He studied chemistry at Wayne State University before attending Howard University Medical School.
He then served as a physician in the Air Force, stationed at a military base in Japan, before moving to Chicago at the behest of an old medical school classmate who’d begun practicing medicine on the West Side.
“My dad was one of the doctors who, after white families moved out and the West Side became black, was instrumental in building up the medical staff in that community,” said Dr. Bynum’s daughter, Dana Bynum.
Dr. Bynum was a family physician and obstetrician. He had a decades-long association with the now-closed Bethany Hospital, where he delivered more than 4,000 babies, rushing to the hospital at a moment’s notice for years to meet patients who were in labor, his daughter said.
When he was looking to move from his home in Bronzeville to River Forest, Dr. Bynum became frustrated with racism in the housing market. His wife at the time, who was light skinned, received a warm reception from real estate agents, but potential sales would fall through and houses would be taken off the market when Dr. Bynum, who had darker skin, arrived for second and third visits to check out a potential home.
“My dad finally got another doctor from his hospital and his wife, who were white, to buy the house in River Forest and then sell it to my parents,” Dana Bynum said.
“He was someone that you really, really, really would be proud of calling your colleague,” said Dr. Clement Rose, who worked with Dr. Bynum at Bethany Hospital. “And he was someone who if you met him, you’d never know he was a doctor. He never flaunted it. He was just an ordinary human being, and he was truly a gentleman.”
Dr. Bynum began volunteering at Golden Gloves bouts in 1968 after a colleague who served as a ringside physician asked if he’d want to lend a hand.
Dr. Bynum is in the Illinois Boxing Hall of Fame and the Golden Gloves of America Hall of Fame.
He wore a gold pendant of two boxing gloves around his neck. He preferred driving a Cadillac, which in recent years had license plates that read BOXING 9.
He worked his last Golden Gloves match in the spring.
In addition to his daughter, Dr. Bynum is survived by his son, Galen.
Services have been held.