Having grown up in the Logan Heights section of San Diego and the Cakes Boys Club on Marcy Ave., the oldest boy in a family of six brothers and three sisters, Charlie earned three varsity letters each in football, basketball, baseball and track at San Diego High. The State Football Player of the year in 1950. Some people reckon he is the greatest prep athlete ever to come out of San Diego, but he won't enter that debate. "I've heard that.-' he says. "If they say it, I say thank you and then 1 just leave it alone." He is quick to give credit to a legion of coaches, teammates and mentors at Memorial Junior High and the Boys Club especially Augie Escamilla. "Without a doubt, he was the key -- to myself and a lot of others," Powell says. "Basically Augie was a track man, but he kept us involved in ail of the sports.

I had compliments from Sugar Ray Robinson and Joe Louis didn't fool with fighters but he thought enough of Charlie Powell to train him for a while. Charlie and his brother Art Powell a four time American Football League All-Star are the only brother's in the San Diego - Breitbart Hall of Fame.