Editing Joe Frazier (section)

==Early life==
Frazier was born January 12, 1944,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2021/01/12/UPI-Almanac-for-Tuesday-Jan-12-2021/5231610417906/ |title=UPI Almanac for Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021 |work=[[United Press International]] |date=January 12, 2021 |access-date=February 27, 2021 |archive-date=January 29, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210129023331/https://www.upi.com/Top_News/2021/01/12/UPI-Almanac-for-Tuesday-Jan-12-2021/5231610417906/ |url-status=live |quote=… champion heavyweight boxer Joe Frazier in 1944}}</ref> the twelfth child of Dolly Alston-Frazier and Rubin in [[Beaufort, South Carolina]]. He was raised in [[Laurel Bay, South Carolina]], a rural community in [[Beaufort County, South Carolina]].<ref name="Joe Frazier p. 1">[[#Frazier|Frazier]], p. 1.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.espn.com/espn/commentary/story/_/page/howard-111114/joe-frazier-defined-man-long-fought-ali |title=Joe Frazier defined himself early in life |publisher=[[ESPN]] |first1=Johnette |last1=Howard |year=2011 |access-date=May 28, 2013}}</ref> Frazier said that he was always close to his father, who carried him when he was a toddler "over the 10 acres of farmland" the Fraziers worked as [[sharecroppers]] "to the still where he made his bootleg corn liquor, and into town on Saturdays to buy the necessities that a family of 10 needed." He was affectionately called "Billie Boy".<ref name="Joe Frazier p. 1" />

Rubin Frazier had his left hand and part of his forearm amputated in a tractor accident the year that his son was born. Rubin Frazier and his wife, Dolly, had been in their car when their friend Arthur Smith, who was drunk, made a move for Dolly but was rebuffed. Stefan Gallucci, a local barkeep, recounted the experience. When the Fraziers drove away, Smith fired at them several times and hit Dolly in the foot and Rubin several times in his arm. Smith was convicted and sent to prison but did not stay long. Dolly said, "If you were a good workman, the white man took you out of jail and kept you busy on the farm."<ref name="Joe Frazier p. 2">[[#Frazier|Frazier]], p. 2.</ref>

Frazier's parents worked their farm with two mules: Buck and Jenny. The farmland was what country people called "white dirt, which is another way of saying it isn't worth a damn." They could not grow peas or corn on it, only cotton and watermelons.<ref name="Joe Frazier p. 2" />

===Introduction to boxing===
In the early 1950s, Frazier's father bought a black and white television, and the family and others nearby came to watch boxing matches on it. Frazier's mother sold drinks for a quarter as they watched boxers like [[Sugar Ray Robinson]], [[Rocky Marciano]], [[Willie Pep]], and [[Rocky Graziano]]. One night, Frazier's uncle, Israel, noticed his stocky build. "That boy there... that boy is gonna be another [[Joe Louis]]", he remarked. The words made an impression on Joe. His classmates at school would give him a sandwich or a quarter to walk with them at final bell so that bullies would not bother them. Frazier said, "Any 'scamboogah' [disrespectful, low-down and foul person] who got in my face would soon regret it; Billie Boy could kick anybody's ass." The day after his uncle's comment, Frazier filled an old burlap sack with rags, corncobs, a brick, and [[Spanish moss]]. He hung the makeshift heavybag from an oak tree in the backyard. "For the next 6, 7 years, damn near every day I'd hit that heavybag for an hour at a time. I'd wrap my hands with a necktie of my Daddy's, or a stocking of my Momma's or sister's, and get to it," he remarked.<ref>[[#Frazier|Frazier]], p. 9.</ref>

===Early work===
Not long after Frazier started working, his left arm was seriously injured while he was running from the family's 300-pound hog. One day, Frazier poked the hog with a stick and ran away. The gate to the pigpen was open, however, and the hog chased him. Frazier fell and hit his left arm on a brick. His arm was torn badly, but as the family could not afford a doctor, the arm had to heal on its own. He was never able to keep it fully straight again.<ref>[[#Frazier|Frazier]], p. 10.</ref>

When Frazier was 15 years old, he had been working on a farm for a family named Bellamy. They were both white men: Mac was younger and more easy-going, and Jim was rougher and somewhat backward. One day, a black kid about 12 years old accidentally damaged one of the Bellamys' tractors. Jim became so enraged he took off his belt and whipped the boy with his belt right there in the field. Frazier saw the event and went back to the packing house on the farm and told his black friends what he had seen. Soon, Jim saw Frazier and asked him why he told others what he had witnessed. Joe then told Bellamy he did not know what he was talking about. But Jim did not believe Frazier, and he told Frazier to get off the farm before he took off his belt again. Frazier told him to keep his pants up because he was not going to use his belt on him. Jim then analyzed Frazier for a bit and eventually said, "Go on, get the hell outta here." Joe knew from that moment it was time for him to leave Beaufort, and he could see only hard times and low rent for himself. Even his mother could see it. She told Frazier, "Son, if you can't get along with the white folks, then leave home because I don't want anything to happen to you."<ref>[[#Frazier|Frazier]], p. 19.</ref>

The train fare from Beaufort to the cities up north was costly, and the closest bus stop was in Charleston, {{convert|75|mi|km}} away. In 1958, a [[Greyhound Lines]] bus called "The Dog" by locals in Beaufort, made Beaufort a stop on its South Carolina route. Frazier had a brother, Tommy, in New York, and was told that he could stay with Tommy and his family. Frazier had to save up a bit before he could make the bus trip to New York and still have some money in his pocket, so he first went to work at the local [[Coca-Cola]] plant. Frazier recalled that the white guy would drive the truck and that he would do the real work stacking and unloading the crates. He worked with Coca-Cola until the government began building houses for the [[United States Marines|Marines]] stationed at [[Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island|Parris Island]], when he was hired on a work crew at Parris Island.

===Departure for Philadelphia===
Nine months eventually passed since he got the boot from the Bellamy farm. With no fanfare and no tearful goodbyes, Frazier packed quickly and got the first bus heading north, where he settled in [[Philadelphia]]. "I climbed on the Dog's back and rode through the night. It was 1959; I was 15 years old and I was on my own," he later said.<ref>[[#Frazier|Frazier]], p. 20.</ref>