Editing Sonny Liston (section)

===Youth===
Tobe Liston inflicted whippings so severe on Sonny that the scars were still visible decades later. "The only thing my old man ever gave me was a beating," Liston said.<ref name="Reputations 2001">Reputations: Sonny Liston: The Champion Nobody Wanted (2001), 50 min, BBC Documentary</ref> In 1946, Helen Baskin, along with some of her children, moved to [[St. Louis]] to seek factory work.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/classic/biography/s/Liston_Sonny.html|title=ESPN Classic – Liston was trouble in and out of ring|website=Espn.com|access-date=November 24, 2021}}</ref> Liston—aged around 13, according to his later reckonings—remained in Arkansas with his father. The following year, Sonny—determined to reunite with his mother and siblings—thrashed the [[pecan]]s from his brother-in-law's tree and sold them in [[Forrest City, Arkansas]]. With the proceeds, he traveled to St. Louis to live with his mother. Liston tried going to school but quickly left after jeers about his illiteracy; the only employment he could obtain was sporadic and exploitative.<ref name="Remnick">{{Cite book |last=Remnick |first=David |title=King of the World: Muhammad Ali and the Rise of an American Hero |publisher=Random House |year=1998 |isbn=0-330-37189-4 |location=New York |author-link=David Remnick}}</ref>

Liston turned to crime and led a gang of thugs who committed muggings and armed robberies. Because of the shirt he wore during robberies, the St. Louis police called Liston the "Yellow Shirt Bandit."<ref name="Paul R Gallender" /> When caught in January 1950, Liston gave his age as 20, while the ''[[St. Louis Globe-Democrat]]'' reported that he was 22.<ref name=Remnick/> Convicted and sentenced to five years in the [[Missouri State Penitentiary]], Liston started his prison time on June 1, 1950.<ref name="Tosches"/>

Liston never complained about prison, saying he was guaranteed three meals every day.<ref>{{cite web|last=Sares|first=Ted|url=http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=8992&more=1|title=Boxing's Hard Times, Good Times|work=East Side Boxing|date=November 22, 2006|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070228084411/http://www.eastsideboxing.com/news.php?p=8992&more=1|archive-date=February 28, 2007}}</ref> The athletic director at Missouri State Penitentiary, Rev. Alois Stevens, suggested to Liston that he try boxing, and his obvious aptitude, along with an endorsement from Stevens, who was also a priest, aided Liston in getting an early parole. Stevens organized a sparring session with a professional heavyweight named Thurman Wilson to showcase Liston's potential. After two rounds, Wilson had taken enough. "Better get me out of this ring," exclaimed Wilson, "he is going to kill me!"<ref name="Mee 2010">{{Cite book|title=Liston and Ali: The Ugly Bear and the Boy Who Would Be King|first=Bob|last=Mee|location=London, UK|publisher=Mainstream Publishing|year=2010|isbn=978-1-84596-622-5}}</ref>