Although he never boxed himself, Bobby Dunlap had a passion for boxing and made it his life, training others until hours before his death.
“He called me a powder-puff boxer. First, because I was a girl, but also because I didn’t have the killer instinct,” said Robin Jackson, who trained with Dunlap for four years after two knee surgeries turned her away from her usual workouts.
Dunlap worked as a boxing trainer and shoe-shiner at the Denver Athletic Club for more than 20 years. He died from a heart attack Thursday morning at the age of 52.
He hosted his last boxing class Wednesday night.
“I’ve been at the club for 15 years, and this is the saddest day I’ve worked,” said Max DeHerrera, health club manager at the Denver Athletic Club. “I’ve seen grown men cry today.”
Jackson said she learned to love boxing through Dunlap and gained a friend, not just a trainer.
“Bobby was known for his dry sense of humor. He had a fun poking-at-you way of humor,” Jackson said. “He made it extremely enjoyable.”
Friends remember Dunlap as a happy man and a single father raising his 6-year-old grandson, Trey, who called him “Daddy.”
“He loved kids. I mean absolutely loved kids,” DeHerrera said.
Dunlap knew the names of every child at the Denver Athletic Club’s day-care center, which was right next to one of his booths, friends said.
Dunlap also trained and promoted younger boxers at AirTight Boxing, and once met famed promoter Don King, said his sister, Evette Dunlap.
In addition to being known for having many friends, Evette said, her brother was known for big barbecues.
“He would barbecue slabs and slabs of ribs, and he would be covered in charcoal from head to toe,” she remembered.
Friend Rick Sanders said he noticed that when Dunlap hosted cookouts, neighbors looked to Dunlap as the mayor of the neighborhood, coming to him with any problem.
He was also known for cooking fried turkey and for “making the best gumbo in town,” said friend Alex Thatch, a server at the Denver Athletic Club.
Dunlap grew up in Denver and served in the Army, though he never went abroad.
He is survived by younger sister Evette, a son and grandson Trey.
Trey will live now with his mother in Colorado Springs.
The Denver Athletic Club is collecting donations to help cover funeral costs and to set up a fund for Trey.
Memorial services are pending.
“He was a great guy. It’s a big loss,” Thatch said. “If you didn’t know him, you sure missed out. You would have liked to know him.”
Inside.
Yesenia Robles: 303-954-1372 or yrobles@denverpost.com
