The Reason Behind the Name
You may recognize the name Balazs, but unless you have some Hungarian roots, you probably struggle with the pronunciation (“BAH-lawzh”) — and you almost certainly don’t know why Balazs is Balazs.
In 1997, my cousin Peter Balazs Pecsvaradi and I endeavored to turn a boxing stand I’d built as a birthday gift into a real company. We needed a name, and Balazs — Peter’s middle name — fit the bill.
Sadly, Peter’s father — my uncle Tom, and a big supporter of Balazs in the early days — was later diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Tom had been a serious athlete: four years of varsity soccer at Drexel, co-captain in 1962, and a saber fencer who made All-America twice, took second at the 1963 NCAAs, and qualified for the 1964 Olympic Trials. Fast, reactive sports — exactly the coordination Parkinson’s goes after. He kept moving anyway, including regular family ping-pong and, later, boxing. It was part of how he fought back.
In September 2016, at 75, Tom joined a new Rock Steady Boxing–affiliated program at the Tazmanian Boxing Club in Carson City, Nevada. Asked what he made of it after that first class, he put it simply: “It’s a change with a lot of movement.”
Tom’s legacy is part of why we’re at the Speedbag Gathering this September. Three of our i-Box platforms and a stack of Lightning and Lazer bags are headed to Poway, California — two days of open punch and contests at R3 Boxing on September 18–19, raising money for Rock Steady Boxing and Parkinson’s awareness.
Boxing didn’t cure anything for Tom, but we believe it helped slow things down, and it kept him active and in the game — it let us enjoy his presence in our lives a little longer. Tom — who held a PhD in mathematics from Yale — was a brilliant, caring, and fun uncle, father, husband, and friend to many. His life was cut way too short by this horrible disease.
If you’re near Poway, come throw some punches. If you’re not, you can still be part of it: tell us how our gear feels if you’ve used it, or find us on Instagram at @balazs_boxing if you want to see how the weekend goes.
If boxing for Parkinson’s is new to you, Rock Steady Boxing is a great place to start — and we’ve written more about the training itself on our Boxing for Parkinson’s Disease page.
— Andrew
“Carson City boxing program brings benefits to those with Parkinson’s disease,” Nevada Appeal / NNBW, Sept. 24, 2016.
