Fighter, The

During America's Industrial Revolution, Lowell was a thriving town.  With its great location (at a river) and plenty of capable workers (mostly Irish), the Massachusetts city became one of America's most-prosperous mill towns.

Those textile-producing factories in America's first planned industrial city are mostly silent now, except for the sounds of visitors.  No longer working textile mills, where steam engines and great turbines loudly powered all sorts of machines (such as looms) - at least fourteen hours a day - today they are working museums.

When personal computers seemed destined to become part of everyday life, Lowell was again on top.  Wang Laboratories made Lowell its headquarters in 1976.  The company employed more than 30,000 people, at its various worldwide locations, and by the mid-1980s reported annual income of $3 billion.

Characterized by green letters on a dark screen, Wang computers - like the 2200 - satisfied customers for awhile.  But Wang Labs failed to realize that people would soon demand more than just word processing from their personal computers.  By 1992, Wang had filed for bankruptcy protection.

Following a boom cycle, Lowell has been in "bust" mode for many years.  During the textile days, residents spent long hours in sweat-shop conditions.  Steady work meant regular pay, but the workers weren't getting rich.  Even so, jobs were plentiful.

Filled with machines needing lots of lubricating oil, Lowell's mills were dangerous places.  The risk of fire was ever-present, and it was hot inside those plants.  During the summer months, "hot" was an understatement when the atmosphere could be stifling.

When the textile jobs went overseas, and Wang employment evaporated, Lowell's workers - like so many others in America's manufacturing sector - no longer had regular work with steady pay.  The boys of Lowell did have something else going for them, however.  Maybe because of its tough, deal-with-it background, Lowell produced a disproportionately high number of very good boxers.

One of its most promising rising stars was Dickie Eklund.