Billy Conn takes on young store robber

by Ken Guggenheim

The Pittsburgh Press

     As a robber punched a Squirrel Hill convenience store manager, he probably wasn't paying much attention to the 72-year-old standing by the newspaper stand.

     He might have had he known the man was Billy Conn.

     Police said Conn, the former light heavyweight boxing champion scuffled with a robber yesterday in the Uni-Mart at 2331 Beechwood Boulevard.  Conn tried to hold the robber for police, but the robber ran away with about $80 from the store.

     According to police the robber entered the store about 9:45 AM and told manager Tom Dieker, 41, that he had a gun.

     Dieker challenged the robber to show him the weapon, and the robber grabbed money from the register.  The robber and Dieker began fighting when Conn intervened.

     Conn, a Squirrel Hill resident, declined to discuss the incident.  But his wife, Mary Louise, said she and her husband had stopped for coffee at the store after going to church at St. Philomena's on Beechwood Boulevard.

     She said her husband was standing near the front of the store and she was in the back getting coffee when the robber began hitting Dieker. She said she ran out of the store and told a school crossing guard to call the police.

     Mrs. Conn didn't see most of the fight, but she said Billy and the robber ended up on the floor, the robber knocking a newspaper rack over Conn's legs.

     When the robber ran toward Waldron Street, he left behind a shoe and a sweatshirt.  Mrs. Conn said he also left his wallet, but police could not confirm that.

    The robber was described as about 24 years old, black with a medium complexion, and 5 feet 11 with a thin build.

     As a boxer, Conn won 63, lost 11 and fought one draw from 1935 to 1948 and nearly defeated Joe Louis in the famous 1941 bout for the heavyweight title. Conn was the light heavyweight champion from July 1939 to May 1941 and was elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1965.

    His son, Billy Jr. said "tough guys" would pick fights with his father in the years after he retired.  But he said he doesn't believe his father had thrown a punch in anger for years.  Until yesterday.

     "I guess even at 72, a former fighter, you throw a few punches," Billy Jr. said.