Shawn Reese follows granddad as international boxing official

photo Harrison resident Shawn Reese, right, has joined his grandfather, Gene Reese, left, as an international boxing referee and will be working the U.S. team trials in Chattanooga next week.

Shawn Reese is a 37-year-old captain in the Chattanooga Fire Department and a former volleyball player and dirt-track race-car driver who loves to play golf - and to spend time with his family, now including a 22-month-old daughter.

He's also earning a reputation as one of the best amateur boxing officials in the world, and the Harrison resident will be working the USA national team trials this coming week at the Chattanooga Convention Center as a referee and judge.

He's following in the footsteps of his grandfather, Gene Reese, who at 83 also is scheduled to be a judge during the trials. Gene's wife, Janis, and son Butch, Shawn's dad, will work as timekeepers.

Unlike his granddad, Shawn Reese wasn't the winner of the most famous fight in Chattanooga history -- a 1960 off-the-canvas knockout of bodybuilder Richard Bachus. In fact, Shawn admitted this week that he "sparred a couple of times" and quickly decided he wasn't a fighter. But going to numerous events with Gene and being around the sport gave him great respect for the amateur version and a strong background in how it worked.

AIBA, the world association, certified Gene Reese for international competition in 1981. Shawn "made AIBA" early this year and already has worked tournaments in Serbia and Cuba. He began officiating local and regional events 14 years ago and has been doing national tournaments the last five.

Soon after he reached the national level, he became the Southeastern Association chief of officials.

"He does a real good job," Gene Reese said of his 6-foot-4 grandson. "They all like his mannerisms, the way he goes about things. He stays calm and in control all the time. I'm real proud of him."

The eldest Reese added that other veteran officials are very impressed as well. Shawn credited them with accelerating his development.

"I went to all those tournaments with Grandfather, and some of the guys he mentored have mentored me," he said. "I have about 15 mentors. A lot of them remember me as a kid selling pins at tournaments.

"USA Boxing has been good to me. This will be my 19th national tournament in the last four years, and I've got two coming up in January -- in Reno and Spokane, Washington. But I think Grandfather has been to 26 countries (as a boxing official), some of them two or three times. I wanted to see the world, so I worked to get to that level."

His wife had been to many other countries, he said. She served in the U.S. Navy, and her father was a U.S. Army major. But he felt he was missing out.

No more. He's one of nine three-star AIBA officials in the United States.

"It's great to be in that elite level of guys," he said. "And what's even better is that we're family. I really feel like I've got family in Hawaii and New York and California, and it's like a reunion when we get together for a tournament."

Joe Smith, the Chattanooga Y-CAP director who has served in various regional and national leadership roles in boxing and has been the manager for men's and women's U.S. teams, has seen the development up close.

"Shawn is quickly becoming one of the premier referees in America. He's good," Smith said. "I think he'll probably be our referee in Rio (for the 2016 Olympics). He's that good and that much thought of.

"Like a good official in any sport, he really studies the rules and he takes so much pride in being the best he can be. He's been around the sport since he was a baby, because of his granddaddy, so he has a passion for it. And he's involved in our program. He has made donations to our Y-CAP program so we can do a better job with the young men and women we work with.

"He's just a genuine good, good young man."

• Registration will be held today and Sunday for USA Boxing's 2015 WSB & World Championship Team Trials. General weigh-ins and physicals will run from 4 to about 6 p.m. Sunday, Smith said, followed immediately by the computer draw for the 10 weight classes.

Competition will be held simultaneusly in two rings Monday through Thursday, beginning at 6 p.m., and go to one ring Friday for the finals starting at 7.

General-admission tickets cost $10 and ringside seats cost $15 for the first four days, going up to $20 and $30 for Friday. Weekly passes cost $50 and $75.

Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.

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