"It was nice to have that opportunity to wear a robe, to step up there and not have to worry about bleeding," Cobb said a few hours after accepting his diploma - marked magna cum laude, which signifies a grade point average between 3.50 and 3.74 - in a ceremony at McGonigle Hall.
Cobb earned a bachelor of science degree in sport and recreation management. Emphasis on the word earned.
"This was no honorary degree," said Jeffery Montague, assistant dean of Temple's School of Tourism and Hospitality Management. "He worked hard for this. He's a tremendous guy, a very, very genuine person. Some of the same qualities that made him a successful boxer made him a great student."
There aren't many feel-good stories about old boxers. That makes this one all the more worth telling.
Cobb began his college career in the early 1970s at Texas' Abilene Christian, where he was a football teammate of future Eagles great Wilbert Montgomery. He left school to pursue martial arts (one story has Cobb being kicked out for shooting flaming arrows off a campus rooftop while wearing nothing but an athletic supporter; with Cobb, there are always several versions of the story), which led to boxing, which led him to Philadelphia.
Cobb became part of this city like few outsiders ever do. He worked the door at Doc Watson's. He became fast friends, column fodder and eventual lifesaver to Pete Dexter, the Daily News columnist who was arguably Philadelphia's greatest newspaperman. Cobb trained at Joe Frazier's gym and haunted the Blue Horizon.
Meanwhile, Cobb compiled a professional record of 43 wins, seven losses and one draw. The highlight was his shot at the heavyweight title against Larry Holmes. The 15-round fight, a unanimous decision in favor of Holmes, was so brutal that Howard Cosell famously swore never to broadcast another bout - "my gift to boxing," as Cobb once put it.
