On the back page of the Nov. 8 Daily News was a picture of Joe Frazier with the headline "Smokin' Joe, 1944-2011."
Eugene Whitaker, then a prisoner at the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center on State Road, saw the elegant tribute and decided to do even better.
Using a bedsheet, Whitaker produced a portrait of the boxing icon that was so meticulous in its detail, it even included a drawing of Frazier's most devastating punch.
"I had to have him throw a left hook," said Whitaker, who is now housed at Eagleville Hospital, a rehab facility in Montgomery County. "That was his favorite punch, his signature punch."
Whitaker is nearing the end of his latest incarceration. He violated probabtion on a previous robbery conviction and is serving an 11- to 23-month stretch.
Whitaker says that he grew up with the Frazier kids and that they would ride to the Greater Harvest Baptist Church at Broad and Master in Joe's limousine.
"It's a YMCA now," he says.
The Daily News took the drawing around to several art galleries in Old City to get some feedback from experts. Other than noting the grammatical error at the top left, many of those we spoke to were impressed with its quality. Whitaker says it took him about 20 hours to produce, and says other inmates and guards chipped in with ideas.
"The technique is very good for an untrained artist," said Richard Rosenfeld, director of the Rosenfeld Gallery on Arch Street. "The feeling comes through. It's really interesting. It's almost like a collage of different ways of working. From the printed word, to the realistic drawing, to the stylized gloves with the laces coming down. It's really interesting the way he puts all different kinds of things together in one piece . . . This guy should be encouraged."
Encouraged to expand his craft is what Rosenfeld was saying, which Whitaker cannot do unless he keeps his nose clean.
Whitaker hopes to set up a website and work in conjunction with the police to do portraits of fallen officers. Ditto for families who have lost children to violent crime.
"I've had so many relationships with so many inmates that I have [helped] families get together by virtue of my artwork," he said. "I've done all types of T-shirts and sweatshirts for family reunions, Unity Day, Greek Picnic and the Odunde Festival."
Daily News editorial cartoonist Signe Wilkinson, a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1992, gasped when she saw Whitaker's portrait of Frazier.
"This is wonderful," she said. "If that was for my family, I would burst into tears with gratitude. The shading is great, the portraits and layout [too]. I'm quite moved by it. I'm glad [Whitaker's] not looking for work as a cartoonist."
Frazier's fights with Muhammad Ali are the greatest trilogy in boxing history. And though Frazier was 30 years removed from the ring when he died in November, the champ kept inspiring others.
"A lot of inmates, even though we're criminals, we wanted to share our condolences with the family," Whitaker said. "A lot of people in here were touched by Joe Frazier. He taught us never to get up. When life knocks you down, land on your back. If you can look up, you can get up."
