RODOLFO "CORKY" GONZALES PAPERS

Rodolfo ("Corky") Gonzales was born on June 18, 1928 at Denver General Hospital in Denver, Colorado. His father, Federico Gonzales, was from Buena Ventura, Chihuahua, Mexico. His mother, Indalesia Lucero, was born in Colorado on June 30, 1889. Corky Gonzales was the youngest of four brothers, one half-brother and three half-sisters. His mother died when he was two years old. He attended public elementary schools in Denver, and briefly in New Mexico. From the time he was ten years old, he worked in his spare time as a farm hand, a pin setter in bowling alleys and a hide gang laborer. Gonzales graduated from Manual High School in 1944 when he was 16 years old. He briefly attended the University of Denver, but the tuition was more than he could afford.

In 1944, Gonzales became an amateur boxer, fighting first at a Veteran's Athletic Club Smoker. While he belonged to the Epworth Boxing Club in Denver, he won both the Golden Gloves and Diamond Gloves Tournaments. In 1946, Gonzales was the Colorado Regional Amateur Flyweight Champion and, in 1947, the National Amateur Athletic Union Bantamweight Champion.

Turning professional in 1947, Gonzales fought 75 times as a featherweight. During his professional fight career, he made his home in Omaha, Nebraska and St. Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota. He fought the best fighters of his day, including Willie Pep, Charley Riley, Gene Smith, the Flanagan brothers, Harold Dade and Lulu Perez. His last professional bout was a 1952 Denver benefit for the Latin American Education Fund. Gonzales' professional record was 65-9-1. The National Boxing Association and Ring Magazine rated him as high as the number three featherweight in the world.

After boxing, Gonzales opened Corky’s Corner, arguably Denver’s first sports bar, at the corner of 38th Avenue and Walnut Street. Corky later sold his tavern and embarked on a new business, Corky’s Bail Bonds. He also became a general agent for Summit Fidelity and Surety Company of Colorado in 1963. In 1965, Mayor Thomas Currigan appointed Gonzales as Director of Denver Neighborhood Youth Corps. Gonzales also acted as the Denver Director of the War on Poverty. In 1966, Gonzales objected to a Rocky Mountain News story he felt was libelous toward him in particular and to the Mexican American community in general. He was visibly angry in a news conference and led a protest at the newspaper building. Currigan fired him from his Youth Corps position and Gonzales resigned from his position as Director of the War on Poverty soon afterwards. Gonzales was quoted as saying, “I’m an agitator and a trouble maker. That’s my reputation and that’s what I’m going to be. They didn’t buy me when they put me into this job.”

Gonzales first ran for political office in 1955 in an unsuccessful bid for the Five Points City Council position. Elvin Caldwell eventually won the seat. In 1960, he campaigned for John F. Kennedy, coordinating the "Viva Colorado" campaign in Colorado. During this time, he was also serving as Colorado’s first Mexican-American democratic District Captain. At the same time, he made an unsuccessful bid for a seat in the Colorado Legislature. In 1964, Gonzales ran unsuccessfully for Colorado State Senator. His final political effort was in 1967 when he ran for Denver mayor against Thomas Currigan. Again defeated, Gonzales sued Currigan for violating an old Denver campaign law but he lost.

In 1965, Gonzales founded the Crusade for Justice, an organization and social movement to aid the Chicano population. The Crusade for Justice building was located at 1567 Downing Street in Denver. Ballet Chicano de Aztlan, dance troupe, and El Teatro Pachuco were connected with the early Crusade. In 1969, Gonzales opened a summer Liberation School and in 1970 the Escuela Tlatelolco was established as a school for Chicano children.

Gonzales was a writer throughout his life. His epic poem, Yo Soy Joaquin (I am Joaquin), was published in 1967. The poem was read widely and was the clarion call for the Chicano Movement in the United States and abroad. It was quoted in protest literature, published as a play and reprinted in several editions. The poem has been dramatically performed in various artistic mediums to hundreds of thousands of people internationally. A collection of speeches, plays, essays and other poetry written by Gonzales, Message to Aztlan: Selected Writings of Rodolfo "Corky" Gonzales was published in 2001.

Besides his writing, Gonzales was perhaps best known for his leadership and involvement in the Chicano Movement. He organized and led protests, and spoke at rallies and university campuses throughout the country. In 1968, he led a Chicano contingent in the Poor People's Campaign to Washington. In 1969, Gonzales helped organize the student walkout at West High School in Denver in response to racist remarks by a teacher. The Chicano Youth Conference of 1969 led to the writing of El Plan de Aztlan, a document that articulated Chicano political, social, economic, and educational issues and demands. Violence was at times associated with these activities. In 1973, a shootout between Denver Police and Crusade members led to a bombing of an apartment building owned by the Crusade for Justice and adjacent to the Crusade building. Crusade member, John Haro, was accused of an attempted bombing conspiracy. In 1981, La Raza Park (otherwise known as Columbus Park) was cleared of people by Denver police during a summer festivity event.

In 1971, Gonzales was arrested at an anti-war rally in Los Angeles. He was accused of carrying a loaded weapon, convicted, and served four months in jail.

In 1949, Gonzales married Geraldine Romero, who was born in Brighton, Colorado in 1931. They had eight children, six daughters and two sons. Gonzales died on April 12, 2005, at age 76, of congestive heart failure. He is aptly remembered as “the fist” of the Chicano Movement.