Some families spend time together hunting in the great outdoors. Other families spend their weekends under the sun in a boat drowning a minnow. Golf outings are another way that families spend quality time with one another.
Tom Herron's family boxes.
For the past 58 years, boxing has played a large part in Tom's life. He started boxing at age 15 and helped coach his sons Mike, Bradley, Todd and Troy. Even his daughters, Linda, Tammy and Tawnya, have been involved with boxing in some shape or form.
Now, at age 73, Tom is watching the third generation of Herron boxers as his grandson and Todd's son, Blake, excels in the sport.
Profile of youngest Herron boxer
Name: Blake Herron
Age: 14
Grade: Eighth
Hometown: Brainerd
Achievements: Won the Silver Gloves 112-pound state championship in December; won the Silver Gloves 112-pound region championship in January; won the Junior Olympic 112-pound state championship by beating Oscar Soto of St. Paul and Steve Kent of Leech Lake; will compete in the four-state (Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin) tournament May 17-18 in Rudd, Iowa.
Last weekend, 14-year-old Blake won the 112-pound Junior Olympic state championship and will advance to the four-state tournament (Minnesota, North Dakota, Iowa, Wisconsin) May 17-18 at Rudd, Iowa. This winter, Blake won the Silver Gloves state and regional championships in his weight class.
Much of Blake's boxing success has mirrored his father's. Todd, 36, won his fair share of titles, including six Junior Olympic championships and a 1992 Upper Midwest title.
And, as Todd points out, the similarities between his boxing career and Blake's are similar.
"I fought in the Junior Olympics at the same age as Blake is now," Todd Herron said. "I fought five times in two days and won Best Boxer just like Blake did last weekend."
As far as Tom's boxing prowess, well, he never did as well as Todd or Blake.
"I never got that far," Tom Herron said with a smirk. "I wasn't as good as those two."
Being slight in stature, boxing was one of the few sports Tom could participate in when he was a youth.
"When I was young, boxing was about it if you were small," Tom Herron said. "When I graduated from high school I weighed 103 pounds. There really weren't many other sports that I could compete in. My older brother tried boxing so I guess I just followed in his footsteps."
Todd followed in some footsteps as well. His older brothers fought as did his cousins, Jim and Mark.
Now Blake is following in his dad's footsteps. But his father never pushed his son toward boxing. With the family's rich boxing history, you could say it was a matter of time before Blake would climb into the ring.
"He wanted to get in to it all on his own," Todd Herron said. "It's easy to say you want to box but it's totally different to get in the ring and get punched in the nose."
Said Blake: "I didn't really know much about boxing. Then a friend of mine got into boxing and told me about it, plus my dad was into it. I tried it and I just loved it. I want to stay in it as long as I can and I want to win titles like my father did."
The entire Herron family has had a long love affair with boxing. And it all started at the top. Not with Tom, but with his wife, Sharon.
"My wife sure had to put up with a lot," said Tom Herron. "She spent a lot of nights and weekends alone. I take my hat off to her for putting up with all that.
"But we did boxing as a family. Our daughters, Linda and Tammy, were judges. We joked that we wanted to change our youngest daughter's name from Tawnya to Trevor so she could box."
Pride is one feeling prevalent among the Herron family. They're proud of what each other has accomplished and proud they've done it together.
"I'm proud of (Blake) and I'm proud of (Tom)," Todd Herron said. "I thank my dad for teaching me and I'm really proud for as much as he's done for us and boxing.
"When you're around people in Merrifield they all know the boxing family of Herrons. That's a proud feeling when you hear that."
