: Health Hinge

Ray Douglas McDonald (May 7, 1944 – May 4, 1993) was a professional American football player, a running back in the National Football League for the Washington Redskins for two seasons, from 1967-68.

McDonald was born in McKinney, a segregated suburb of Dallas. After 17 years in McKinney, he followed his high school coach to Caldwell, Idaho in 1961, where he attended Caldwell High School for two years, graduating in 1963. At 6′2″ and 220 pounds, he was a high school All-American and was compared to NFL great Jim Brown.

McDonald then attended the University of Idaho in Moscow. As a speedy fullback for the Vandals, he was known as “Thunder Ray” and led the nation in rushing in 1966 with 1329 yards. At an imposing 6′4″, 248 pounds, he was the dominant player in the Big Sky Conference, and was the leading rusher for Idaho in all three years of eligibility (1964-66), averaging 133 yards rushing per game for his collegiate career. (Freshman were ineligible for NCAA varsity participation until the 1970s.)

McDonald was timed in the 100-yard dash at 9.9 seconds and was a first-team All-American. He threw the discus and was a national-class hurdler on the Vandal track team.

Ray McDonald was selected in the first round of the 1967 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins, the 13th overall pick, a personal choice by owner Edward Bennett Williams. He signed a three-year guaranteed contract for $100,000.

In 1968, he was arrested by Washington, D.C. police for having sex with a man in public.[1] Injuries also played a part in cutting short his career and by 1969 he was out of pro football.

Ray McDonald eventually became a junior high music teacher. After an extended battle, he died of complications due to AIDS[2] at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, on May 4, 1993, three days before his 49th birthday, with a body weight less than half of his NFL playing weight. The cause of death was originally reported as complications from sickle cell anemia.[citation needed]

In Thanksgiving weekend 1981, in what became a famous case in Puerto Rico, De Jesus was convicted of murder after killing a 17 year old teenager, over a traffic dispute. He was sentenced to life in jail. There, he excelled in another sport, baseball, making the Puerto Rico penal system all star team three times. In 1984, he became a born-again Christian and started to turn his life around, becoming a preacher. After it became public knowledge that De Jesus had acquired HIV and had become a sufferer of full-blown AIDS, governor Rafael Hernández Colón pardoned him.

After returning to spend his last days with his family, De Jesus was visited by many celebrities, including hall of fame baseball player Orlando Cepeda, Salsa music superstar Cheo Feliciano and his old nemesis Duran himself. Duran hugged and kissed De Jesus and told his daughter to do the same. This event was witnessed by Jose Torres who said he was amazed to see Duran’s compassionate gesture as he lifted De Jesus out of his bed and hugged him at a time when so little was known and so much feared about AIDS.[1]

Esteban De Jesus died one month after being pardoned.

De Jesus debuted as a professional in 1969, beating El Tarita by a knockout in three in San Juan. He won his first 20 fights, 13 by knockout, and then he stepped in class for the first time, when he boxed future world title challenger Josue Marquez in 1971, and beat him by a ten round decision. His next fight was against Victor Ortiz, a knockout win for de Jesus in four rounds. After that, there was a rematch with Marquez, who was beaten again, this time over 12 rounds.

Next came his first international fight, in Caracas against the future 4 time world title challenger Leonel Hernandez. De Jesus won that fight by a decision in 10, in what was the start of a 4 fight tour of Venezuela. That Venezuelan campaign ended with a ten round decision loss against former world champion Antonio Gomez, also at Caracas.

1972 was pivotal for De Jesus’ career. He won six fights in a row, including a 12 round knockout win in a third fight with Marquez, and a ten round decision over Doug McClendon. Despite all those wins, he was virtually an unknown boxer to most boxing fans. That changed quickly in his last fight of ‘72, against the undefeated new world’s Lightweight champion Roberto Duran, at the Madison Square Garden arena. In a televised bout that marked the beginning of the Duran-De Jesus trilogy, De Jesus dropped Duran in round one and went on to inflict Duran’s first defeat with a ten round decision.

In 1973, he was rewarded for his efforts, receiving a chance to challenge Ray Lampkin for the regional, United States lightweight belt. he became the United States’ champion by beating Lampkin by a 12 round decision. Then, he beat Johnny Gant, by a ten round decision, and Raul Montoya, also by decision in ten. Then, there was a rematch in New York with Lampkin, whom he beat again, by a decision. He finished ‘73 with a first round knockout win over fringe contender Al Ford.

He began 1974 by knocking out former world Jr. Welterweight champion Alfonso Peppermint Fraser in 10 rounds in San Juan, after which he travelled to Panama City to receive his first world title shot, and at the same time, face Duran in the second fight of their trilogy. He once again dropped Duran in round one, but this time Duran recovered, and retained the title by a knockout in eleven rounds. He recovered from that defeat with two more wins before the end of the year.

In 1975, he went up in weight briefly, and after beating Jesse Lara by a knockout in three, he returned to Panama City to challenge Colombia’s Antonio Cervantes for the world’s Jr. Welterweight title, losing by a 15 round decision. He beat Rudy Barros by a knockout in five to end that year, and he started 1976, by beating Valentin Ramos by a knockout in two.

Next came his third world title try, when the WBC’s world Lightweight champion Itshimatsu Suzuki of Japan travelled to Puerto Rico to defend his title against De Jesus. The third time proved to be the charm for De Jesus, who won the world title by beating Suzuki by a 15 round decision. Then, he retained the title against Hector Medina by a knockout in seven.

De Jesus as a world champion started dabbling in drugs, an element which would later threaten to ruin his life, and definitely changed it.

In 1977, he retained the title against Buzzaw Yamabe by a knockout in six, and against Vicente Mijares Saldivar by a knockout in eleven.

1978 began with the third and final chapter of his trilogy with Duran. In a title unification bout in Las Vegas, De Jesus lost to Duran by a knockout in round 12.

De Jesus rebounded with three wins before the end of that year, including one over former world title challenger Edwin Viruet.

In 1979, he had two more wins, including one over Jimmy Blevins. After beating Jose Vallejo by a knockout in seven in San Juan to start 1980, he travelled to Bloomington, Minnesota, to challenge Saoul Mamby for Mamby’s WBC world Jr. Welterweight title, in the major supporting event of the Larry Holmes-Scott Le Doux world Heavyweight championship bout’s undercard. In what turned out to be his last fight, he was beaten by a knockout in thirteen rounds.

His record was 57 wins and 5 losses, with 32 wins by knockout.

Esteban De Jesus (August 2, 1951-May 11, 1989) was a Puerto Rican world lightweight champion boxer whose life was full of controversy, problems and scandals. De Jesus, a native of the town of Carolina, Puerto Rico, was a gymmate of Wilfredo Benitez and an acquaintance of Benitez’s mother, Clara Benitez. He was trained by Wilfredo’s father and Clara’s husband, Gregorio Benitez.

Howard Stern mentions Uncle Ed in his 1996 book, Miss America. A few days after the story broke, Stern spoke by phone with two men who claimed to have obtained football tickets from Savitz almost 20 years before, in exchange for giving him soiled underwear. One said that he was instructed to urinate on Savitz in his bathtub and later slam his erect penis (supposedly at least ten inches long) in the door, from which Ed “didn’t even wince.” Another caller recounted Ed’s having an oversized potty, under which Savitz would put his head so that visitors could defecate into his mouth, after which he would “clean” them, when Stern asked the caller if he meant wiping, the caller said “no.” Stern then joked that when Savitz went to the bathroom, fully prepared meals would come out.

Savitz was first arrested in 1978 on an indecent assault charge. His record was expunged after he completed a rehabilitation program. In 1990, he was found not guilty on charges relating to the purchase of a minor’s soiled underwear.

The neighbors in his high-rise apartment building complained of young boys entering and leaving his apartment at all hours of the day and night. One neighbor described the boys she saw as mostly “heavy metal types,” who wore black leather clothes and chains and had long hair. Savitz told neighbors that he was a social worker, helping the boys.

Savitz’s third arrest followed a six-month investigation by the city’s sex-crime unit. By early March 1992, investigators had gathered enough evidence to install a wiretap and hidden video camera in his home. On March 25, detectives watched as Savitz offered to pay two 15-year-old boys for oral sex. Police burst into the apartment and took him into custody. Savitz was charged with crimes of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, sexual abuse of children, indecent assault and corrupting the morals of a minor.

Police found 5,000 photographs of boys and 312 bags of soiled boy’s underwear at Savitz’s apartment and a rented storage center nearby. His arrest also caused an AIDS scare in the Philadelphia area due to the large number of individuals that he had sexual contact with. AIDS hotlines were flooded with calls after his photo was released.

Bail was set for three million dollars, and Savitz was released. He was arrested again the next day when bail was raised to twenty million dollars when complaints involving two teenagers were verified.

Although Savitz tested HIV positive about a year before his arrest, he continued to have unprotected sex with boys until his arrest.

The trial was set to begin April 5, 1993, but Savitz died of AIDS in a prison hospice a week before on March 27.

Savitz had an apartment on Rittenhouse Square and for years was known by the male youth of the area through word of mouth as a quick source of cash. From as far back as 1975, he offered teenage boys money, concert tickets and football tickets for their soiled underwear, and various sexual acts including: oral and anal sex, slamming his penis in a door, urinating on him, vomiting in his mouth and defecating in his mouth through a potty chair. Savitz reportedly kept the feces in pizza boxes in his apartment. He told the boys to eat cheese to make the feces taste better.

Savitz mostly targeted boys from the Grays Ferry neighborhood and even had a St. John Neumann High School yearbook, which he used like a catalogue, circling the pictures of boys he wanted to see and promising referral fees for bringing them to him.

Ed Savitz was one of four sons by Russian immigrants Paul and Ann Gechman Savitz. The Savitzes ran an amusement arcade in downtown Philadelphia. Ed ranked first in his class of 278 students, and voted most likely to succeed. He won a full scholarship to study economics at the University of Pennsylvania, but dropped out after two years. In 1967, also after two years’ study, he quit Temple University’s graduate school of music. In 1963, he married his high school girlfriend Judith Widman, who later became a lawyer, specializing in family law. They were divorced 10 years later. In 1981, his brother, Joseph, a lawyer who once served as a Deputy Attorney General in Pennsylvania, used barbiturates to commit suicide. In 1968, his brother Samuel founded The Savitz Organization, an actuarial consulting firm specializing in retirement plans and other employee benefit programs. Ed later became the vice president.

Ed Savitz was one of four sons by Russian immigrants Paul and Ann Gechman Savitz. The Savitzes ran an amusement arcade in downtown Philadelphia. Ed ranked first in his class of 278 students, and voted most likely to succeed. He won a full scholarship to study economics at the University of Pennsylvania, but dropped out after two years. In 1967, also after two years’ study, he quit Temple University’s graduate school of music. In 1963, he married his high school girlfriend Judith Widman, who later became a lawyer, specializing in family law. They were divorced 10 years later. In 1981, his brother, Joseph, a lawyer who once served as a Deputy Attorney General in Pennsylvania, used barbiturates to commit suicide. In 1968, his brother Samuel founded The Savitz Organization, an actuarial consulting firm specializing in retirement plans and other employee benefit programs. Ed later became the vice president.

Edward Isadore Savitz (also known as Uncle Ed, Fast Eddie and Dr. Feel Good) (February 22, 1942 – March 27, 1993) was an HIV positive Philadelphia businessman who was arrested for paying thousands of young men for either engaging in anal and oral sex or for giving him dirty underwear and feces, which he kept in pizza boxes in his apartment.